John Patitucci
Encyclopedia
John Patitucci is an American Grammy
-winning jazz
double bass
and jazz fusion
electric bass
player.
, New York
, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at 15, and the piano one year later. After moving west, he studied classical bass at San Francisco State University
and Long Beach State University.
Patitucci has released twelve albums as a leader. In addition to his solo work, Patitucci has played on albums by Zack Charette, Apsis, B.B. King, Chick Corea
, Joanne Brackeen
, Harvest (a little-known Christian music group popular in the 1970s and 1980s), Wayne Shorter
, Herbie Hancock
, Michael Brecker
, John Abercrombie
, George Benson
, Dizzy Gillespie
, Was Not Was, Roby Duke
, Dave Grusin
, Natalie Cole
, Bon Jovi
, Queen Latifah
, Sting, The Manhattan Transfer, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
, Carly Simon
and Everything But The Girl
.
As a performer, he has played with his own band, and with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock
, Wayne Shorter
, Stan Getz
, Wynton Marsalis
, Joshua Redman
, Michael Brecker
, Randy Brecker
, Freddie Hubbard
, McCoy Tyner
, and Tony Williams. He was selected to be the bassist for the GRP All-Star Big Band
. Some of the many pop and Brazilian artists he has played with include Sting, Natalie Cole, Carole King, Astrud and João Gilberto
, Airto Moreira
and Flora Purim. Patitucci has worked with film composers such as Jerry Goldsmith
, Ry Cooder
, Henry Mancini
, and John Williams
.
Patitucci has led several projects of his own, in addition to playing with Chick Corea's Elektric Band
and Akoustic Band and on projects with Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard
, Danilo Pérez
, and Roger Waters
, among others. He now is active in Wayne Shorter's popular quartet. The group won the Grammy Award
for Best Instrumental Jazz Album
for the album Beyond the Sound Barrier in 2006
.
He has taught at music schools in several countries, and he was the Artistic Director of the Bass Collective, a school for bassists in New York City, and he is involved with The
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
and the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program. In 2003, he was appointed Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at City College of New York
.
voted Patitucci the MVP (Most Valuable Player) on acoustic bass. He has won two Grammy Awards (one for playing and one for composing). In addition, his first solo recording, John Patitucci, was number one on the Billboard Jazz charts. He has released five albums with the Concord Jazz label: One More Angel, Now, Imprint, Communion and Songs, Stories and Spirituals. Patitucci has won polls including: Best Jazz Bassist in Guitar Player Magazine's 1992, 1994 and 1995 Readers' Poll and Best Jazz Bassist in Bass Player Magazine's 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 Readers' Poll.
Patitucci was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards
to support independent artists.
basses and has had two signature models bearing his name, the TRB-JP and the TRB-JP2. The TRB-JP2 features a solid maple neck with a 26-fret ebony fingerboard with custom abalone and mother-of-pearl position markers and a 35"-scale length. Other refinements include a sleek sandwiched body made of multiple layers of figured maple, alder and ash, a "slap" cut-out near the lower bout, gold hardware, die-cast tuners with pearloid buttons, a solid brass bridge and a pair of Alnico V double-coil humbucking pickups with an active 3-band EQ tuned to John's specifications. The original TRB-JP sports the same features and specifications as the TRB-JP2, except it has a 24-fret neck with a standard 34"-scale length.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
electric bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
player.
Biography
Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at 15, and the piano one year later. After moving west, he studied classical bass at San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
and Long Beach State University.
Patitucci has released twelve albums as a leader. In addition to his solo work, Patitucci has played on albums by Zack Charette, Apsis, B.B. King, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
, Harvest (a little-known Christian music group popular in the 1970s and 1980s), Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Was Not Was, Roby Duke
Roby Duke
Roby Duke was a contemporary Christian musician and songwriter from Greenwood, Mississippi. He was noted for his blues-inflected vocal style and rhythmic "thumping" acoustic guitar playing.-Discography:...
, Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
, Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
, Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, Sting, The Manhattan Transfer, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh also known as The Princess of Jazz, or Die Prinzessin des Jazz or as Jazziza is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist and composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugam with classical and Avant-garde influences...
, Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
and Everything But The Girl
Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl was a two-person English band, formed in Hull during 1981, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, and singer Ben Watt . They are currently inactive although vocalist Tracey Thorn hinted that they may reform someday...
.
As a performer, he has played with his own band, and with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
, Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
, Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
, Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
, and Tony Williams. He was selected to be the bassist for the GRP All-Star Big Band
GRP All-Star Big Band
The GRP Band was a group compiled in the late 1980s under the direction of Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, principles of GRP Records. The band was a full band, and they mostly played well-known jazz pieces from the 1950s and 1960s written by famous musicians and composers...
. Some of the many pop and Brazilian artists he has played with include Sting, Natalie Cole, Carole King, Astrud and João Gilberto
João Gilberto
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.-Biography:From an early age, music...
, Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
and Flora Purim. Patitucci has worked with film composers such as Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
, Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
, Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, and John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
.
Patitucci has led several projects of his own, in addition to playing with Chick Corea's Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band is a jazz fusion band, led by pianist Chick Corea. Following the demise of Return to Forever, Corea established the musical ensemble in 1986. Following a long hiatus, the band reunited to produce "To the Stars" in 2004....
and Akoustic Band and on projects with Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Danilo Pérez
Danilo Pérez
Danilo Pérez is a Panamanian pianist and composer.-Early life:Danilo Pérez was born in Panama in 1965. He is considered one of the finest contemporary pianists and jazz composers of our era....
, and Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
, among others. He now is active in Wayne Shorter's popular quartet. The group won the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Instrumental Jazz Album
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album is an award that will start being presented in 2012.The Award was previously called Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Individual or Group from 1959 to 2011. The award will formally be discontinued from 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
for the album Beyond the Sound Barrier in 2006
Grammy Awards of 2006
The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Irish rock band U2 were the big winners, winning five awards including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West each were nominated for eight awards and won three,...
.
He has taught at music schools in several countries, and he was the Artistic Director of the Bass Collective, a school for bassists in New York City, and he is involved with The
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is a non-profit music education-oriented organization co-founded in 1986 by the family of the late American jazz musician Thelonious Monk, opera singer Maria Fisher and Thomas R...
and the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program. In 2003, he was appointed Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
.
Awards
In 1986, the National Academy of Recording Arts and SciencesNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
voted Patitucci the MVP (Most Valuable Player) on acoustic bass. He has won two Grammy Awards (one for playing and one for composing). In addition, his first solo recording, John Patitucci, was number one on the Billboard Jazz charts. He has released five albums with the Concord Jazz label: One More Angel, Now, Imprint, Communion and Songs, Stories and Spirituals. Patitucci has won polls including: Best Jazz Bassist in Guitar Player Magazine's 1992, 1994 and 1995 Readers' Poll and Best Jazz Bassist in Bass Player Magazine's 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 Readers' Poll.
Patitucci was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
to support independent artists.
Endorsements
He currently endorses YamahaYamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
basses and has had two signature models bearing his name, the TRB-JP and the TRB-JP2. The TRB-JP2 features a solid maple neck with a 26-fret ebony fingerboard with custom abalone and mother-of-pearl position markers and a 35"-scale length. Other refinements include a sleek sandwiched body made of multiple layers of figured maple, alder and ash, a "slap" cut-out near the lower bout, gold hardware, die-cast tuners with pearloid buttons, a solid brass bridge and a pair of Alnico V double-coil humbucking pickups with an active 3-band EQ tuned to John's specifications. The original TRB-JP sports the same features and specifications as the TRB-JP2, except it has a 24-fret neck with a standard 34"-scale length.
