A hard-hitting bebop guitarist early on in his career, Pass became known as a great solo performer. His outstanding technique, recorded in the Virtuoso series of records on the Pablo label, gave him the deserved popular fame and renown that had eluded him in his earlier career.

Hailing from Philadelphia (and influenced by the troubled but virtuoso jazz guitarist Billy Bean), Pass began playing in a few swing bands and was with Charlie Barnet for a time in 1947. After serving in the military, Pass became a drug addict, spending nearly a decade in and out of prison.

While Pass was recovering along with other musicians at the Synanon Halfway House, the Santa Monica city council decided to disband the house. In order to make money to establish the halfway house outside the city limits, the talent of the recovering addicts was put to use. They borrowed instruments and went into a recording studio to record a series of original jazz tunes. Sounds of Synanon (1962) made such a stir that it brought Pass instant recognition as a new jazz talent. He followed this record with his first as a leader, Catch Me, and then the seminal For Django, before going on to record several other albums for Pacific Jazz and World Pacific.

In 1974, Pass signed with Norman Granz's Pablo label and issued Virtuoso, the first of his solo guitar recordings. The record got great attention. After that he recorded both unaccompanied and with small groups, including artists Neils Hennig, Osted Pedersen, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, and Dizzy Gillespie, until his death from cancer.