Martino Stretches Out: The Visit! Revisited
Martino sounds like himself while pushing the boundaries of straight-ahead jazz guitar.
The Visit! arrived quietly in 1972 on the small Cobblestone label, one of several recordings Martino made during a prolific early stretch. It did not immediately register as essential—the album circulated among committed jazz listeners and fellow guitarists but remained largely under the radar for decades. That changed when 32 Jazz reissued it in 1997. AllMusic awarded the reissue 4½ stars, and critics who revisited the music recognized what they had missed: a guitarist at the height of his powers, working through six thoughtfully chosen selections with surgical precision and genuine exploratory drive.
What makes The Visit! distinct from Martino's other early work is its lean, purposeful setup. With Richard Davis on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, Martino stretches across familiar standards like "Footprints" and "Alone Together," alongside his own blues original "The Visit." He does not overplay or resort to flash. Instead, he constructs logical melodic lines that speak clearly while never settling into predictability. The interplay with Davis and Higgins is tight without feeling cramped—there is room for each player to breathe and respond.
Jim Ferguson wrote in Jazz Times that it is Martino's musicality on these tracks that secures the album's standing as a jazz guitar classic, and that assessment has held. The Visit! remains essential for anyone serious about electric guitar in jazz, though it occupies a particular lane: not his most famous work, but proof that Martino was a complete musician early in his career, capable of serving the music rather than dominating it.
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