Berklee lands Patrick jazz treasure trove [Boston Globe March 17, 2010]

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/03/17/berklee_lands_pat_patricks_jazz_trove/

Berklee lands Patrick jazz treasure trove
Governor donates father’s legendary memorabilia

By David Abel
Globe Staff / March 17, 2010

The mischievous baritone saxophonist, known as much for accompanying jazz legends as for the deep, soulful bellow of his own compositions, left a trove of recordings, scores, photographs, and assorted personal artifacts.

The cultural legacy of Laurdine “Pat’’ Patrick, who died of leukemia in 1991, is like gold for music historians, said officials at the Berklee College of Music, who announced yesterday that they have received a vast collection of the musician’s archives as a gift from his son, Governor Deval Patrick.

“It was a lot of stuff, and we weren’t quite sure what to do with it, so we made contact with some cousins by marriage at Berklee,’’ the governor said in an interview yesterday. “Berklee is here in Massachusetts. We wanted to have access to it here as a family.’’

He added: “The material offers real insights into my father’s life and times, even for me.’’

Pat Patrick was best known for his 40-year association with band leader and composer Sun Ra, whom he accompanied on overseas tours and collaborated with on albums. Patrick also played with jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk.

“The story of Pat Patrick and the Sun Ra Arkestra is an important one for our students to know,’’ Berklee president Roger Brown said in a statement. “The band was dedicated to their own artistry and creativity and not commercial pursuits. They thrived by creating and populating their own community, which became a parallel universe to the mainstream music industry.’’

The Patrick Patrick collection includes original scores and arrangements by Patrick and Ellington; hundreds of photographs and negatives of Patrick on tour, in the studio, with his family, and with associates such as Monk and trumpeter Clark Terry; a ledger book from El Saturn Records, Ra’s label, in which Patrick tracked album sales from 1957-1959; a scrapbook of his music jobs in Chicago during the 1950s; and a recording of him playing trumpet at 10.

The collection will officially become part of the college’s Africana studies archive after a dedication ceremony and celebration of Patrick’s life March 24. The governor plans to speak at the event, and Berklee students and faculty will perform music written or recorded by his father.

Professor Bill Banfield, director of Africana studies, said Patrick’s career should serve as an example for students on how to become a complete artist, someone well-versed in a variety of disciplines, more interested in perfecting his skills than becoming famous.

“We want to teach musicians to be broader-based, deeper musicians and not just seeking to be on ‘American Idol,’ ’’ Banfield said. “Pat Patrick was a total artist. He wasn’t just interested in playing. His work expanded the traditional definition of a musician: He wrote, arranged, composed, orchestrated, and documented the culture.’’

Ed Hazell, a jazz historian from Somerville, said he was eager to spend time studying the collection, which he said includes “really stunning stuff that provides a unique window into African-American music.’’

He described Patrick as the rare musician whose skills allowed him to span many styles of jazz, from bebop to hard bop.

“Because he was so broad-based in his abilities, the collection reaches in all kinds of directions,’’ Hazell said.

Patick’s domestic life was more complicated, and the governor had a distant relationship with his father, who largely abandoned his family. In 1984, in one of the instances he reappeared, Pat Patrick showed up at his son’s wedding with a band. The music was his gift.

Pat Patrick was the son of a trumpet player and a native of East Moline, Ill., where he learned to play the baritone, alto saxophone flute, and clarinet.

In the early 1950s, he made a name for himself in Chicago, where he played with Sammy Davis Jr. and Eartha Kitt. He later signed on with the Sun Ra Arkestra, an African-American group known for its avant-garde compositions. In the 1960s, he accompanied Ellington and Coltrane, and served as musical director for Mongo Santamaria, the Cuban drummer. Later, he traveled around the country with several Broadway shows.

Patrick wrote more than half a dozen songs, including a fast-paced bebop tune called “Yeh, Yeh,’’ which became a hit after it was released in 1963 on Santamaria’s album “Watermelon Man.’’ It was featured in commercials for Chrysler and AT&T.

The governor said he learned about his father’s trove shortly after he was inaugurated.

