Don Patterson (organist)
Don Patterson (July 22, 1936, Columbus, Ohio – February 10, 1988, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American jazz organist.
Career
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. 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] 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
As leader
- 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 Vincent 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, 1972 [rel. 1974]) [note: reissued on CD in 1991 as The Genius Of The B-3]
- These Are Soulful Days (Muse, 1973 [rel. 1974]) -with Jimmy Heath, Pat Martino, Albert Heath
- Movin' Up! (Muse, 1977) -with Richie Cole, Vic Juris, Billy James
- Why Not... (Muse, 1978) -with Virgil Jones, Bootsie Barnes, Eddie McFadden, Idris Muhammad
As sideman
- 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 Sonny Stitt
- Boss Tenors in Orbit! (Verve, 1962)
- Feelin's... (Roost, 1962)
- Low Flame (Jazzland, 1962)
- Shangri-La (Prestige, 1964)
- Soul People (Prestige, 1964)
- Night Crawler (Prestige, 1965)
- 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])
- Black Vibrations (Prestige, 1971) -with Melvin Sparks
References
- Billboard, Allmusic
- Steve Huey, Don Patterson at Allmusic