Pat Martino @ Chris’ Jazz Cafe.

It seemed like most of the music world was in Texas over the weekend for SXSW and half of Philly was peeing in alleys er, celebrating the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in the 5th century.

We took a different route. Instead of the out-of-hand, party time stuff we usually attend, on Friday we went to Chris’ Jazz Cafe to listen to the legendary guitarist Pat Martino.

Martino magically plucked his guitar with amazing speed and agility, creating numerous sounds every second. It seemed that in between every beat, there were dozens of intricate pops of joyful music.

It’s all the more amazing considering Martino’s story.

He was an accomplished musician in the 60’s and 70’s and then in 1979, he suffered from a severe aneurysm. He lost around 60 percent of his memory in the ensuing surgery. He had to relearn how to play guitar. He resumed his career in 1987.

These days, Martino, a South Philly native, lives in the home he was raised in. But he travels the world to perform.

He was joined Friday on stage by an organist, drummer and Eric Alexander on tenor sax.

This weekend, Chris’ features another South Philly jazz guitar legend, Jimmy Bruno. See here for details..