Don Patterson (organist)

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Don Patterson (July 22, 1936 – February 10, 1988) was an American jazz organist.

Early life[edit]

Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument.

Career[edit]

In the early 1960s, he began playing regularly with Sonny Stitt, and he began releasing material as a leader on Prestige Records from 1964 (with Pat Martino and Billy James as sidemen). His most commercially successful album was 1964's Holiday Soul, which reached #85 on the Billboard 200 in 1967.^[1]

Personal life[edit]

Patterson's troubles with drug addiction hobbled his career in the 1970s, during which he occasionally recorded for Muse Records and lived in Gary, Indiana.^[2] In the 1980s, he moved to Philadelphia and made a small comeback, but his health deteriorated over the course of the decade, and he died there in 1988.

Discography[edit]

As leader[edit]

• Goin' Down Home (Cadet, 1963 [rel. 1966]) -with Paul Weeden, Billy James
• The Exciting New Organ of Don Patterson (Prestige, 1964) -with Booker Ervin
• Hip Cake Walk (Prestige, 1964) -with Booker Ervin
• Patterson's People (Prestige, 1964) -with Sonny Stitt, Booker Ervin
• Holiday Soul (Prestige, 1964) -with Pat Martino
• Satisfaction! (Prestige, 1965) -with Jerry Byrd
• The Boss Men (Prestige, 1965) -with Sonny Stitt, Billy James
• Soul Happening! (Prestige, 1966) -with Vinnie Corrao, Billy James
• Mellow Soul (Prestige, 1967) -with David "Fathead" Newman
• Four Dimensions (Prestige, 1967) -with Houston Person, Pat Martino, Billy James
• Boppin' & Burnin' (Prestige, 1968) -with Howard McGhee, Charles McPherson, Pat Martino
• Opus De Don (Prestige, 1968) -with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Pat Martino, Billy James
• Funk You! (Prestige, 1968) -with Sonny Stitt, Charles McPherson, Pat Martino, Billy James
• Oh Happy Day (Prestige, 1969) -with Virgil Jones, Houston Person, George Coleman, Pat Martino
• Brothers-4 (Prestige, 1969) -with Sonny Stitt, Grant Green, Billy James
• Donny Brook (Prestige, 1969) -with Sonny Stitt, Grant Green, Billy James
• Tune Up! (Prestige, 1964 and 1969 [rel. 1971])
• The Return of Don Patterson (Muse MR-5005, 1972 [rel. 1974]) -with Eddie Daniels [note: reissued on CD in 1991 as The Genius Of The B-3]
• These Are Soulful Days (Muse MR-5032, 1973 [rel. 1974]) -with Jimmy Heath, Pat Martino, Albert Heath [note: reissued on CD in 1998 as Steady Comin' At 'Ya]
• Movin' Up! (Muse MR-5121, 1977) -with Richie Cole, Vic Juris, Billy James
• Why Not... (Muse MR-5148, 1978) -with Virgil Jones, Bootsie Barnes, Eddie McFadden, Idris Muhammad

LP/CD compilations[edit]

• The Best Of Don Patterson (Prestige 7704, 1969)
• The Best Of Don Patterson & The Jazz Giants (Prestige 7772, 1969)
• Sonny Stitt/Booker Ervin/Don Patterson – Soul People (Prestige, 1993) (compilation of Soul People + 2 tracks from Tune Up!, and 1 track previously unissued from the Soul Happening! sessions)
• Dem New York Dues (Prestige, 1995) (compilation of Opus De Don + Oh Happy Day)
• Legends Of Acid Jazz: Don Patterson/Booker Ervin (Prestige, 1996) (compilation of The Exciting New Organ Of Don Patterson + 1 track from Hip Cake Walk, and 1 track from Patterson's People)
• Legends Of Acid Jazz: Sonny Stitt/Don Patterson, Vol. 2 (Prestige, 1999) (compilation of Funk You! + Soul Electricity!)
• Legends Of Acid Jazz: Sonny Stitt (with Don Patterson) – Low Flame (Prestige, 1999) (compilation of Low Flame + Shangri-La)
• Legends Of Acid Jazz: Don Patterson/Booker Ervin/Houston Person – Just Friends (Prestige, 1999) (compilation of Four Dimensions, Hip Cake Walk [4 tracks], Patterson's People [2 tracks] + 1 track from Tune Up!)
• The Boss Men (Prestige, 2001) (compilation of Night Crawler, The Boss Men + 2 tracks from Patterson's People)
• Brothers 4 (Prestige, 2001) (compilation of Brothers-4, Donny Brook + 1 track from Tune Up!)

As sideman[edit]

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

• I Only Have Eyes for You (Prestige, 1962)
• Trackin' (Prestige, 1962)

With Eric Kloss

• Introducing Eric Kloss (Prestige, 1965)
• Love and All That Jazz (Prestige, 1966)

With John Simon

• Legacy (Muse, 1986 [rel. 1996])

With Sonny Stitt

• Boss Tenors in Orbit! (Verve, 1962) -with Gene Ammons
• Feelin's... (Roost, 1962)
• Low Flame (Jazzland, 1962)
• Shangri-La (Prestige, 1964)
• Soul People (Prestige, 1964)
• Night Crawler (Prestige, 1965)
• Deuces Wild (Atlantic, 1966)
• Parallel-a-Stitt: Sonny Stitt On The Varitone (Roulette, 1967)
• Made for Each Other (Delmark, 1968 [rel. 1972])
• Soul Electricity! (Prestige, 1968) -with Billy Butler
• It's Magic (Delmark, 1969 [rel. 2005])
• Just The Way It Was (Live At The Left Bank) (Label M, 1971 [rel. 2000])
• Black Vibrations (Prestige, 1971) -with Melvin Sparks

References[edit]