John Patton (July 12, 1935 – March 19, 2002) was an American jazz, blues and R&B pianist and organist, often known by his nickname, Big John Patton.
John Patton, born in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 12, 1935, His mother was a church pianist who taught him how to play fundamentals. When he was about 13 years old, in 1948, he began to teach himself. He was inspired by the music he heard in his
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hometown, but he wanted to play beyond the Kansas City jazz scene. After high school, he headed East and found professional work. In 1954 in Washington, D.C., he found out that R&B star Lloyd Price was playing at the Howard Theater, and that Price had just fired his pianist and needed a new player. Patton played a few bars from the introduction to "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy". He was given the job.
hometown, but he wanted to play beyond the Kansas City jazz scene. After high school, he headed East and found professional work. In 1954 in Washington, D.C., he found out that R&B star Lloyd Price was playing at the Howard Theater, and that Price had just fired his pianist and needed a new player. Patton played a few bars from the introduction to "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy". He was given the job.It was a relationship that would last until 1959. "I learned everything with Lloyd," Patton said. "I was his 'straw boss' and the leader and he dumped all this on me and that was an experience that I got a chance to deal with." He recruited top players for Lloyd, including drummer Ben Dixon. Dixon, another self-taught player,
encouraged John to check out the Hammond B-3 organ when
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they played in clubs that had one. "Some of the clubs that we would play in would have an organ off to the side and every time I would have a chance to get with that organ, man, it was just fascinating to me...especially the bass line."
encouraged John to check out the Hammond B-3 organ when
A man called "Butts" first showed Patton how to set up the organ and find the right registrations. When he moved to New York in late 1959, and began playing gigs around town, Herman Green, a friend who played with Lionel Hampton's band, took him to a Hammond in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and helped him learn how to play it. Patton was fascinated with the differences in the nuance of the sound that an electric organ could produce. He developed the
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nickname "Big John", not because of his size, but because of a song.
Patton set up his own Hammond organ trio in 1959.Blue Note artist Ike Quebec became his mentor, introducing him into Blue Note and to one of the most important relationships in his career, with guitarist Grant Green. He worked as a sideman for Lou Donaldson for three and a half years, until 1964. "He says 'Play the Blues," Patton recalled. "You don't mess with Lou 'cause Lou knows how to play the Be Bop and Blues and Rhythm and Blues ... I am very fortunate that I got a chance to spend that much time with him and I can't thank him enough."
During the 1960s in New York and on the road, Patton became one of the most recognizable figures in jazz, and was a driving force of the sound of electric organ. He recorded for the Blue Note label with artists such as Harold Alexander and George
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Coleman on LPs under his name as leader such as Understanding (1968) and Accent on the Blues (1969). He was a sideman for George Braith, Don Wilkerson and Lou Donaldson. Patton worked as a sideman for other labels as well. On one Limelight recording "Hold On, I'm Coming," with Art Blakey, he appears under the pseudonym Malcom Bass.
It was in the organ trio of guitarist Grant Green with drummer Ben Dixon in the soul-jazz fusion genre, that he did some of his best work. He also worked with Johnny Griffin, Harold Vick and Clifford Jordan, and some of the early experimentalists, including many who worked with SunRa Records during its heyday:
trombonist Grachan Moncur III, guitarist James Blood Ulmer, and saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen.
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| Grant Green & John Patton |
Patton's style on the Hammond B-3 has been resistant to imitation because of its space and economy. Some have called it minimalist, but Patton claimed that he emulated the sounds of his favorite trumpet and reed players. "I love trumpet, I love trombone, I love reeds...I love it all...Musicians like Fred Jackson, Richard Williams, Grant Green, Ben Dixon and Johnny Griffin...I can go on and on ...This is where I got my concept."
Patton continued recording until the late 1990s. In these later years he developed a loyal following in both Japan and Europe, both of which he toured in addition to his dates in the United States. Several dates were recorded by collectors.Patton died from complications arising from diabetes, in Montclair, New Jersey, on March 19, 2002. He was overshadowed by organists who for one reason or another enjoyed greater popularity, and still underestimated by many jazz critics and historians (Edited from Wikipedia)