Discography
- John PatitucciJohn Patitucci (album)- Track listing :# "Growing" – 4:38# "Wind Sprint" – 6:10# "Searching, Finding" – 5:09# "Baja Bajo" – 5:49# "Change of Season" – 3:57# "Our Family" – 3:05# "Peace and Quiet Time" – 5:02# "Crestline" – 5:17...
(1988) - On the Corner (1989)
- SketchbookSketchbook (album)- Track listing :# "Spaceships" – 4:38# "Joab" – 6:10# "If You Don't Mind" – 5:09# "Scophile" – 5:49# "Greatest Gift" – 3:57# "From a Rainy Night" – 3:05# "Junk Man" – 5:02# "Two Worlds" – 5:17...
(1990) - Heart of the BassHeart of the Bass- Track listing :# "Concerto Movement #1: Westward Expansion" – 8:59# "Concerto Movement #2: After the Storm" – 8:35# "Concerto Movement #3: Mardi Gras" – 8:16# "Heart of the Bass" – 4:32# "Four Hands" – 4:05# "Mullagh" – 2:56...
(1992) - Another WorldAnother World (John Patitucci album)Another World is the fifth album by American Grammy winning jazz double bass and electric bass player John Patitucci released in 1993.- Track listing :# "Ivory Coast, Part I" – 1:20# "Ivory Coast, Part II" – 4:50...
(1993) - Mistura FinaMistura Fina-Track listing: # "Mistura Fina" – 5:39# "Bate Balaio" – 4:03# "Puccini" – 4:37# "Samba Novo" – 5:47# "The Four Loves" – 4:09# "Assim Nao Da" – 6:51# "Joys And Sorrows" – 5:58# "Agua Mae Agua" – 4:07# "Soul Song" – 5:46# "Varadero" – 3:09...
(1995) - One More Angel (1997)
- NowNow (John Patitucci album)- Track listing :# "Now" – 9:11# "Grace" – 8:55# "Out of the Mouths of Babes" – 6:17# "Hope" – 6:03# "Labor Day" – 9:30# "Espresso" – 8:59# "Forgotten but Not Gone" – 7:40# "Search for Peace" – 5:27# "Giant Steps" – 4:31...
(1998) - ImprintImprint (John Patitucci album)- Track listing :# "King Kong" – 8:37# "Postcard" – 6:44# "Little Steps" – 7:13# "Joan" – 6:46# "Maroon Bells" – 0:41# "Imprint" – 11:21# "The Well" – 5:51# "Essay" – 9:03# "Japanese Folk Song" – 5:24...
(2000) - CommunionCommunion (John Patitucci album)'Communion' is the tenth album by American Grammy winning jazz double bass and electric bass player John Patitucci released in 2001.- Track listing :All tracks by John Patitucci except were noted# "Bariloche" – 4:44# "Calabria" – 6:19...
(2001) - Songs, Stories & SpiritualsSongs, Stories & Spirituals- Track listing :# "Tall Tale" – 4:56# "Chovendo Na Roseira" – 6:15# "I will Arise" – 3:19# "Lei" – 5:19# "In the Bleak Midwinter" – 4:58...
(2003) - Line by LineLine by LineLine by Line is jazz bass guitarist John Patitucci's 12th album as a sole leader, and his sixth with the Concord Records label. It features Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, Chris Potter, as well as a string quartet on several numbers...
(2006) - Remembrance (20092009 in musicThe following is a list of notable events and releases in 2009 in music. Susan Boyle's album I Dreamed a Dream became the biggest selling album in the world for 2009, selling 8.3 million copies in five weeks; more than any other artist's in the whole year...
) (Trio album with Joe LovanoJoe LovanoJoseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
and Brian BladeBrian BladeBrian Blade in Shreveport, Louisiana is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter.-Early years:...
)
External links
- Conversation with John Patitucci, 10/01/2009 at Bass Musician MagazineBass Musician MagazineBass Musician Magazine is a monthly, free, online publication published in Vancouver, Washington, USA for bass musicians and industry professionals. The magazine was founded in 2007 with Jake Kot as editor....