Pat Martino, whose trailblazing career as a jazz guitarist seemed to end prematurely in 1980 when brain surgery left him with no memory, but who then painstakingly relearned the instrument, and his own past, and went on to three more decades of innovative musicianship, died on Monday at his home in South Philadelphia.
Mr. Martino’s playing began drawing attention when he was still a teenager.
In 1967, when he was in his early 20s, he released his first album, “El Hombre,” on the Prestige label, and a series of well-regarded records followed.
On a tour supporting his first albums for Warner Bros., “Starbright” , Mr. Martino began experiencing frequent headaches and seizures, something he had dealt with occasionally since childhood.
In the book, he described going through a series of misdiagnoses and ill-advised treatment, including electroshock.
A condition called arteriovenous malformation, a tangling of arteries and veins, was diagnosed.
“If I had known I was a guitarist, if I had known those two people standing by my bedside in the hospital were in fact my parents, I then would’ve felt the feelings that went along with the events.
“I had to start from Square 1,” he told The Edmonton Journal of Alberta, Canada, in 2004.
He starts a line on an unexpected beat, breaks his runs up to insist on a single note or riff, inserts odd-length leaps into standard licks and shifts accents around the beat.
He would hide his guitar from young Pat, though in the autobiography Mr. Martino suggests that this “was a bit of reverse psychology on his part” — once the boy took up the instrument, his father encouraged his career and introduced him to various musicians.
Mr. Martino was in bands as a boy, including one with the future pop star Bobby Rydell, who lived nearby.
“What came out of that guitar was unbelievable,” Mr. Paul wrote in the liner notes to Mr. Martino’s 1970 album, “Desperado.” “His dexterity and his picking style were absolutely unique.
“Jazz is a way of life,” he said.