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No idea when this was released; I came across it tonight. https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/an-evening-in-houston/ Patty Waters is a living legend and every record with her voice is, in consequence, a preciosity. Unanimously considered the main singer of the free jazz tendency since the release of her historical ESP-Disk albums “Sings” and ‘College Tour” in the Sixties, and widely known (Diamanda Galas and Patti Smith pointed her as their main reference) for her impressive interpretation of the traditional “Black is the Color (of My True Love’s Hair)”, her influence resisted to a 30 years disappearance from the stages and the studios. The return happened in 1996, but only to a couple more albums and a few concerts. “An Evening in Houston” marks Waters re-encounter with pianist Burton Greene in a 2018 special gig, along with the greats Mario Pavone and Barry Altschul. A repertoire of folk songs, jazz standards (including “Strange Fruit”, a song we all know because of Billie Holiday, Patty Waters’ idol) and compositions by Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman show us why this mysterious personality was, and still is, one of the most astonishing innovators of the voice expressive capabilities in music, either singing or using it as an instrument. Yes, it’s that important.

Patty Waters interviewed here.

I searched for this book here, and just found an announcement for it, and then some knee jerk sexism put-downs by the usual suspects... While there is a lot of material on the Bunnies (PF was a former model and Bunny) which I just skipped over, there''s some interesting jazz content, and a portrait of the 'Hef' as one of the few civil rights activists in the entertainment biz in the 50s. People such as Dick Gregory, Freda Payne, Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Maurice and Gregory Hines and Ramsey Lewis were given their first steady, decent paying gigs and exposure to a larger white audience at Playboy Clubs, resulting in all of them becoming nationally recognized in their fields. Gregory, Payne, Hines and Lewis were interviewed in the book, and gave Hef's courage in hiring and defending them from racism, credit for their success as artists. Great jazz artists such as Monty Alexander, Gene Bertoncini, Earl May, Al Foster, Al Belletto, Larry Willis and Al Gafa were given steady gigs that lasted for years, playing uncompromising jazz. Willis would get pianists like Chick Corea, Albert Dailey, Herbie Hancock and Roland Hanna as subs if he had another gig. Jim Hall and Ron Carter recorded the groundbreaking duo album Alone Together at the NYC Playboy Club, and Bill Evans had a week's engagement there. In the South, they established a New Orleans Club in 1961, where Al Belletto led an integrated house band with musicians like Richie Payne, and Ellis Marsalis had his own trio that played there for many years. HH had two TV shows, one in 1959, where he featured Dick Gregory, and another one in 1969.where he featured Dick Gregory. The '59 show featured jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, June Christy, Dakota Staton, Beverley Kenney, Carmen McRae, Joe Williams and Billy Eckstine. Jazz groups included Woody Herman, Cal Tjader, Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Rich. Pianists featured were Earl Hines, Count Basie, Ahmad Jamal Eddie Higgins and Dave Brubeck. Crooners such as Tony Bennett, David Allen and Frank D`Rone plus pianist/vocalists Buddy Greco and Nina Simone were also featured. You can find some of these shows on YouTube, and Frank D'Rone's 'Joey,Joey,Joey' knocked me out, accompanying himself on guitar back in 1959!

Patty Duke died today. RIP. I think her hit "Please Don't Just Stand There" qualifies her for a place in the Artists forum. I remember when she followed Ed Asner as head of the actors' union.

http://www.latimes.c...0,4952137.story

I'm intruiged with this singer some may know from the (cult)album she made with Tom Talbert (Wednesday's Child, Atlantic, 1956). As pleasing as the album is (my opinion), I'm most of all curious about her songwriting skills. On the album with Talbert she sings two of her own songs; "Love isn't everything" (Jeanne Lee sang it again on her debutlp) and "I Like Snow". A couple of weeks ago I was looking at some items on ebay. One of them, George Wallington Trio + Eddie Costa Trio Workshop (Verve), took my attention especially 'cause one of the numbers was credited to Patty McGovern... I can't recall the title of the number, but I'm sure it wasn't one of the two I mentioned above. Can someone help me with the title? Anyone familiar with other songs of her? And most important what became of her? Thank you. j.

A buddy sent me this link to a 1964 Jax Beer jingle featuring Patty Waters of ESP fame. Check it out! http://stasick.org/pattywaters.mp3 I actually think that I remember hearing this on the air regularly in 1964. We were living in Shreveport, La then, and the airwaves were pretty full of Jax beer commercials. The first play of this file "sounded familiar", I can tell you that! PATTY WATERS!!!!!

My god, does singing get any more honest than this? A collection of material from Waters' own personal collection, this set includes a 1964 Jax Beer jingle (w/Joe Newman!), a 1963 demo session for Columbia (produced by Tom Wilson, whose between-take chatter is priceless, a 1960 cut recirded in San Diego (when Waters was still singing, quite well, too, in a "traditional" "torch song" style, and, the real news, pieces recorded in 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1979, years which Waters was allegedly "lost" a la Henry Grimes. The material is a collection of standards and originals. The latter are very, VERY personal in their lyrics. Some might even call them obsessive. They focus on lonlieness and love for somebody who's not there any more (possibly Clifford Jarvis?), and they are at once compelling and disturbing, although Waters' delivery is very, VERY low-key. There's also a long solo piano piece that is simply beautiful. Nothing at all "difficult" about it, but the timing and the sensitivity of the playing makes it difficult not to get pulled in/wrapped up in it. Highlight of the disc for me is a version of "For All We Know" from 1979 - just a vocal-piano duet (all the vocal numbers save for the Jax thing, are piano (either Waters herself or somebody else) and vocal only). This song has a pretty intense lyric anyway, but Waters sings it with a mixture of resignation, sadness, loss, and quiet (VERY quiet) desperation that is the definitive reading of it, at least that I've heard. There's none of the groundbreaking extended vocal techniques of the ESP albums, btw. This is just a collection of songs by a woman who sounds like she's been there and back, and if she hasn't yet begin to find all the piecesto put back together yet, she definitely knows what it'll be like when she does. IF she does (and reports are that she has, thank God). Certainly not for everybody in these less-than-vocalist-friendly parts, but those inclined to get into singers and songs that are totally devoid of artifice and cut straight to the bone of what's going on inside are advised to check it out. It's frighteningly intimate and vulnerable, at times maybe even "unhealthily" so, but I can handle that. BTW - There's a nude photo from 1970 inside the booklet. But it's not nearly as naked as the singing.