Pat Patrick

[jazztrain]

Here's a more recent article from today's Boston Globe: Boston Globe

From the Boston Globe.

There should be several interesting items in that donation!

[medjuck]

BTW Does anyone know where and when he might have played with Ellington?

[jazztrain]

Interesting question. The updated DESOR (Duke Ellington's Story on Records), which includes information on live dates that may never have been issued, does not show any appearance of Patrick with Ellington.

BTW Does anyone know where and when he might have played with Ellington?

[jazztrain]

A quick search turned up a discussion from the Vancouver Jazz Forum. Look at post #2: Vancouver Jazz Forum

A quick look at the summary in that discussion doesn't convince me that's there's any hard evidence there that Patrick played with Ellington. At the bottom, there's a suggestion that he might have done so in 1960 when he was away from Sun Ra.

I took a look through DESOR for Ellington dates and sessions in 1960. The reed section for most of the year was as expected: Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope, Paul Gonsalves, and Harry Carney. In early October 1960, it looks like Hodges left and was replaced for a while by Paul Horn. Hodges returned partway through 1961 and Horn left. No sign of Patrick.

[jazztrain]

OK. Some more digging turns up this entry from Lewis Porter to the jazz.com encyclopedia concerning trumpeter William (Butler) Fielder: William (Butler) Fielder

The entry includes the following:

>>>

In late 1960, Fielder returned to Mississippi for a few months, then moved to New York City where he roomed with Pat Patrick on 84th Street. Around this time, he subbed in the Duke Ellington Orchestra..."

>>>

Perhaps Fielder brought Patrick around when he subbed with Ellington and perhaps Patrick sat in.

Fielder doesn't show up in DESOR either...

[jazztrain]

OK. Last one. Need to get back to some work.

There's an earlier (and inconclusive) discussion here from 2004:

All About Jazz

I'll try to contact someone at Berklee to see if he can provide any details on what might be in the collection that would confirm if and when Patrick played with Ellington. I'll let you know if I hear anything (but am leaving on vacation in a couple of days).

[clifford_thornton]

Deval has gone awry and needs to stop hiding from his life-destiny, which is to distribute the music and message of Sun Ra to the country which is hurting so, so bad. THIS IS WHAT SUN RA ALWAYS USED TO TALK ABOUT. america is in such a bad spot these days and it needs to get in tune and the only way to do that is Interstellar Low-Ways

oh I wish that was all we needed.

[jazztrain]

OK. Here's an initial response to a question that I sent to Allen Bush at Berklee asking about Pat Patrick and Ellington.

He forwarded the following information from Allan Chase:

>>>

I have often heard it stated that Pat Patrick played with Ellington, but I don't know when and how much. Bill can shed more light on this, but in the display cabinet at yesterday's reception, a clarinet part to Ellington's "The Mooche" was there, and it had a note from Pat written in the upper right saying something like "Duke Ellington wrote this part for ME from memory" and there may be a date.

I haven't looked at Ellington's handwritten music before, but I noticed that the flags on some eighth notes were backwards and there was something else slightly anomalous about the notation. I just looked at it for a minute, though.

That seems to be conclusive enough, to me -- he played with Ellington somewhat, in some capacity, at least as a sub and maybe more. When I met Pat in 1978, and we talked for 20 or 30 minutes, we talked about the great musicians he had played with, and he definitely mentioned Coltrane, Monk, and Sun Ra and he may have mentioned Ellington, but I'm not sure.

>>>

So, perhaps we're getting closer to a more definitive answer.

[ghost of miles]

NPR story about Pat Patrick tonight--audio available at 7 p.m. EST.