Joe Cross reached an unprecedented stage with Virtuoso. Whereas Kenny Burrell, Tal Farlow, and Johnny Smith foreshadowed the solo jazz-guitar medium, none outlined it with such depth and fervor. A vital album, Virtuoso marked the top of solo jazz-guitar efficiency.

Had he not been stricken by drug habit and incarcerations within the ’50s – the period of Kessel, Burrell, and Montgomery – Cross would have been a distinguished innovator. By 1960, he entered rehab and emerged clear and sober to redeem himself together with his ’62 Pacific Jazz debut, Sounds of Synanon, and follow-ups Catch Me!, For Django, and Intercontinental, largely within the combo format.

If jazz is America’s artwork music paralleling European classical, then Chook is Bach, Trane is Beethoven, Tatum is Chopin, and Cross is Segovia. Improvisation, widespread to Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin, had all however disappeared from the classical style. Cross rekindled its spontaneity, complexity, and harmonic sophistication in solo-guitar preparations.

Virtuoso, Joe’s first document for producer Norman Granz’s Pablo label, was recorded on August 28, 1973, at MGM Studios in L.A. Slightly below 52 minutes, it personified Cross’ dictum {that a} self-respecting guitarist ought to have the ability to carry out solo for an hour. His repertoire consisted of 11 requirements and one authentic, “head preparations” had been rendered on his D’Aquisto archtop and ’63 ES-175 with medium flatwounds. The D’Aquisto bore a floating pickup but Joe opted to play it miked with out amplification, persevering with a observe begun with “However Lovely” (Catch Me!).

Joe’s opening phrases in “Evening and Day” reveal his integration of single notes, consideration to voice main, plucked chords, fast runs, arpeggiations, counterpoint and pianistic textures. In most solo performances, he routinely mixes articulations, shifting seamlessly from hybrid selecting to plectrum strains and fingerpicked chording. Performed in free time with nice rubato feeling, he exploits many signature traits on this excerpt, together with block-chord passages (measures 4 and 12), mixture of bop and major-blues melody (7), voice-leading arpeggiations (9), diminished-scale patterns (12-13) and stunning octave leaps (14).

“Norman was a one-take man,” Cross advised Guitar Participant within the ’70s. “He put us within the studio, turned on the tape, and mentioned ‘Play.’ I took an inventory of tunes into the studio and began enjoying with none pre-planning. I sweated, scuffled, and died. I’d say. ‘However that was a foul bridge there,’ and he’d say, ‘No, that’s it. What do you need to do, get it proper?’” Nonetheless, they acquired it proper. Launched in December, Virtuoso outsold each different launch issued by Pablo; establishing Cross because the solo-guitar avatar amongst jazz gamers. Glowing reception necessitated he proceed as unaccompanied soloist (along with ensemble work) for twenty years. He recorded quite a few albums together with Montreux performances and 5 extra within the Virtuoso collection – I Keep in mind Charlie Parker, Blues for Fred, Songs for Ellen, What’s There to Say, and Meditation. Furthermore, Cross repurposed his solo abilities in duets with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and guitarists Herb Ellis and John Pisano.

Joe’s one-man present commenced with Cole Porter’s “Evening and Day.” Performed as an uptempo burner on For Django, Cross presents a potent acoustic studying transposed from Eb to the guitar-friendly key of D. Joe’s presence is palpable from his opening strains. He units the tempo with each phrase, his strategy exemplifying his theme assertion, adorning the melody with various textures, momentary reharmonization, chord fills, and single-note runs. On the bridge (1:06), he performs in tempo, making use of plectrum strumming and chord-outlining bop licks in distinction to the opening unmetered really feel. Rhythmic fluctuation supplies curiosity and selection. He introduces interval-jumping melodies over an open E pedal level (1:30), maintains the concept in improvisations, and alludes to Oscar Peterson-inspired bluesiness with double-stops (1:50). He reaches a climax of acquainted passages (3:08) corresponding to stride-piano after intensive improvising, reconnects with the blues (3:15), performs a favourite voice-leading chord phrase (3:19) within the coda, and closes with chromatic “push chords.”

