CD Communion (Concord) with a Grammy-nominated composition

Thank you very much. In the past I've won two Grammy awards but only one statue--I didn't get a statue for the other one because it was a three-way songwriting cowrite, a trio record with Chick. My Grammy nomination this year is for the tune "Communion" as best instrumental composition. That's a non-jazz category, a composers’ category. The others in it are Alan Silvestri who wrote the score for Cast Away, Tan Dun who wrote the score for Crouching Tiger, Patrick Williams who wrote the score for Blonde, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Gonzalo and I are the only non-film writers in this category. It's very unusual and interesting to be put in that category, and it's nice to be recognized as a composer. It was a great surprise and I’m thankful for it--just to be nominated. Yes, there is a religious connotation to the title. It starts with my faith. I think all music is deeply spiritual. I'm a big fan of Coltrane and of a lot of people who try to evoke feelings much deeper than the usual notes. The title has to do with the connection between God and man. It fans out from there--the connection between musicians sharing the music is quite spiritual. Also there’s the communion between cultures. The musicians on the record represent several countries: El Negro (Horacio Hernandez) is from Cuba. Ed Simon is from Venezuela. Duduka Fonseca is from Brazil; so is Valtinho Anastacio; so is Luciana Souza. Marc Quinones is basically “New Yoriquan.” That represents a lot of different angles in those rhythms. I've done a lot of stuff involving Brazilian cats, and playing with different people. And I've been into Cuban music, Puerto Rican versions of Afro-Cuban stuff, and also African music. It's endless, and it's really enjoyable. We had a really nice West Coast quartet tour in January with music from the CD: a week in Seattle at the Jazz Alley, a week at Catalina in L.A., one night in Santa Cruz. A lot of people came out.

“Bohemia after dark” (acoustic bass solo on Communion dedicated to Milt Hinton and Oscar Pettiford)

I knew Milt. He was a big supporter of all bassists. After I moved back to New York I got to spend some time with him. One thing I remember--we gave him these "Bass Day” concerts every year. The Bass Collective (my school) and Bass Player Magazine gave a lifetime achievement award to Milt. That was really fun. He made it to 90 before he died, and he was having a hard time getting around. I remember doing a duet with John Clayton at the New School one night, and he showed up. It just meant a lot that he was so supportive. He was such an important figure in the music and in the culture. His book of photographs is amazing. It covers the whole Civil Rights movement. He was there, playing with all these cats. Obviously Oscar Pettiford who I didn't get to know but heard his playing was one of the giants and in certain ways underrated.

Six-string electric bass

I started playing that in 1985. It has extended range in the bottom for foundational playing with the band. It's not really a new concept in orchestral music. Basses with extensions have been around for years, five-string basses with a low B. The high C string is great for solo playing--it extends the range, the lyrical upper edge.

Early career

I came out to California from Brooklyn. I lived in the Bay area for a time, studied at San Francisco State for year, and then went to Long Beach State for two years. I went on the road from there. I studied classical music in college and played jazz. I’m from New York originally, and really, New York is the jazz capital of the world. L.A.’s got some great musicians, but L.A. is more the capital of the entertainment business. I did lot of things in L.A., worked a lot, and enjoyed it, but there's not as much of a jazz scene--not as much support for that in my opinion as there is in New York where there's a longstanding tradition.

Chick Corea

He was very inspirational, very encouraging, supportive, got me my first record deal, encouraged me as a composer, encouraged me to be a bandleader, believed in me. It was a very positive experience playing ten years with him and the startling creativity he has. He would push himself to the limit every night and find new things to play. I learned how to be reckless in the best sense--just to go for it. We did lot different kinds of music: electric music, acoustic music. I even got an orchestral commission from the Italian Chamber Orchestra, and I got another performance through Chick at this event he was coordinating in Japan. A small group with Chick, Josh Redman, Michael Becker, Wallace Roney, and me played a piece with the orchestra. Then I did my piece for the string orchestra with the six-string electric bass. Chick facilitated a lot of interesting things including Heart of the Bass (Concord), the only record where I got to use a good-sized chamber orchestra.

Writing for strings

“Communion”, the piece that's nominated for a Grammy, is with string quartet, soprano sax, piano, and bass. I'd like to do more like that. I get to do that stuff here at my church. We have some world class string players which you hear on the recording. Lawrence Dutton, the violist from the Emerson string quartet, is featured on that piece. He and his wife and my wife and some other players at the church are all quite active professionally, and it just so happens we go to church together. I have written some things for them before. It's a great bunch of people--we've become like family.

Inspirational writers

Gil Evans obviously was unbelievable. Claus Ogermann is a great string writer. There are some younger guys too: Vince Mendoza is a phenomenal orchestrator. Gil Goldstein. Manny Album, who taught for years. Robert Farnon is brilliant. I tend to study people like Shostakovich, Bartok, Ravel, Brahms, Mahler, and Dvorak who wrote some beautiful music for strings. I love Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings."

Wayne Shorter

He's one of my biggest compositional influences, one of the greatest composers in the history of jazz. On our upcoming tour we'll be doing re-arrangements of some of his tunes that everybody knows. There’s a live record coming out with stuff like that, and there's a studio record we worked on that hopefully will come out this year as well. It has some orchestrations with bigger ensembles including the music you heard at the USC concert. Those kids played magnificently that night--I thought that was the best of those concerts we did that year.

Roy Haynes bands

There's a trio we've been doing for a while now that includes Danilo Perez. It’s like graduate school. It’s really cool getting his stamp of approval. I've also been filling in here and there with his quintet. He’s doing music from his Tribute to Bird (Dreyfus). It's a brilliant record with Roy Hargrove, Dave Holland, Dave Kikoski, and Kenny Garrett. On the gig different bass players have been doing it, mostly Christian McBride.

Danilo Perez trio

Danilo and I have been playing with Brian Blade. We started out playing on one of Danilo's records, Motherland (Impulse). After that we became the rhythm section for Wayne. It’s been incredible. Brian is an amazing musician--quite a colorist and a real poet on the drums. I'm very spoiled with drummers.

Herbie Hancock

I played on his upcoming live quintet record with Michael Brecker, The Music of Miles and 'Trane. Michael was at my house today and played me the mix on some cuts. I'm really excited about it. It’s a thrill to play with my heroes.

Bass Collective, artistic director

I do some teaching there. It's a small technical school. We stress overall musicianship. A lot of young people who come in just play electric—they’re going to get more of a rounded education. We get them into the piano, do a lot of ear training in harmony and theory, transcriptions, different style analysis, jazz, R & B, everything. We have acoustic bass students as well. We have a great collection of teachers. Some kids come from abroad for a 10-week certificate program. It's been in existence since ‘96 when I moved back here. We’ve survived--it's a very competitive market for schools in New York.

Bass Collective website: http://www.thecoll.com/BCHome.html

Current projects

I’ll be working on another record probably in May featuring Luciana Souza, the singer. I’ll also be doing some gigs here and there with my band. We’re supposed to do a reunion gig with Chick and the Elektric Band at the Hollywood Bowl in August, a one-nighter, and I might do some things with his Akoustic Trio. I just did this thing last December for Chick’s 60th birthday celebration. He did three weeks at the Blue Note with all these different bands--I played on the Akoustic Trio.

Website: http://www.johnpatitucci.com/