For this month’s blues meets jazz Crossroads, John Wheatcroft shows how to create ultra-modern sounding Pentatonic lines with wide intervals, courtesy of this mighty American jazz guitarist.
Joe Diorio was a staggering jazz guitar player who for well over 50 years enjoyed a successful career, with worldwide renown, as both a performer and educator. He played and recorded with jazz heavyweights such as Sonny Stitt, Eddie Harris, Stan Getz and Freddie Hubbard, participated in fruitful collaborations with guitarists such as Pat Metheny, Robben Ford and Mick Goodrick, and was one of founding tutors that created the now legendary Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in Hollywood, alongside legendary performer and educators, Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco.
Joe’s playing was a beautiful blend of both traditional and modern jazz sounds and beyond. While it’s clearly evident that he paid his dues, assimilating the vocabulary of jazz greats such as Django Reinhardt, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker and countless more, there was a searching and unique intervallic side to his playing, inspired in part by his time spent working with avant garde artists such as Sonny Stitt and also by his time spent analysing the groundbreaking style and vocabulary of John Coltrane in significant depth. Perhaps, however, the true catalyst here was in discovering and immersing himself i