“Stella by Starlight,” beloved for its labyrinthine adjustments, haunting melody, lengthy kind, and odd key facilities transposed to C, provides a canvas for Joe’s soundscape. He maintains looser rubato really feel all through in distinction to the opener’s rhythmic fluctuations (“Once I solo, I’m pondering largely about my very own harmonies than the time really feel,” he mentioned). This mindset informs the efficiency, punctuated often by stricter time passages. Telltale components embrace chordal textures juxtaposed with Tatum-influenced runs, arpeggiations, contrapuntal episodes, and tasteful steadiness of theme melody and vital melodic/harmonic departures from primary adjustments. Cycle-of-fourths/chromatic modulating sequences (4:28 and 4:38), idiomatic units employed incessantly by Cross for momentum and transition result in his coda of single notes and upper-register dyads.

The Van Heusen commonplace “Right here’s That Wet Day” is rendered on electrical guitar. The one tune to obtain Joe’s heat ES-175 tone, probably mated to his Polytone 102, he approaches it with a plectrum/hybrid-picking strategy and free rubato really feel, interspersing linear phrases with chord passages and arpeggiations. The alternation develops the acquainted impression that he’s accompanying himself, making a dialog on one instrument that appears like two – a Cross forté.

The bopper’s clarion name of “How Excessive the Moon” impressed Cross to succeed in larger heights. This instance depicts his steadiness of chordal textures and single notes. Following a stride-style cycle (measures 1-2), he develops an improvised call-response phrase construction of chord strums, united by widespread tones and answered by single-note melodies (3-9). Bars 10-18 exemplify his intricate single-note improvisation by way of adjustments. Just about each phrase may be traced to origins within the bebop language. The ultimate chord-outlining Gma7 run (19-20) is a Cross staple.

“My Previous Flame,” an oldie popularized by Mae West and coated by Cross hero Charlie Parker, opens with an impromptu intro ushering in a moody ballad therapy, atypically transposed to Eb from G (0:16) for vary and voicing. He performs a spacious prelude of chord melody as theme assertion embellished with lengthy, intricate runs progressing organically to a measured growth part the place he applies walking-ballad really feel (2:40), double-time passages (3:19) and blistering runs. He reinstates free time for the melody recap, recalling elaborate improvised strains, and ends on a humorously abrupt V-I cadence.

Joe cultivates bebop aspirations in “How Excessive the Moon,” implying a double-time feeling all through in statements of chords and fills, and constructing longer single-note phrases when altering to a gradual tempo (1:03). Notable are pedal-point episodes (1:18), partial chords utilized to the theme, and mixture of bebop single-note licks with plectrum strumming results in call-response (2:35), just like the basic jazz of Dick McDonough and George Van Eps.

“Cherokee” spawned numerous bop interpretations, and Joe supplies an authoritative take. Harnessing melodic strains evoking horn gamers like Chook, Dizzy, and Clifford Brown (who knowledgeable his virtuosic blowing type), he units the tempo for the sometimes uptempo tune. He states the theme in block chords, freely incorporating stride-guitar movement answered by dense bop passage work, successfully balancing textures. Joe’s lengthy strains in regular time define the chord adjustments and exemplify his inner metronome, felt throughout his improvisations within the piece. The modulatory bridge has offered improvisers with challenges met expertly by Cross. He performs the bridge chordally in the course of the head and strikes seamlessly from chord passages to single-note blowing whereas improvising.

Joe’s piano influences floor in “Candy Lorraine.” Knowledgeable by pianistic approaches, Cross isn’t by-product. He transposes the tune from F to G and begins with a rubato theme studying with advert lib buying and selling of strains and chords adorned with stride-style chromatic passing notes and jazz/blues allusions. After a fancy five-bar linear interlude, Joe adjustments to a slow-swing groove (2:03) maintained throughout improvisations. A protracted, descending diminished-scale line over D7alt (3:06) indicators the theme return and earlier rubato really feel. Joe provides a catchy tag of blues riffs and F13-F#13-G13 chords (3:47) to finish his association.

Jazz has loved greater than a century of symbiosis with the blues. Joe personifies that synergy in “Blues for Alican.” Right here the 12-bar kind supplies the framework, however Joe’s free enjoying transcends its metric confines. Notice his inimitable mixture of major-blues, pentatonic and blues-scale passages all through, often expanded with bop sophistication in measures 6, 11, and 12. Joe’s interspersed single notes and chord phrases are much more telling within the context of ordinary blues, as in 3, 5, 8, 11, and 13. His unmistakable allusions to nation blues are heard in 14-16.

