John Patitucci – Bass

I don’t do nearly enough John Patitucci transcriptions. I first heard him when he appeared on the first Chick Corea Elektric Band – would you believe it was ‘Got A Match’ which I heard on the radio (BBC Radio 2 – Jazz Today with Charles Fox – a great programme which featured the real deal inc. sessions from London musicians like Django Bates and John Parricelli – not that rubbish Jamie Cullum plays).

In the late 1970s, Patitucci studied acoustic bass at San Francisco State University and Long Beach State University. He began his professional career when he moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and made connections with Henry Mancini, Dave Grusin and Tom Scott. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s he was a member of three Chick Corea groups: the Elektric Band, the Akoustic Band, and the quartet. As a leader he formed a trio with Joey Calderazzo and Peter Erskine, and a quartet with Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Tavaglione and John Beasley. He has played with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Roy Haynes amongst many others. Patitucci was one of those guys that proved that you could play electric bass and double bass without compromising either (others include Brian Bromberg, Avishai Cohen – the number of exceptional doublers has increased exponentially in my lifetime).

He was the artistic director of the Bass Collective, a school for bassists in New York City and is involved with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program. He was Professor of Jazz Studies at City College of New York. In June 2012 he started the Online Jazz Bass School. He was appointed artist in residence at Berklee College of Music.

This is the written part for the tune ‘Mali’ from the John Patitucci Trio album ‘Remembrance’ released in 2009. It is essentially an AABA based around two different ostinatos.