John Patton Corner

[Guest donald petersen]

i remember as a youngster rifling through my father's jazz CDs and getting to one with a smiling young man with a mullet and a silk vest on and thinking to myself "is this for real?" and deciding to never listen to anything this man has put out. and now i see in keeping with the times on his latest album he seems to be rocking some trendy facial hair and hip possibly yellow tinted glasses things and i am ok with my decision. but hey, he played with miles davis briefly and is probably quite comfortable financially, so....respect.

[Soul Stream]

for such a complex musician, bjp had some annoying licks he seemed to use a lot.

and a lot of his compositions sound the same.

but then again i return to his albums more than other organists because he uses interesting sidemen which i think makes everything sound more interesting than it really is.

I think of all the major organists, John Patton and Larry Young were two of the least prone to pet cliche "licks." Especially John's work from "That Certain Feeling" onward. Take an album like "Understanding" or "Memphis To New York Spirit" and point out the 'annoying licks' please. And as far as compositions go.... His later composing style is largely modal, which might be boring to some I guess depending on where your head is at. As Ben Dixon said at John's funeral. "I had the jazz and John had the melodies." John wrote pop hits for Lloyd Price such as "Personality." Grachan Moncur III said he learned a lot about harmony from John and really dug his songwriting. So I guess to each his own.....

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

John wrote pop hits for Lloyd Price such as "Personality."

I didn't know that. I knew he wrote "Where were you (on our wedding day)", because I have that single. What other of Price's hits did he write?

MG

[Guest donald petersen]

i think patton uses this ascending perhaps triplet kind of lick in many songs.

i don't find his compositions boring. the later the date...the more interesting i think they are. the openess of the tunes on albums like "ny to memphis.." and "accent" is a nice change from a lot of the other stuff in the genre. but some of the earlier albums ('blue john", for instance)...a lot of the tunes have a cheesy kind of edge to them, to my ears. the same way that keith jarrett songs can sound cheesy.

Edited March 30, 2007 by donald petersen

[Soul Stream]

i think patton uses this ascending perhaps triplet kind of lick in many songs.

i don't find his compositions boring. the later the date...the more interesting i think they are. the openess of the tunes on albums like "ny to memphis.." and "accent" is a nice change from a lot of the other stuff in the genre. but some of the earlier albums ('blue john", for instance)...a lot of the tunes have a cheesy kind of edge to them, to my ears. the same way that keith jarrett songs can sound cheesy.

I guess I can't disagree if you compare things like Blue John with his later Blue Notes. It's also interesting to note that Ben Dixon actually wrote quite a few of the songs on Patton's first Blue Note LP. No doubt Patton had an affinity for the ascending triplet. It's a real cornerstone of his style.

I'm not sure all the songs Patton wrote for Lloyd Price. Although he didn't get credit for "Personality" and also another one of Lloyd's bigger hits (can't remember which one). He got the screw job on that because he was young and unaware of how he was being taken advantage of. I'm sure he missed out on quite a bit of bread on that one since it was such a big hit.

[clifford_thornton]

ms. longoria is quite something, isnt she.

Too $hort for my tastes.

I also prefer later BJP. Not that I have any authority on either BJP or EVA.

[donald byrd 4 EVA]

"The Silver Meter" remains one of my favorite jazz songs of all time. I consider myself fortunate to have met BJP and shaken his hand. Love live BJP and his jazz legacy!

[kh1958]

ms. longoria is quite something, isnt she. are you sure you're not listening to joey defrancesco, donaldo?

db4-you nuts? i would never listen to anything put out by that mulleted schmoe.

Here are a couple that should change your opinion.

http://www.amazon.com/Marchel-Ivory-Meets-...2911&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/3-Marchel-Ivery/dp/B00001X52S/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpt_1

Edited February 11, 2011 by kh1958

[Guest donald petersen]

kh-i do not listen to music made past the early 80s.

i think these albums are newer.

however i do have an old recording of mr. ivory playing with red garland from the late 70s which i enjoy though the quality stinks. i probably couldn't find it though, if i wanted to...in this pile of CDRs under my desk.