“Have You Met Miss Jones,” a rite-of-passage tune, receives a theme rendering, albeit free rhythmically, in the usual key of F with block chords and enhancing runs. Joe establishes tempo (1:22) with a favourite E7-A7-D7-G7-Gm7-C7 cycle and replays the theme adorned with stride-guitar movement (1:34). He handles sophisticated bridge adjustments (thirds-related progressions that impressed Coltrane’s “Large Steps”) with a mixture of bop strains and chord punches. A stunning modulation to Gb through a chromatic development (2:24) strikes improvisation into larger single-note territory, the place Joe mixes quick strains with chord jabs and block-chord passages. He returns to the unique free time (3:19) to recall the theme, first in F then in Gb. He restores the bridge adjustments, performs the theme in F, and closes with a prolonged melodious cadenza.

“’Spherical Midnight,” a Monk piece coated by Miles, Wes, and others, finds Joe addressing the atmospheric minor-mode composition in guitar-friendly E minor with an appropriately bittersweet perspective. The fluid harmonies and melodic prospects are explored in Cross’ efficiency, which occupies just one refrain and coda. Fittingly, he interprets and develops the theme as a extremely adorned however tuneful chord-melody piece, freely inserting alternate sonorities, colourful arpeggiations, contrasting textures, counterpoint, sequential chord phrases, expository runs, and intervallic strains. His extraordinary single-note improvising and chordal variations are fantastically complemented by atypical broken-chord interludes (2:00) and dramatic pauses that serve to intensify the musical occasions in his spontaneous association.

Jerome Kern’s present tunes are perennial jazz requirements, and Joe covers two; “All of the Issues You Are” acquired enumerable interpretations together with an R&B model from Michael Jackson! Cross establishes an uptempo swing really feel within the theme and strengthens the groove throughout improvisations (0:50). His process displays a combo strategy decreased to solo guitar, emphasised by his alternation of elaborate single-note blowing and chord comping. The climax stride-guitar passages (2:14) convey the momentum of a one-man rhythm part. He lastly returns to the theme on the bridge (3:23) with a fast cadenza run and closes with free-time variants of the final bars, elongated and punctuated with block-chord phrases, easier melodies, and two-bar tag.

“The Track is You” was one other Cross favourite carried out all through his profession, and demonstrates his affinity for difficult chord actions, which current a super palette for his superior chord type, significantly within the modulatory bridge progressions. He maintains a tighter rhythmic really feel and faster-swing tempo, momentarily lapsing into rubato to outline arrival factors or create area for intricate fills. His strummed fanfare (1:51) units up a bop solo part of single-note runs with occasional chord punctuation. The heated improvisations overlap into an elusive theme return (3:18) till the “official” bridge (3:35), recalled as block chords and stride-guitar episodes in free time. Joe provides additional refinement by restoring the fast-swing really feel for his ultimate phrases (3:57) and improvised tag (4:12) of bop strains and stride-guitar phrases.

Joe reached into the historical past of America’s folks music for his solely authentic on Virtuoso. “Blues for Alican” has hints of conventional blues married to trendy jazz, successfully catapulting Lonnie Johnson into futurist dimensions with out sacrificing soul. The gradual blues in G (a favourite key) anticipates related items, like “Blues for Basie” and people he created spontaneously in live performance. Joe’s capability to play complicated melodies inside intricate (however freely improvised) chord-melody episodes is unmatched and is accessible by way of the blues prism. He improvises a two-chorus “head” that defies 12-bar classification punctuated by chord phrases. A proper scheme is clear. He establishes a strolling tempo (1:25), introduces riff-based chord figures (1:57) developed subsequently (2:30), strikes to single-note blues licks and comping (3:02) constructing to riffs, double-stops and blues improvisation (3:34) and a Basie-like shout refrain (4:07). His final refrain comprises syncopated figures, blues licks, chord riffs, modulating cycles, and a relaxed ultimate cadence.

Wolf Marshall is the founder and authentic Editor-In-Chief of GuitarOne journal. A revered creator and columnist, he has been influential in up to date music schooling because the early Nineteen Eighties. His newest guide is Jazz Guitar Course: Mastering the Jazz Language. Others embrace 101 Should-Know Rock Licks, B.B. King: the Definitive Assortment, and Better of Jazz Guitar. A listing of credit may be discovered at wolfmarshall.com.

This text initially appeared in VG’s January 2026 difficulty. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.