Laurdine Patrick

Pat Patrick
File:Pat Patrick January 1981, jamming at a club in Portland, OR.jpg Pat was a band member touring with the Broadway company of Bob Fosse's DANCIN in 1980–1981. He and other show band members would seek local clubs to jam on weekends after the show.
Background information
Birth name	Laurdine Kenneth Patrick
Born	(1929-11-23)November 23, 1929
Origin	East Moline, Illinois, United States
Died
Genres	Hard bop, swing, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, experimental music
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	baritone saxophone, alto saxophone and bass
Associated acts	Sun Ra and the Arkestra, Mongo Santamaría, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Quincy Jones, and Babatunde Olatunji

Laurdine Kenneth "Pat" Patrick (November 23, 1929 – December 31, 1991) was an American jazz musician. He played baritone saxophone, alto saxophone and Fender bass and was best known for his 40-year association with Sun Ra. His son, Deval Patrick, was Governor of Massachusetts.

Career

Pat Patrick was one of the longest time members of Sun Ra's Arkestra bands, first joining Ra's group in the early 1950s. He later resided for several years in the Arkestra's communal residences in New York City's East Village and Philadelphia. He also played with John Coltrane (appearing on Africa/Brass in 1961), Blue Mitchell (A Sure Thing, 1962), Mongo Santamaría ("Watermelon Man" and "Yeh Yeh") and Thelonious Monk (early 1970s). He also extensively backed Babatunde Olatunji. Patrick attended and studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago, a school notable for producing many important and influential musicians. He also attended Florida A&M University.

Personal life

Patrick was born in East Moline, Illinois, to Laverne and Laurdine Patrick, Sr. His father (1905–2001), a native of Kansas, worked as an iron moulder at a factory at the time of his son's birth.

In February 1955, Patrick married Emily Wintersmith in Cook County, Illinois. His children with Emily are Deval Patrick and Rhonda Sigh. He had at least one child, La'Shon Anthony, outside his marriage. In 1959, a woman called for Patrick and his wife asked for a message. This precipitated the breakup of his marriage that year.

In 1960, he left Emily, Deval and Rhonda, and moved out of their apartment. When four-year-old Deval chased after him, he slapped his son and continued. "Pat" Patrick refused to sign Deval's application to Milton Academy, arguing that Deval would lose his African-American identity there. Deval, whose tuition was paid by scholarship, was accepted anyway. Deval saw his father only rarely during his life; the younger Patrick later attributed his decision to go into public service and improve the lives of others to his abandonment by his father.

In December 1965, Patrick was remarried in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Edna Jean Ballinger.

Discography

With Jimmy Heath

• Really Big! (Riverside, 1960)

With Andrew Hill

• One for One (Blue Note, 1965)

With Sam Jones

• Down Home (Riverside, 1962)

With Clifford Jordan

• Inward Fire (Muse, 1978)

With Freddie McCoy

• Funk Drops (Prestige, 1966)

With James Moody

• Last Train from Overbrook (Argo, 1958)

With A. K. Salim

• Afro-Soul/Drum Orgy (Prestige, 1965)

With Phil Upchurch

• Feeling Blue (Milestone, 1967)

External links

• Audio links to musical performances of Patrick