THE
WORLD OF JAZZ WOULD NOT BE TOTALLY COMPLETE WITHOUT PATTI WICKS TALENT
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Patti Wicks Official Biography Born in Islip, New York, Patti Wicks is a singer/pianist in the tradition of Jeri Southern, Nina Simone and Shirley Horn.While studying at Crane School of Music at Potsdam, NY in the late 1960's, Wicks heard the trumpet of a young John LaBarbera and this experience hooked her on a career in jazz. Moving to NYC in 1969, Wicks went on to lead a trio of Brian Torff on bass and drummer Curtis Boyd. Torff later became George Shearing's regular bassist. Wicks also played in small groups which included the likes of drummer Alan Dawson and bass players Sam Jones and Richard Davis. While in NYC, she entertained at many of the city's more important jazz spots, including Bradleys'. Wicks moved to West Palm Beach, FL in 1977 where for many years she played at the Jazz Showcase, one of the major jazz house in the area. During the 1990's, with her current trio of bass player Don Payne and drummer John Yarling she moved up and down the east coast playing at jazz spots in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island, at the Jazz Corner, Hilton, SC and at various concerts and festivals. As she was developing her style, Wicks made a point not to listen too much to other vocalists fearing she would end up trying to be a clone of one of them. Rather, she concentrated on the works of instrumentalists Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans.Data: Dave Nathan. Patti Wicks official biography: In a jazz marketplace saturated with singer/pianists, Patti Wicks stands apart. She is the real thing - a pianist with a highly personal style of playing and a singer with an instantly recognizable voice. Her superior musicianship, impeccable taste and singular ability to dig deep inside the meaning of a lyric have earned her the respect of her fellow jazz musicians, the unqualified praise of jazz critics, and the admiration of a constantly expanding audience of devoted fans. Despite the inherent difficulties of a career in jazz, Wicks has remained steadfast in her commitment to the music and in her determination to find success on her own terms. Patti Wicks learned to overcome challenges at a very early age. The former Patricia Ellen Chappell was born two months premature, a medical crisis that left her visually impaired. Fortunately, her hearing more than compensated for her limited eyesight. At the age of three, Patti sat listening to her mother play the piano. She then walked over to the piano and played note for note the song her mother had just finished. Her stunned parents realized that Patti had a special gift and decided to find her a piano teacher. However, all the teachers they spoke with had the same question - How do you teach the piano to a three-year-old who can't see the sheet music? It wasn't until Patti's parents met Pat Kleinmeyer that a they found a solution. A Julliard graduate, Kleinmeyer developed an innovative teaching method that would allow Patti to learn to play the piano by ear. In addition to the traditional classical piano training, she also encouraged Patti's natural interest in composing and improvising and taught her basic music theory. Patti developed her passion for jazz while attending the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. At Crane, Patti studied with James Ball, an accomplished classical and jazz pianist. He introduced her to the music of many jazz greats, including pianist Bill Evans who would have a major influence on Patti‘s style as a jazz pianist. She quickly immersed herself in the music, listening to jazz recordings, playing at jam sessions and playing week-end gigs at clubs. By the time she graduated college she was ready to embark on a career as a professional jazz musician. Over the next thirty years, Patti Wicks honed her craft playing New York City jazz clubs as well as clubs and concerts up and down the East Coast jazz circuit from Maine to Florida. |
Her trio
featured a variety of musicians including bassists Sam
Jones, Richard Davis, Brian Torff and Mark Dresser, and
drummers Curtis Boyd, Louis Hayes, Mickey Roker and Alan
Dawson. In addition to her work as a leader, Wicks played
with veteran jazz musicians Flip Phillips, Clark Terry,
Cecil Payne, Frank Morgan, Ira Sullivan, Pete Minger, Richie
Cole, Larry Coryell and Turk Mauro. She has also accompanied
jazz vocalists Anita O'Day, Sheila Jordan, Carol Sloane,
Rebecca Parris, Roseanna Vitro and Giacomo Gates.
Throughout her
career Patti has also been actively involved in jazz
education teaching jazz piano at the college level, as well
as working as a private vocal coach and jazz piano
instructor. In
1997 Patti Wicks released her first CD, co-produced by
bassist Don Payne on his Recycled Notes label. “Room At The
Top: The Patti Wicks Trio” received strong reviews and
national airplay. In reviewing “Room At The Top” for
National Public Radio's “Jazz Riffs”, critic Joel E. Siegel
observed, “The album establishes [Wicks] as a world class
singer/pianist in the tradition of Nat Cole, Jeri Southern
and Shirley Horn.” In 1999,
Wicks recorded the commercial for Wyndham International
Hotels and Resorts, playing and singing “They Can't Take
That Away From Me”. It was aired for two years on television
and radio stations worldwide. With the release of her
latest CD project in 2003, “Love Locked Out” on the MAXJAZZ
label, Wicks has finally moved out onto the international
jazz stage. Produced by Joel E. Siegel and featuring bassist
Keter Betts and drummer Joe LaBarbera, “Love Locked Out” is
a gripping all-ballad album in the tradition of Carmen
McRae's “Bittersweet” and Irene Kral's “Where Is Love?”. The
CD received rave reviews in JazzTimes, Cadence Magazine, All
About Jazz, Jazz Review and the All Music Guide. In
reviewing the album for the Washington Post, jazz critic
Mike Joyce observed, “If you were to listen…closely--very
closely--in search of a shrill note or a needlessly
ornamental vocal embellishment, or search even further for
an emotionally shallow interpretation or a run-of the-mill
lyric, you'd come up empty-handed every time.”
Since the release of
“Love Locked Out,” Wicks has performed at major
international jazz clubs from the Blue Note in Milan to
Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. She also played at several
jazz festivals including the Cape May Jazz Festival, the
Anguilla Jazz Festival in the British West Indies, Syracuse
Festival: Jazz In The Square, and in Italy, at the Livorno
Jazz Festival and La Spezia Jazz Festival.
Although now based in South Florida, New York
native Patti Wicks continues to return home to play in New
York's jazz clubs. In October 2003 jazz legend Marian
McPartland invited Patti to be her guest on National Public
Radio's award-winning series “Piano Jazz”. Patti returned to
Italy in July and December, 2004 with concerts in Florence,
Saluzzo, Rome and Genoa. A new CD, produced by Massimo
Visentin on the Jazz Guests label, was recorded in July.
"Basic Feeling" features Patti and Claudio Chiara on alto
sax, as part of the JazzMates Quartet, with bassist Giovanni
Sanguineti and drummer Giovanni Gullino. Distributed by
EGEA Records, the CD was released in Italy on January 10,
2005, with release in the UK scheduled for spring of 2005.
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Photo:
Patti with Rebecca Parris at the Long Beach Westin.