Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts grew up apart from his father, Pat. His dad was a saxophonist who devoted most of his adult life to the music and spacebound teachings of Sun Ra, the band leader who for many devotees of the avant garde epitomizes freedom and adventure in late 20th century jazz. Patrick’s wild baritone saxophone solos, often played far above the horn’s normal range, were for
more than 30 years rousing components of Sun Ra’s concerts and recordings.
Governor Patrick has seldom spoken about his father, but nearly twenty years after his death, the governor and his family have donated Pat Patrick’s collection of scores, photographs and recordings to Berklee College of Music. In today’s Boston Globe, David Abel reports on the donation, the contrast between the free-spirited father and his studious son, and their spotty relationship. The online version of the story includes a video clip with the voices of father and son and samples of Pat Patrick’s playing with Sun Ra. To read it, go here.
This clip of the Sun Ra Arkestra in Berlin in 1986 will give you an idea of the difference between Pat Patrick’s working environment and that of his son in the statehouse. Patrick, Sr.’s baritone sets the riff :40 into the video. Don’t miss his duet with the trombonist beginning at 4:00. Take a deep breath and click on the Play symbol.
For quieter moment’s in Patrick’s career, you will find him in the reed section on Jimmy Heath’s Really Big CD, Blue Mitchell’s rare A Sure Thing and John Coltrane’s Africa Brass Sessions.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
Hmmm… do you reckon that’s how Patrick got to be a saint, playing with Trane and Sun Ra both? and that regular immersion in his dad’s music would make son-of-saint pol a better guv?
Seems pretty studious to me!
Saxophonists, or their progeny, in high office are nothing new of course. Did you know Crazy Al Greenspan did a cuppa joe stint on the Woody Herman band? But he and Clinton basically read the spots.
The son of an Arkestrian, OTOH…yes, I think he could potentially be a person of expanded consciousness, but it strikes me that that’s not the kind of person we vote for. Too kum-ba-ya. Too highfaluting. Spiritual unity was all right for the Back Bay transcendentalists, but it don’t cut no ice in Southie or Roxbury.
One of the things we insist a chief executive do is to wade head-on into the bull—t – to cut thru some kinds, to reinforce and validate other kinds. If he negotiates this right AND looks to his public image (more bull, you could say), he may be kept on.
But I don’t know that a playful, crazyass, Ra-like perspective is compatible with those goals. We not only demand that leaders wade into the bull, but that they take it seriously.