For those of you not in the know, following the extraordinary success of guitar virtuoso Pasquale Grasso’s digital showcase series, which launched in 2019 and includes Solo Standards, Solo Ballads, Solo Holiday, and tributes to jazz royalty Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sony Music Masterworks is set to release Be-Bop!, a brilliant new tribute to be-bop pioneers Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

Born and raised in Ariano Irpino in Southern Italy’s Campania region, Grasso relocated to New York City in 2009 and has since been wowing audiences with regular appearances at Mezzrow, Smalls and The Django, where he has showcased his tremendous command of the fretboard by freely moving between single notes, chords and independent bass lines while flashing Art Tatum-esque filigrees with uncanny speed and precision.

1. A Night in Tunisia
2. Be-Bop
3. Ruby, My Dear
4. Shaw ‘Nuff
5. I’m in a Mess (featuring Samara Joy)
6. Cheryl
7. Ornithology
8. Quasimodo
9. Lamento Della Campagnia
10. Groovin’ High

Opening on the dazzling array of melodies and rhythms within a sparkling rendition of Dizzy Gillespie’s quintessential composition, A Night in Tunisia (originally composed in 1942 when he was a member of Benny Carter’s band and which marked the beginning of Gillespie’s unique blending of Afro-Cuban rhythms with American jazz), Pasquale follows that up with the free flowing titular track Be-Bop and then comes the breathtakingly sweet Ruby, My Dear’ (Thelonious Monk), the gently frenetic guitar work of Shaw ‘Nuff and the comes the mid-tempo swinger I’m in a Mess (originally sung by Joe Carroll on Gillespie’s 1951 album, School Days and here featuring Samara Joy on vocals).

Backed by his working trio of bassist Ari Roland and drummer Keith Balla, the trio is in sync through super-up-tempo, challenging fare like both the excitedly frenzied, and yet always creatively restrained pairing of both Cheryl and Ornithology, the album rounding out on a lushly orchestrated rendition of Charlie Parker’s Quasimodo, the smoothly lush Lamento Della Campagnia (based on the Billie Holiday torch song Some Other Spring), coming to a righteous close on the finger-snapping grooves within the funky wonderment known as Groovin’ High.

“Since I was a little kid, I always had this sound in my head, then slowly it’s coming out,” he explains. “I was never too much influenced by guitar players, for some reason. I grew up listening to Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. Those were my guys. For guitar, I always liked Charlie Christian and Oscar Moore, but I never really listened to too much guitar players. Of course, when I hear Barney Kessel and Chuck Wayne and Jimmy Raney, I love them. They’re all great artists but they never really got me when I was a kid. I was more into Bird and Bud, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and Louis Armstrong. So I was always more influenced by horn players and piano players than guitar players.”

In 2015, Pasquale won the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition in New York City, including performing with guitar legend Pat Martino’s organ trio. Grasso was subsequently signed to an exclusive deal with Sony Masterworks, which led to his initial series of digital releases in 2019. Working with the simpatico rhythm tandem of Roland and Balla again, the great guitarist takes things up a notch on Be-Bop!

“Obviously, I think the older you get the more you understand,” Grasso said. “When you’re in your twenties, you just want to play everything you know. But over time, you realize that music is not about that -- it’s about telling a story and making somebody feel certain emotions. I love Lester Young for that. That’s the beauty of music.”

Tour Dates 2022:
August
4 Vail, CO, USA / Vail Square *
5 Denver, CO, USA / Dazzle *
6 Tulsa, OK, USA / Lowdown *
8 New York, NY, USA / Mezzrow
10 New York, NY, USA / Little Island *
15 New York, NY, USA / Mezzrow
19 Aspen, CO, USA / JAS at Aspen Art Museum *
22 New York, NY, USA / Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola
26 Atlanta, GA, USA / Callanwolde Fine Arts Center *
27 Charlotte, NC, USA / Middle C *
28 New York, NY, USA / Tompkins Square Park (Charlie Parker Jazz Festival)
29 New York, NY, USA / Mezzrow

September
5 New York, NY, USA / Mezzrow
12 New York, NY, USA / The Blue Note *
15 Portsmouth, NH, USA / Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club *
16 Boston, MA, USA / Sculler’s *
17 Lake George, NY, USA / Lake George Jazz Festival *
18 Pittsburgh, PA, USA / August Wilson African American Cultural Center *
20 San Francisco, CA, USA / Freight & Salvage *
22 Paso Robles, CA, USA / AMSTRDM
23 Monterey, CA, USA / Monterey Jazz Festival *
24 Chicago, IL, USA / Hyde Park Jazz Festival (Samara Joy/Pasquale Grasso Duo)
26 New York, NY, USA / The Blue Note

October
1 Costa Mesa, CA, USA / Segerstrom Center for the Arts *
2 Half Moon Bay, CA, USA / Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society *

November
3 Indianapolis, IN, USA / Shelton Auditorium *
4 Appleton, WI, USA / Lawrence University *
10-14 Chicago, IL, USA / Jazz Showcase *
18 Blue Bell, PA, USA / JPN *
19 Pittsburgh, PA, USA / Manchester Craftsman Guild *

* Samara Joy (featuring Pasquale Grasso)

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