“I got a call from a guy in East Moline who said he owned a storage facility,’’ the governor said. “He said the storage facility had been emptied out except for his papers and stuff and that he had on a couple of occasions thrown them away but then gone back to the Dumpster and got them out, because he just couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it.’’

The governor said the man drove to Massachusetts with the collection, which included boxes full of photos, journals, and original musical manuscripts in his father’s handwriting.

Patrick gave most of the collection to Berklee several years ago, and he said they have been cataloguing it ever since.

“Berklee students have dazzled [my wife] Diane and me on countless occasions,’’ the governor said. “I love the idea of giving such talented students something they might really make something of.’’

John Guilfoil of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.

Covers for New Sun Ra Releases on Norton Records [Fall 2009]

New Sun Ra Releases on Norton Records [Fall 2009]

http://nortonville.blogspot.com/

We've also got three volumes on LP and CD of Sun Ra's early Chicago-era vocal group recordings, including a mess of unished mayhem and an entire set of Muck Muck Yochanan and other delights. Copious notes from Arkesta trapsman Michael D. Anderson and the Norton crew, fastidious transfers and mastering, and beauteous packages make these an essential trio for all. Dig also a superb seven inch spoken word 45 RPM single of Sun Ra!

WATCH OUT FOR MUCK MUCK!
Norton recently took a rocket ride into the vaults of El Saturn Research and arrived back on Earth with a motherlode of unissued early R&B, doo wop, soul and general weirdness featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra backing a variety of artists. Atomic outer space genius from yet another Norton turban headed star!

http://www.nortonrecords.com/index2.html

SUN RA - INTERPLANETARY MELODIES (Norton 352)
COSMIC RAYS - Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie / Dreaming* / Bye Bye / Somebody’s In Love* / Summertime / CRYSTALS - Honey In The Bee Box* / NU SOUNDS - Spaceship Lullaby* / I’m Through With You* / Africa / Dabba Dabba Dabba Du Day* / QUALITIES - It’s Christmas Time / If I Only Hadn’t Sinned* / JUANITA ROGERS - Love Letters Full Of Promises* / JUANITA ROGERS AND LYNN HOLLINGS -Teenager's Letter Of Promises / SUN RA - Tony’s Wife* (* = previously unissued)

LP-$10
CD-$12

SUN RA - THE SECOND STOP IS JUPITER (Norton 353)
COSMIC RAYS - Somebody's In Love / Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie* / Dreaming / There’s A Small Hotel* / The Second Stop Is Jupiter* / NU SOUNDS - Spaceship Lullaby* / Honeysuckle Rose* / Baby Won't You Please Be Mine* / Black Sky And Blue Moon* / Dreams Come True* / QUALITIES - Happy New Year To You / She’s My Moonglow* / CRYSTALS - Little Sally Walker* / JUANITA ROGERS - I’m So Glad You Love Me* / I’m So Glad You Love Me / SUN RA - Stuff Like That There* (* = previously unissued)

LP-$10
CD-$12

SUN RA - ROCKET SHIP ROCK (Norton 354)
YOCHANAN - Muck Muck / Hot Skillet Momma / Rocket Ship Rock* / Is That Me?* / Hot Skillet Mama (alt. take)* / Muck Muck (alt. take)* / The Sun Man Speaks / Message To Earthman #1 / Message To Earthman #2 / LITTLE MACK - Tell Her To Come On Home / LACY GIBSON - I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman / EBAH - I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman* / DON (DINO) DEAN - Space Stroll (* = previously unissued)

LP-$10
CD-$12

SUN RA - I AM STRANGE / I AM AN INSTRUMENT (45-153)
Unissued sixties spoken word mysticism from Saturn, with otherworldly instrumentation. Absolutely brain bending and everso essential!

45-$5

Lightning Bolt and Sun Ra Arkestra: Cosmic Connection

http://revision3.com/xlr8rtv/lbsr

Lightning Bolt and Sun Ra Arkestra: Cosmic Connection
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 – running time 08:26

Filmmaker Peter Glantz explores musical, spiritual, and cosmic connections between these two seemingly disparate groups.

