Sad to say that I just found out that the wonderful NYC Jazz Guitarist Dom Minasi passed away. I knew he was in the hospital recently but had no clue how bad it was. My heart goes out to his family, friends and the JG Community. If you don’t know who Dom Minasi was, please consider checking out his interview with Jazz Guitar Life.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dom – and his lovely wife Carol – back in the mid 2000’s when he came to the Montreal Jazz Fesitval. We had dinner and a show – his show – and it was a great listening experience. Up until then I would dismiss “out” playing as being played by those who couldn’t play. Dom however could play as straight as the top cats on the scene and he did so for many years along with releasing an album on Blue Note – the name of the album escapes me at the moment. But it was his search for his own unique voice that led him on the path he’s been on for many, many years.
I’m still not a fan of the “avant-garde” scene that much, but I was – and will be – a fan of Dom’s. There was something extremely honest and pure in his music and that’s all one can ask from anyone really. And if you ever met the man in person, you know what I mean.
RIP Dom Minasi.
His version of When Joanna Loved Me back in the 70s started the process of this then teenage blues guitar lover getting into jazz. It was such a beautiful melody and played so well. I never really saw another album by him and had forgotten about him until I found the album digging thru a bookshelf of leftover records from my folk’s house a few years ago. I figured he was one of the great lost Italian jazz guitarists which seemed to be all over NYC when I lived there in the late 80s along with Joe Diorio and others.