Who Is Patti Austin – By Bob Weinberg Patti Austin brings sizzle, sex and the experience of a lifetime to a new celebration of Ella Fitzgerald. He also brought the muscle-group of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Fat. Like her idol, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Austin began singing on the stage of the Apollo Theater. only 4 years,
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Who Is Patti Austin
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Patti Austin Live In Manila And In Cebu With Joe Pizzulo On August 9 & 10!
Patti Austin brings sizzle, sex and a lifetime of experience to a new celebration of Ella Fitzgerald. He also brought the muscle-group of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Fat.
Like her idol, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Austin began singing on the stage of the Apollo Theater. At just 4 years old, Austin bullied his way into performing with Dinah Washington at the famous Harlem venue after his father, jazz trombonist Gordon Austin, brought him and his mother backstage to meet Washington, who became his friend after singing with Lionel Hampton. group. Nearly 70 years later, Austin remembers the scene vividly, describing the tall, beautiful queens around Washington’s dressing room – the Apollo hosted drag shows in the 1950s – who loved the Queen of the Blues with them. “And Dina comes in, she’s doing something for the boys,” Austin says, telling her origin story over the phone from her home in Panama City, Panama, “and she leans over and goes, ‘Hi, honey, it’s me. Washington and I’m a singer. And everybody cracks up, and I say, ‘Well, I’m Patti Austin and I’m a singer.’ And he didn’t skip a beat, he said, ‘Well, if you’re a singer, you’ll come out and sing with me on stage.’ I said, ‘Okay! What did she want to sing and in what key? “‘Teach me tonight,’” she replied. “B flat.” After practicing the piano in the basement music room, it was Tara’s turn. . On stage. , Washington introduced Austin, who was walking from the wings… and he stopped the band as they started playing. “I said, ‘You’re in the wrong key.’ The driver said, ‘Oh my God, I’m sorry, I forgot to tell them.’ The audience fell [laughing]! It was the beginning of a great career. The 72-year-old singer, who enjoyed fame before hitting double digits, performed alongside Sammy Davis Jr. and Quincy Jones to Michael Jackson and George Benson, and hit classic R&B ballads like “The Closer I Get to You,” “Baby, Come to Me” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing.” Pop listeners might be surprised to hear Austin and Benson’s beautiful vocals on his 1980 duet “Moody’s Mood,” or on his 1988 album of standards.
. But it was his return to jazz music that broke him to a large international audience in recent decades. Over the past 20 years, Austin has expressed his devotion to the music of Ella Fitzgerald through recordings and tribute concerts with major bands and symphony orchestras around the world. His latest speech, to free himself
Recorded with the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. Being in front of a large group was not entirely new territory for him. “Yeah, I mean, the first big band I sang in front of was Dina at the Apollo when I was 4,” he laughs. “And of course I realized that this was exactly the kind of weapon I said
Patti Austin Vintage Concert Photo Promo Print At Wolfgang’s
.” Coming out in front of the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic and the Boston Pops, he delighted the singer even years later. Austin has great respect for the music and behavior of the members of these organizations. “He walks on stage. and everybody’s tapping their strings with their bows and it’s all pomp and circumstance,” he said. “I don’t know anybody who has that kind of gig that doesn’t go,”
, a recording of timeless gems from one of America’s greatest hits, Austin had the luxury of rehearsing with the WDR Big Band for 10 days before recording. Even then, the experience was almost overwhelming. “When we got to the point where the ropes came in, it was…” he trailed off. “I almost forgot to sing.” “It’s the way Patti works,” said team manager Goodwin, speaking by phone from his home in Los Angeles, because he is a man.
. He is not only a singer. He likes to stand close to the band to hear the rhythm section, so he can see everyone and get that connection. That’s where the magic happens.” https://open.spotify.com/album/0DlHWKXhjJAXw0T0tzGL8A?si=vI1zQA-1SdS5EVRxDpjUXw Austen rejects Rosemary Clooney’s role as the mother. No, she says, she once had a major role in the role. She played Duke Ellington and uses the term “guru” for the singer who recorded with Benny Goodman, and acknowledges his importance in his career. , Clooney emphasized to Austin the importance of jazz singing.” Austin recalls: “He literally supported me.” He put his hand on my chest, backed me up against the wall and said, ‘You’re the heir apparent.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘You should get on with this, Big Book of America,’ because I did.
Album, and a lot of people didn’t know I made that kind of music. Rosie knew because she knew my relationship with Quincy, and she knew what I could do. And it was thanks to Clooney that Austin met Ella. For several years, Clooney hosted the Betty Clooney Foundation for the Brain Injured fundraiser (named after her sister) at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on the eve of the Academy Awards. Austin was invited to star in the event, as was Fitzgerald, and when the two met backstage, Austin lost. “He was shy, very sweet, and I was a complete idiot when I met him,” she says. “Because it was, I’m sorry, Fucking Ella Fitzgerald! So I’m acting like a complete idiot. ‘Oh, Miss Fitzgerald, you’re so amazing!’ And he looked down patiently a little on the floor … and said, ‘Thank you, dear,’ and he was patient and kind to me. Next time, when the musicians crossed paths, someone rushed to bring them. It became a joke among the women., who laughed and pretended that they had never met him, saying , “You look normal…” Austin’s love for Ella, who died in 1996, runs deep.
Cd Patti Austin
For the album, he developed a tribute show, where he would re-listen to the audience with the stories of Fitzgerald’s life. He’s spent nearly a decade perfecting his between-song comedy, often discussing the theme of the songs or the introductory verses that accompany them, which may refer to the Broadway show or movie soundtrack they’re from. Musically, however, Austin knew better than to try to imitate his idol’s speech. I’m not copying Ella. That can’t be done,’ he says. “So I told the audience ‘I’m going to copy her tonight, I’m going to respect her body of work. But in order to do that I would have to go into her closet and pick out my favorite clothes that she has, put them on, and have someone sew me.’ That’s what the show is about; I didn’t copy her. I’m not going to accept it. That happened just after 100 years, that kind of sound, that kind of popularity. Like the Austin theater,
Fitzgerald has had a variety of careers. There’s a nod to Ella’s improvisational opener “Make a Knife,” in which Austin, like her predecessor, gets loose with the lyrics, referencing a 1960 Berlin concert in which Fitzgerald forgot the words but instantly mastered the song. He brought down the house. Bebop Ella found her by reading the Latin version of “Lullaby of Birdland.” There’s also Ella’s Songs, and Austin and the Big Fat Band diving into saucy Cole Porter numbers like “Anything Goes” and “Let’s Do It.” And perhaps in imitation of her duet with guitarist Joe Pass, there’s an intimate Ella represented on the ballad medley “I Fall in Love Too Easy” and “It Never Entered My Mind,” and Take 6 giving sweet words of support. . And, just in case, after Austin and company rocked “Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)” and “I Don’t Know What To Do (That’s How Cha Do It), there’s Swing Ella,” two. apart from