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Big John Patton

Big John Patton was born July 12, 1935 in Kansas City, Missouri. A self-taught musician, he started playing the piano in 1948 and landed his first big gig touring with R&B sensation Lloyd Price from 1954-1959.

Upon his arrival in New York, around 1960, Patton began making the transition from piano to organ. Throughout the 1960's he recorded extensively for Blue Note Records as a leader and sideman, most notably with Grant Green and Lou Donaldson.

His music evolved to incorporate elements of modal and free jazz, without ever losing the basic, earthy groove that he brought to it from the beginning.

He wrote some organ jazz classics such as "Funky Mama" and "The Yodel." His music will be remembered fondly by musicians and fans. During the late 60's Patton recorded some very adventurous music for the Blue Note label with artists such as Harold Alexander and George Coleman on lps such as Understanding and Accent on the Blues. Of particular note on the early sessions recorded for Blue Note both under his own name and also with George Braith, Don Wilkerson and Lou Donaldson was the superlative empathy he developed with guitarist Grant Green and drummer Ben Dixon - an organ trio whose work in the soul jazz genre remains unsurpassed to this day.

Since the resurgence in interest in music from this period Blue Note has unearthed many sessions that were buried in the vaults. LPs such as Blue John which was actually penciled for release, but never was, and two fantastic (and forward looking) albums Boogaloo and Memphis New York Spirit saw the light of day and showed the world more of this exceptional artist's work.

As the B-3 sound went out of fashion in the 70's, Patton's career went into a slump and the organist settled in East Orange, NJ. He started recording again in 1983 and continued to record until the late 1990's, including a couple of adventurous dates with John Zorn and some greasy outings on Muse with guitarist Jimmy Ponder. In these later years he developed a loyal following in both Japan and Europe - which he toured to great acclaim.

A Soulful Serving of Big John Patton, Philly platters from Sonic Liberation Front, Johnathan Blake & more

by David Brown
December 25, 2021

This week, a soulful serving of Hammond B3 platters from Big John Patton to Gloria Coleman and Shirley Scott. New releases form Philly's Sonic Liberation Front, drummer Johnathan Blake and a Nobel Force from Jazzmeia Horn. All platters come with two sides. Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music takes us. Each week, we will explore the elements of jazz from a historical perspective. Playlist Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble ...

Radio & Podcasts

50th Anniversary Blue Notes from August 1969

by Marc Cohn
August 16, 2019

Salutes to Blue Note recordings by organists John Patton (with James Blood Ulmer on guitar) and Lonnie Smith (live in Atlantic City), vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson (with Harold Land), saxophonist Lou Donaldson (with Charles Earland), The Three Sounds, pianist Andrew Hill (from a session never formally released on Blue Note), as well as Wayne Shorter (with a compare & contrast with Miles Davis—radically different versions of the same tune). Be sure to tell you friends about the show, and explore the ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Big John Patton: Along Came John - 1963

by Marc Davis
January 26, 2016

If you like Booker T and MG's, you'll love Big John Patton's Along Came John. It is, without a doubt, the funkiest, bluesiest, most soulful organ jazz record of all time, bar none. And that includes everything ever done by the legendary Jimmy Smith. Along Came John is a great party record, and once you hear it, you'll be moving your feet and feeling the groove. This is blues, pure and simple--and I do mean simple. ...

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Album Review

John Patton: Soul Connection

Read "Soul Connection" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
July 15, 2008

The Hammond B-3 soul-jazz sound of Big John Patton (as he was then called) was perfect for the 1960s. It was the groove that drew attention and Patton made several albums for Blue Note. As his style went out of favor, some of the recordings never saw the light of day until almost 20 years later and at the same time Patton slipped into the background. He resurfaced in the 1980s and went into the studio. Among his albums Soul ...

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Extended Analysis

Mosaic Select 6: John Patton

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 24, 2004

John Patton Mosaic Select 6 Mosaic

The great thing about Mosaic's new Select series of reissues is that they are small enough to accommodate a variety of concepts that might not otherwise make sense within the context of the label's full-size sets. While those boxes represent complete outputs of certain artists and/or labels, these smaller sets can get at certain neglected niches without necessarily worrying about being exhaustive.

The foregoing will hopefully put into ...

Video / DVD

Big John Patton: Certain Feeling

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 24, 2018

Big John Patton wasn't big. Playing the organ-combo circuit in late 1961 and early '62, a club owner began calling him “Big Bad John." The name was inspired by Jimmy Dean's record, Big Bad John, which was released in September of that year and went to #1 on Billboard's pop chart in early November. Patton told an interviewer he resisted the name at first but soon came to like it. It's unclear whether he deleted the word “bad" or Blue ...
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