Pasquale Grasso Trio

Pasquale Grasso is a jazz guitarist whose playing brings bebop language and classical-guitar technique to the instrument. Drawing on Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he combines single-note lines, chordal harmony, stride and boogie-woogie touches in solo arrangements informed by Art Tatum.

Pat Metheny has praised Grasso as the finest guitarist he had heard in perhaps his entire life, noting his unusual translation of Powell’s piano vocabulary to guitar. Grasso won the 2015 Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition and performed with Pat Martino’s organ trio; he has also appeared in a tribute to Metheny alongside Dan Wilson, Camila Meza, Gilad Hekselman and Nir Felder.