Who was Patti Bown?

[Hardbopjazz]

February 23, 1972, WNET's program Soul had four pianist playing together. Jaki Byard, Hank Jones, Roland Hanna and Patti Bown. I never heard of her until I listened to the audio from this program.  I'm not shy to admit I don't know everything about jazz. Anyone know more about her? 

I came across this web page that mentions her. 

https://curtjazz.com/2011/04/08/unsung-women-of-jazz-2-patti-bown/

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Hardbopjazz

[JSngry]

Hellagood piano player, sometime referenced as "Brown" instead of "Bown".

 

 

[Brad]

She’s on the Birth of a Band session on the Quincy Jones Mosaic box. 

[paul secor]

She played on

 

[Joe]

11 hours ago, paul secor said:

She played on

 

Some of my favorite Ammons. On CD, she can be heard with him here:

here:

and here:

[Hardbopjazz]

I have those Ammons sessions. I never realized she was on those dates. 

[Larry Kart]

She plays great on Oliver Nelson's "Afro-American Sketches"and has to deal with one of the worst pianos ever on the Argo album that's in Mosaic's Nelson box.

[Ted O'Reilly]

The fine jazz bassist and blogger Steve Wallace wrote a wonderful piece about Patti a year ago...   It should tell you pretty much everything you'd like to know.

http://wallacebass.com/patti-bown-overcoming-in-triplicate/

[mikeweil]

23 hours ago, Hardbopjazz said:

 

There is a Fresh Sound reissue of that album: https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/12941-patti-bown-albums

[sgcim]

The only time I ever heard her was on a video tape where she played with four other pianists, including Bill Evans. A friend of mine who worships BE kept telling me about how bad she sounded compared to BE. Finally he played it for me, and I thought she sounded okay. She went over with Quincy's big band to France.

[Joe]

Patti Bown can also be heard on this somewhat obscure James Moody date (from which I pulled a track for a BFT some time back): https://www.discogs.com/James-Moody-Running-The-Gamut-/release/6727055

(See also: https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/james-moody-thad-jones-albums/5396-the-legendary-1963-64-sessions-2-lps-on-1-cd.html)

Not to mention...

Edited April 27, 2018 by Joe

[Brad]

On 4/26/2018 at 11:42 AM, Ted O'Reilly said:

The fine jazz bassist and blogger Steve Wallace wrote a wonderful piece about Patti a year ago...   It should tell you pretty much everything you'd like to know.

http://wallacebass.com/patti-bown-overcoming-in-triplicate/

This is a terrific article.  Thanks Ted for posting. If mentions many recordings that she played on.  Some of the comments are interesting, especially Bill Crow’s. 

An underrecognized musician. 

On 4/26/2018 at 8:51 PM, paul secor said:

She played on

 

The article mentions this as part of a cd two fer.  Looked on eBay and they have the vinyl but no Cd. 

She is also on this, which you can probably still find. 

[Ted O'Reilly]

Brad, I'm glad you enjoyed it.  It's typical of the kind of research and inside-knowledge that Steve Wallace brings to all of his writing.  He's a hell of a bassist, too!

[Brad]

Ted, I was very impressed with his writing and knowledge, so much so that I signed up for his blog. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

4 hours ago, Brad said:

The article mentions this as part of a cd two fer.  Looked on eBay and they have the vinyl but no Cd.

"The Soulful Moods Of Gene Ammons" is found on the CD, "The Gene Ammons Story: Gentle Jug". Ebay listings here: https://www.ebay.com/sch/The%20Gene%20Ammons%20Story:%20Gentle%20Jug?rmvSB=true

[Brad]

Thanks for the link Kevin. I was looking for it under the original album name. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

BTW, the gold plated CD from Analogue Productions of this title sounds incredible. It's too bad it's so damn expensive these days.

[paul secor]

5 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

BTW, the gold plated CD from Analogue Productions of this title sounds incredible. It's too bad it's so damn expensive these days.

The Analogue Productions LP sounds great too.

[sidewinder]

Remember seeing her interviewed on TV about Dinah Washington. I believe she was a good friend of Dinah’s, in addition to accompanying her (she is on the Mosaic Roullette Dinah Washington set).

[Brad]

58 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Remember seeing her interviewed on TV about Dinah Washington. I believe she was a good friend of Dinah’s, in addition to accompanying her (she is on the Mosaic Roullette Dinah Washington set).

According to Steve Wallace’s article, she played on Dinah’s Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller, from 1957. 

Edited April 28, 2018 by Brad