Virtuoso (Joe Pass album)

Contemporaneous reviews were positive. For example, The Guardian commented on Pass' "staggering dexterity, [...] matched by his fluency of ideas and the originality of his voicing",^[5] and The Irish Times stated that, "Apart from a certain fallibility with regard to time, Pass is without significant fault, a fact borne out by the quite incredible performances here".^[6]

Looking back from 2005, All About Jazz described the album as "the recording to announce that Joe Pass had arrived", and said that he had "accomplished, using standard guitar performance techniques, to play lead melody lines, chords, and bass rhythm simultaneously and at tempo, giving the listener the impression that multiple guitars were being played".^[7] The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings listed the album as part of its suggested “core collection” of essential recordings.^[4]

1. "Night and Day" (Cole Porter) – 3:32
2. "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young) – 5:10
3. "Here's That Rainy Day" (Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:36
4. "My Old Flame" (Arthur Johnston) – 5:17
5. "How High the Moon" (Morgan Lewis) – 4:59
6. "Cherokee" (Ray Noble) – 3:37
7. "Sweet Lorraine" (Cliff Burwell) – 4:09
8. "Have You Met Miss Jones?" (Richard Rodgers) – 4:42
9. "'Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams) – 3:38
10. "All the Things You Are" (Jerome Kern) – 4:01
11. "Blues for Alican" (Joe Pass) – 5:29
12. "The Song Is You" (Kern) – 4:34

• Joe Pass – guitar

Virtuoso outsold nearly every other release in the Pablo catalog and established Pass as the premier mainstream jazz guitarist of the time.^[8]