Soul Stream Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 (edited) I've just received a DVD that I've since posted on YouTube. It's, to my knowledge, the only taped live broadcast of John Patton performing. It's from the BBC 2 in the 1990's....John's playing Funky Mama. John Patton Lives! Edited October 22, 2008 by Soul Stream Quote
andybleaden Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 I am eternally grateful thanks for that matey Quote
B. Clugston Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks for posting. Who else is in the band? Quote
sidewinder Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 Fantastic - thanks for that. Never even knew that the BBC had filmed him. Quote
AndrewHill Posted October 22, 2008 Report Posted October 22, 2008 Waaaaaaaaaaaaay Cool! Thanks for posting; never saw BJP in action before Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted October 23, 2008 Report Posted October 23, 2008 my question: is this track the only item from the dvd w/ bjp- or is this a whole bjp concert? my comment: i am flipping out of my gourd with bjp-related happiness, god bless you big john Quote
Indestructible! Posted October 23, 2008 Report Posted October 23, 2008 Got damn! This is great!!! Thanks for posting this! Cheers, Shane Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted October 23, 2008 Report Posted October 23, 2008 I had always wondered if there was ever any footage of BJP. Thanks for that!! Hey, Soul, Did John ever say anything about being saddled with the "Big" prefix all his life?? Good thing? Bad thing? (Anything?) Quote
Soul Stream Posted October 23, 2008 Author Report Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) Glad everyone's digging the video! To answer a couple of questions....yeah, I was disappointed in that it wasn't a whole concert, just this one song. Guess he just did one song on some TV show over there. I don't know who the band is. I'm sure just musicians that were provided to him for the gigs he played there. I'm in contact with the guy from London who sent me this, I'll ask him if he knows anything else. Anyway, what a great find this was/is/will be. To see John finally represented on YouTube alongside Jimmy Smith, McGriff, Lonnie, ect... is wonderful. P.S.-John never said much about the "Big" title except that anything that helped you get over in the music business was good. I think that's how he looked at it... advertising. Edited October 23, 2008 by Soul Stream Quote
sidewinder Posted October 23, 2008 Report Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) Guess he just did one song on some TV show over there. I don't know who the band is. I'm sure just musicians that were provided to him for the gigs he played there. It looks like it might be from one of those late night "arts" preview programmes that the Beeb puts out. If its BBC2 then that would be very likely the case. Likely in that case that he only had time for the one tune. The guitarist looks like a very young Phil Robson - though I may be wrong. Edited October 23, 2008 by sidewinder Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 23, 2008 Report Posted October 23, 2008 Yes, I'm pretty certain that's Phil Robson. Tenor player and drummer look vaguely familiar, but afraid can't place the trumpet player for the life of me. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 Great video. First time I've seen BJP on video as well. Quote
JSngry Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 Gohdamhm, BJP is up there with 4 no-swingin' mofos who sound like they're taking an exam or something, this guy's outnumbered 4-1 not just in quantity but quality, and the shit still swings like a big dog! That's mojo, bay-bee, & BJP be haddin' it! Quote
Soul Stream Posted October 25, 2008 Author Report Posted October 25, 2008 (edited) Gohdamhm, BJP is up there with 4 no-swingin' mofos who sound like they're taking an exam or something, this guy's outnumbered 4-1 not just in quantity but quality, and the shit still swings like a big dog! That's mojo, bay-bee, & BJP be haddin' it! My thoughts exactly Jim. That drummer was diggin' coal the whole time. Horns were fine in a do-no-harm kind of way, but the rhythm section...yeah, John drug them along. John was so dead-on that none of it mattered. That whole cliche'-tired-of-hearing-it "saying a lot with a few notes"...well, Big John just showed you what that REALLY means. You gotta know that was a thrown together band of workman-like players (nothing wrong with that) that John just made sound like a million bucks (that's when you know who the real STAR of the show is : ) Edited October 25, 2008 by Soul Stream Quote
Clunky Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 The tenor player is Jean Toussaint , the guitarist looks like one of the members of Hue and Cry Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 Right - Jean Toussaint - thought he looked familiar. Just IMHO but I think there's a risk of romanticising what he's doing with the band a little bit here...maybe actually the band sounds like a million bucks because they're not actually so bad...I'm not sure how a band where one guy is dragging the others along can sound like a million bucks! Blakey liked Toussaint enough to keep him for 4 years...For my taste, yes the trumpet player is a bit pedestrian, but I don't mind the drummer (who I think is poorly served by the sound job as much as anything). Quote
JSngry Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 Jean Toussaint is indeed a fine player whose work I've long enjoyed, but this is not his bag, his "native tongue" if you will, and he does not speak it fluently. Nor do any of the other players, especially the guitarist, who sounds as if he is reading from a book rather than speaking from the heart. Much the same for the drummer. Why it all works is because BJP is providing the bottom, and this is a music built entirely from the bottom up. Quote
Soul Stream Posted October 25, 2008 Author Report Posted October 25, 2008 My comments about John "dragging them along" was probably a bit of an over exagerration. These all seem like good players who keep good time and try and serve the music. John isn't doing it all by himself, but I think Eddie Gladden would have made a big difference here. Anyway, GREAT to see John playing again! Quote
sidewinder Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 (edited) Kudos to Phil Robson too. This film must have been made very early in his career and no doubt the band was literally 'thrown together'. He's for sure one of the top UK guitarists today. An extremely versatile player - equally at home backing Gerald Wilson or Graham Collier ! Edited October 25, 2008 by sidewinder Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 25, 2008 Report Posted October 25, 2008 Anyway, GREAT to see John playing again! Absolutely! [and I totally take the point that to say 'Eddie Gladden would've done it differently' isn't a dis on whoever that is !] Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted October 27, 2008 Report Posted October 27, 2008 Thanks Soul Stream. I saw that band in Brighton on that tour (actually I thought it was a one-gig tour) and my feelings were pretty well what everyone else's have been seeing the video. It was great to see John in person but the band didn't serve him as I'd have liked. You've got to remember that that band (including John) was hired to please a very basic Acid Jazz dance crowd; average age twenty it seemed to me. They did that. There were about three thousand people there, the dance floor was shoulder to shoulder, and the entry tickets priced high for those days (much higher than Ronnies; it was certainly the most expensive gig I'd ever been to; I wouldn't have been able to afford it had Brighton not been my home town and I could stay at my mother's). As I recollect, they played very little of John's more adventurous material - and possibly Toussaint would have been more at home had they done so. My recollection is that this was about 1993, but I can't be sure. MG Quote
sidewinder Posted October 27, 2008 Report Posted October 27, 2008 My recollection is that this was about 1993, but I can't be sure. That sounds about right. Blue Note UK put out that 'The Organization' compilation CD by Big John around that time for the acid jazzers. Come to think of it, that was in the depths of the last recession over here. Amazing that they got away with such high ticket prices. Quote
andybleaden Posted August 6, 2009 Report Posted August 6, 2009 Yippee....More John Patton!!!! The internet still comes up with goodies...check this out from Peter Fallico's site: John Patton playing with George Braith 1997! http://www.viddler.com/explore/doodlinlounge/videos/9/ He has got some brilliant Hammond footage Apologies if seen before but I was so pleased I did a search ( not easy ) on the forums and thought it deserved a heads up More vids here: http://www.viddler.com/explore/doodlinlounge/ Quote
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