[kh1958]

kh-i do not listen to music made past the early 80s.

i think these albums are newer.

however i do have an old recording of mr. ivory playing with red garland from the late 70s which i enjoy though the quality stinks. i probably couldn't find it though, if i wanted to...in this pile of CDRs under my desk.

Yes, from the 1990s.

That must be from the long-closed Recovery Room in Dallas. While I saw Marshel Ivory there and James Clay also, I never heard Red Garland.

[Soul Stream]

kh-i do not listen to music made past the early 80s.

If you haven't heard these due to some sort of pre-conceived cut off date, then you're really missing out. Marchel is in excellent form and the sound quality is wonderful. The CD with DeFrancesco is just an all out wonderful musical experience. Marchel...man, you GOTTA hear that guy on Leaning House.

[Eric]

My son just finished the P-SAT (P as in "pre" - given to sophs in high school).

Get this - one of the grammar questions referred to BJP, as in something like "correct this sentence - 'Big John Patton are a jazz organist'".

How about that!

Edited October 20, 2007 by Eric

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

My son just finished the P-SAT (P as in "pre" - given to sophs in high school).

Get this - one of the grammar questions referred to BJP, as in something like "correct this sentence - 'Big John Patton are a jazz organist'".

How about that!

I hope he answered, "Big John Patton are a BMF jazz organist!"

MG

[Eric]

On 10/20/2007 at 0:54 PM, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

 

 

I hope he answered, "Big John Patton are a BMF jazz organist!"

 

MG

LOL - 13 years later 😎

[Eric]

I see Ed Cherry has a new one coming out on Posi-Tone, which can be pre-ordered at Bandcamp.  The is a track currently available for purchase - “Ding Dong” from Understanding.  Nice to hear somebody cover that one!

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, Eric said:

I see Ed Cherry has a new one coming out on Posi-Tone, which can be pre-ordered at Bandcamp.  The is a track currently available for purchase - “Ding Dong” from Understanding.  Nice to hear somebody cover that one!

Will also be available (on CD and mp3) from Amazon:

 

[andybleaden]

All these years later I still miss BJP and cherish the odd evening to myself to immerse into the world of Big John Patton

Tonight Dec 8th December it is the Minor Swing release

 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by andybleaden

[Eric]

Forty years of listening to jazz and he is my favorite organist.  Just listened to the delicious comp yesterday:

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Eric

[sidewinder]

11 hours ago, Eric said:

Forty years of listening to jazz and he is my favorite organist.  Just listened to the delicious comp yesterday:

 

If I remember rightly, that was a Blue Note UK compilation put together by Dean Rudland. I have the double vinyl of it somewhere.

[Eric]

16 hours ago, sidewinder said:

If I remember rightly, that was a Blue Note UK compilation put together by Dean Rudland. I have the double vinyl of it somewhere.

Yep, I believe that is correct.  Fun set!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 12/5/2005 at 12:51 PM, bertrand said:

Thelma Patton told me there's a third, unissued DIW session.

Did this ever get released? If it did, I must've missed it.

Michael Cuscuna told me that he put out that John Patton Mosaic Select box set to help Thelma pay off some of John's medical bills. I wonder if it helped?

And whatever happened to Soul Stream (Mike Flanigin) here on the forums?

[BFrank]

On 12/10/2023 at 5:37 AM, bresna said:

Did this ever get released? If it did, I must've missed it.

Michael Cuscuna told me that he put out that John Patton Mosaic Select box set to help Thelma pay off some of John's medical bills. I wonder if it helped?

And whatever happened to Soul Stream (Mike Flanigin) here on the forums?

That Select is a great box! Hope it helped the family out, too.

[Eric]

6 hours ago, BFrank said:

That Select is a great box! Hope it helped the family out, too.

I love that box and everything BJP.  Fun to know he was a local guy (Kansas City), along with Charles Kynard.  I tend to gravitate towards the later stuff, so deeply in the pocket to my ears.  Also love it when some of his sax players go a little outside on those later Blue Notes.

PS - would love to hear the unissued DIW session!

Edited December 14, 2023 by Eric

[felser]

14 hours ago, Eric said:

 I tend to gravitate towards the later stuff, so deeply in the pocket to my ears.  Also love it when some of his sax players go a little outside on those later Blue Notes.

+1

[Guy Berger]

That’s a great mosaic select!