Martino studied with renowned jazz teacher
Dennis Sandole, and in his studio met some of Sandole's other students, among them
John Coltrane,
James Moody,
McCoy Tyner and others. Martino began playing professionally at age 15 after moving to New York City. He lived for a period with
Les Paul and began playing at jazz clubs such as
Smalls Paradise. Martino later moved into a suite in the President Hotel on
48th Street. He played at Smalls for six months of the year, and played summers at the
Club Harlem in
Atlantic City, New Jersey. Martino played and recorded early in his career with Lloyd Price,
Willis Jackson, and
Eric Kloss. He also worked with jazz organists
Charles Earland,
Richard "Groove" Holmes,
Jack McDuff,
Don Patterson,
Trudy Pitts,
Jimmy Smith,
Gene Ludwig, Ray Allen (Raymond Chenot) and
Joey DeFrancesco. In 1980, Martino suffered a hemorrhaged
arteriovenous malformation that caused a "near-fatal seizure". He was subsequently chosen as Guitar Player of the Year in the
Down Beat magazine Readers' Poll of 2004. In 2006,
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued his album
East! on Ultradisc UHR
SACD. In 2017, he created a series of educational videos,
A Study of the Opposites and How They Manifest on the Guitar. Martino's recording career spanned more than 150 releases across multiple major jazz labels, with his work distributed among Prestige, Blue Note, Muse Records and HighNote Records, among others. His discography spans a variety of sounds, such as soul-jazz organ trio work, fusion experimentation, and his post-recovery mainstream recordings. ==Musical style==