We turned this episode of XLR8R TV over to filmmaker Peter Glantz, who went to Providence, Rhode Island's Foo Fest to take a closer look at the festival's two main attractions—Lightning Bolt and Sun Ra Arkestra. Lightning Bolt, Providence's epic noise duo headed up by Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson, is known for surprising, chaotic, often transcendent performances. Sun Ra Arkestra became legendary in the jazz world under the leadership of cosmic philosopher and organist Sun Ra from the mid-1950s until his death in 1993. Today, the Arkestra continues to flourish and promote the cosmic philosophy of Sun Ra under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen. Here, Glantz captures both their live performances and meditates on the spiritual alliance between these two far-flung musical compatriots.

Program of rare music films on Saturday, Sept 19 at Monkeytown in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. 7:30 pm

http://www.monkeytownhq.com/9_19_09EARLY.html

A Night of Rare Film Jams

Saturday, September 19th
Admission: $5, $10 minimum
Showtime: 7:30 pm
reservations are recommended

This program features four very unconventional takes on the concert film.

The Singing Fishermen of Ghana by Pete and Toshi Seeger.
1964, 13 minutes.
Young Ghanaian fishermen bring percussionists along on their boats to accompany their work songs, which helps them pace their rowing. They also turn the act of pulling their fish nets onto the shore into a singing, dancing celebration.

Cigarette Blues by Les Blank and Alan Govenar.
1985, 6 minutes.
Sonny Rhodes and the Texas Twisters perform a searing anti-smoking number, accompanied by a beautiful gyrating, smoking dancer and clips of Rhodes talking about the blues.

Christopher Tree by Les Blank.
1967, 10 minutes.
"Improvising spontaneously in a pristine forest, Christopher Tree creates an inspired state of mind in the viewer with his one-man orchestra that includes 40 Tibetan temple gongs, flutes, tympani and wind chimes.” – Les Blank

Spaceways by Edward English.
1968, 18 minutes.
Gorgeous black and white film of Sun Ra and the Arkestra rehearsing at the Sun Ra house at 48 East 3rd Street in New York for their appearance at Carnegie Hall.

Curated by Lauren Madow

October 31, 2009 Sun Ra Arkestra Halloween show at International House Philadelphia

http://www.arsnovaworkshop.org/events/sun-ra-arkestra-under-direction-marshall-allen-10-31-2009

International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 8:00 pm
Price: $20 General Admission

Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
Anti-Jazz: The New Thing Revisited

Marshall Allen, alto saxophone + Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI)
Yah Yah Abdul-Majid, tenor saxophone
Knoel Scott, alto saxophone
Danny Ray Thompson, baritone saxophone
Farid Barron, piano
Fred Adams, trumpet
Michael Ray, trumpet
Cecil Brooks, trumpet
Dave Davis, trombone + French horn + tuba
Dave Hotep, el. guitar
Bill Davis, double-bass
Wayne A. Smith, Jr., drums
Elson Nascimento, surdo drum

Join us for this special and spectacular Halloween performance of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Founded in 1958 under the leadership of Sun Ra, the Arkestra pioneered a unique brand of afro-futurism, forging intersecting musical pathways that explore outer space and Egyptian
mythology. Drawing on the work of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson, the Arkestra are pioneers of the bop-derived avant-garde and collective improvisation. Their work has had tremendous impact on scores of musicians including MC5, Sonic Youth and George Clinton. Following the Arkestra's influential tenures in Chicago and New York City, Sun Ra and the Arkestra relocated to Philadelphia in 1968, where they continue their commitment to the study, research and development of Sun Ra's musical precepts. Following the ascension of Sun Ra in 1993 and John Gilmore in 1995, Maestro Marshall Allen (b. 1924) has launched the Sun Ra Arkestra into a dimension beyond that of mere "ghost" band by writing fresh arrangements of Sun Ra's music, as well as composing new music and arrangements for the Arkestra.

AS220's FooFest 2009 Photos on Flicker

http://www.flickr.com/photos/as220/sets/72157622168301228/