Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua, January 13, 1929, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, died May 23, 1994, Los Angeles, California), was a virtuoso jazz guitarist. One of the greatest solo jazz artists of all time, Joe Pass also ranks as one of the great guitarists not only for his knowledge of the instrument and technical prowess, but also his compositional and improvisational skills. It was Norman Granz, the iconic producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve Records