Pat Martino (born Pat Azzara on August 25, 1944) is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, soul jazz, mainstream jazz and hard bop idioms.
Martino was born in South Philadelphia, began playing the guitar at a young age. His earliest lessons and fundamentals came from John Hall who had a store front studio at 1701 South Taylor Street.[citation needed] Mr. Hall an accomplished guitarist, was always excited about having Pat as a student. Around age twelve or thirteen Pat was brought to each lesson by his father. Mr. Hall recognized Pat's raw talent and coaxed it along, even holding Pat's fingers to the fretboard and giving him extra time and effort.
Pat took lessons from Mr. Hall for at least two years until both teacher, father, and student realized he had to go to someone who could teach him more.[citation needed]