*** Pat Martino

STONE BLUE

(Blue Note)

Pat Martino's big commercial comeback splash took place last year, when a guit-star-studded tribute to the venerable jazz guitarist (All Sides Now on Blue Note) found him recording alongside burners like Les Paul, Kevin Eubanks, Joe Satriani, and vocalist Cassandra Wilson. That was fine and good, but on Stone Blue the 53-year-old legend has all the essentials of a strong, cohesive jazz recording in place: a swift and sympathetic quartet, his own blinding chops unencumbered by others, and a handful of originals.

Martino's adventurous recordings fusing jazz, rock, and more in the 1970s influenced a devoted legion of guitarists. Then he suffered a brain hemorrhage and spent years recovering his memory and his guitar technique. Today, his touch is again among the most exquisite jazz guitarists have to offer: well-articulated without assaulting the listener, fast but not blurry, lyrical without resorting to cliché. Several of the dense yet accessible tunes here are founded on stuttering unison lines from Martino and tenor-saxophonist Eric Alexander, a more than capable foil for Martino on the dark, bluesy title cut and a blistering improviser in his own right. Martino's most influential work may be behind him, but Stone Blue demonstrates that we are still in the presence of a master.

-- Bill Kisliuk