PRESS RELEASES
Paquale Grasso | “Solo Be-Bop”
JAZZ GUITAR VIRTUOSO
PASQUALE GRASSO
RELEASES NEW SONY MUSIC MASTERWORKS ALBUM
SOLO BE-BOP!
AVAILABLE JUNE 13, 2025 – LISTEN HERE
While in the studio wrapping up sessions for the Fervency trio album, guitarist Pasquale Grasso found himself with two extra days booked and no fixed plan. At the suggestion of his producer, Grasso sat down alone with his guitar and let the music flow. The result is Solo Be-Bop!, a virtuosic, deeply personal solo guitar album that honors the complexity, soul, and swing of Bebop’s piano greats. Listen Here.
Grasso grew up studying the left-hand swagger and right-hand fireworks of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, and Earl Hines. On Solo Be-Bop!, he channels their spirit into his own singular six-string language, swinging unaccompanied with total command and creativity. “Whether you’re alone or in a band, you’re supposed to swing by yourself anyway if you want to play this music,” Grasso says. And swing he does.
One of the many highlights on Solo Be-Bop! Is a dazzling version of Charlie Parker’s “Chasin’ the Bird,” which Grasso approaches as a technical etude, pushing the independence of all his fingers to new extremes.
“As a guitar player, I like to take challenges to get better technically,” Grasso says, “and this song was one song that helped me a lot to achieve independence between all my fingers Not an easy task, but very rewarding.”
Grasso’s take on “Salt Peanuts,” a song he normally plays with his trio, bursts with rhythmic vitality even in the absence of a band. The album also includes heartfelt nods to his personal influences: “Stella by Starlight” evokes warm memories of studying with Barry Harris, while the ballad “Pannonica” pays tribute to his mother’s favorite Thelonious Monk tune.
On “Sid’s Delight” (written by Tadd Dameron, one of Grasso’s favorite composers), the guitarist tried to mimic the original 1949 recording, which he says has a fantastic arrangement and a great solo by trumpeter Fats Navarro.
Grasso, who was raised on a farm in Ariano Irpino in Italy, offers a tender dedication to his family on “Time Waits,” capturing the emotional gravity of distance with striking nuance.
“It’s hard to be far away from your home and I’m so glad to have a great family that I can talk to every day and share my life,” Grasso says.
Grasso took some liberties with Bud Powell’s “Monopoly” by modifying the rhythm changes somewhat. “Bud had a different way of playing rhythm changes throughout his career, even all the songs with different chord changes,” Grasso says. “This one in particular is very hard to play.”
Not long after to moving to New York City in 2012, Grasso would see performances by pianist Sasha Perry, who would often talk about pianist Elmo Hope’s compositions and the way he played piano. Grasso got inspired to study Hope’s music and fell in love with “Stars Over Marrakech,” which he renders brilliantly on Solo Be-Bop!, alternating bass lines with the chordal melody on the verses.
With Solo Be-Bop!, Grasso doesn’t just reinterpret these pieces he inhabits them fully, creating an album that’s as daring as it is heartfelt. This is Bebop guitar at its most exposed and expressive: a masterful conversation between past and present, with no one else in the room.
SOLO BE-BOP!
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 13, 2025
TRACKLIST
1. Chasin’ the Bird
2. Salt Peanuts
3. Sid’s Delight
4. Time Waits
5. Manhattan
6. Monopoly
7. Stars Over Marrakech
8. Stella by Starlight
9. Happy Hour
10. Sure Thing
11. Pannonica
12. Yeheadeadeadee
ABOUT PASQUALE GRASSO
Pasquale Grasso was born and raised in the Italian Campania region town of Ariano Irpino, in a country which has long avidly supported jazz and produced important jazz musicians. He would hear jazz of an international sweep at the famed Umbria Jazz Festival and elsewhere. But as he got serious about jazz guitar, Grasso knew a pilgrimage to New York City was inevitable, after studying with Agostino Di Giorgio and in an influential Swiss workshop with jazz piano legend Barry Harris.
“I met Barry Harris and he lived in New York,” Grasso notes. “Since I heard the first recording of jazz, every recording that I like was made in New York City, so I always wanted to come here.”
Early in his career, there was also a barrier he faced given his passion for traditional jazz. “It was hard there to be there (in Italy) as a jazz artist, especially for the music that I like, you know–the ‘40s and ‘50s and ‘60s. When I grew up, the fashion in Italy was very modern jazz, fusion jazz and very free jazz. People didn’t care too much about Charlie Parker or Louis Armstrong. But now it seems to be coming back because everything starts here in New York.”
Ironically, one of the significant taste-changers was Samara Joy, who he met while teaching at SUNY Purchase when she was only 16 and established a friendship and musical bond. He toured with her for three years and appeared on her ground-breaking multi-Grammy winning 2022 album Linger Awhile and her 2021 self-titled debut.
As Grasso points out, “Samara put that traditional jazz a little bit more in fashion when we did that recording that she got so famous with. Then, it went everywhere in Italy. It seems that in all of Europe, traditional jazz is taking place again.”
As he remembers, “I never listened too much to guitarists when I was growing up because my brother is a saxophone player, so we were listening a lot to the recording of Charlie Parker and Gillespie, and there’s never a lot of guitar on those recordings. So I transcribed the piano parts. I really love the piano players—Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Elmo Hope, Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum…”
Grasso has often been praised and singled out for his uncanny ability to translate the complexities of pianistic influences to the guitar. “It wasn’t too complicated for me,” he says of the skill, “because I didn’t really think about it. I was a kid that started so early, and I was just trying to imitate whatever I would hear. One of my best qualities as a musician is that I have a great ear,” he laughs. “I have a perfect pitch. That’s what God gave me. It is very easy for me to replicate what I hear. I just try to replicate what I was hearing and the sound that I liked.”
Grasso says it’s not all inspiration by piano players. He loves horn players as well. “One of my favorite musicians when I was a kid was Dizzy Gillespie,” Grasso says.” In fact, my dad wanted me to play trumpet. But I didn’t want to–I liked the guitar better. I played trumpet a little bit. I still play, but just in my house, never outside,” he says with a laugh. “There’s a lot to do with the guitar.”
One of the prominent votes of support for Grasso’s strong musical voice as a guitarist came in 2016, when Pat Metheny sang his praises in an interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, calling Grasso “the best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my life.” Metheny was led to listen to Grasso at the urging of Pasquale’s producer Matt Pearson, “…because they worked a lot together. One day, Metheny called me up and invited me to his apartment. And we played, we talked, I stayed there the whole day. He was always very supportive, writing me emails and saying he appreciates what I do. Of course, I’m very happy what he said.”
2025 TOUR DATES
Grasso regularly performs at Birdland, Mezzrow, Saint Tuesday and Tartina in New York City and will perform at various festivals this summer. Please check his calendar for more information
FOLLOW PASQUALE GRASSO:
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Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records, and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com/.
Pasquale Grasso · Solo Be-Bop!
Sony Music Masterworks · Release Date: June 13, 2025
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