Pop and Jazz Reviews : Joe Pass Plays Wryly and Slyly

Guitarist Joe Pass’ Thursday opening of his all-too-brief run at the Vine St. Bar & Grill (which closes tonight) brought to mind an axiom once propounded by the late drummer and wit Shelly Manne: Improvisation is the art of never playing anything the same way once.

The spontaneity of a Pass performance is an experience that gains in impact with each successive year. One never knows what may happen next--when he will change keys or at what point he will switch from finger-style chording to the occasionally used plectrum. He may even announce one tune, change his mind and play another.

Working unaccompanied, Pass took his audience on a tour that began in England (“These Foolish Things” was a British hit of the 1930s), moved to Brazil for a charming Ivan Lins original, then to Gershwin for “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” His arrangement of Ellington’s “Mood Indigo,” played mainly in a series of light tremolos, was inspired, he said, by the voicing of Duke’s original routine.

Though Pass at times seemed most comfortable with a richly melodic lament such as “Beautiful Love,” he is as likely as not to switch abruptly to a blues, played on every level--shuffle blues, double-time blues, walking blues, strummed blues--and from there to a 500-yard dash on “Cherokee.”

The touches of humor in his upbeat instrumentals have their counterpart in his wry, sly between-song announcements. Pass seems not to take himself too seriously, though the music he purveys is as serious and stunning today as it was back in the Donte’s era, when he played in town almost every week. In the world of the electric (but never over-amplified) guitar, Pass remains the unsurpassed master.