Note: What do Sting, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King,
Bon Jovi, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Paul
Simon, Bob Bennett, Roby Duke, Keith and
Kristyn Getty, Norah Jones, composer John
Williams, and many others all have in common?
They’ve all worked with bassist John Patitucci.
A committed Christian believer, John has
travelled the world and performed on many
recorded projects and in all genres of music.
While continuing his composing, touring,
recording, teaching and lecturing involvement,
John also serves as a Visiting Scholar at the
prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston,
[John] Yes, I was part of Possibilities.
“I remember
[WM] I was devastated when I watched that, I
thinking how
did this happen?
How did I get
here? I’m just
MA, and is the recipient of multiple Grammy
awards and “Best Bass Player” honors from
Guitar Player and Bass Player Magazines. In
1986, The National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences voted him “Most Valuable
the secular? I met and began recording and
touring with John some 40 years ago. Here’s
a kid from East
Brooklyn.”
like Michael Brecker, Al Foster, Billy Hart, and
do you think if I come back?” And they said,
[John Patitucci] (laughs) Was it 1979 when It’s interesting because when it’s right, it’s a
“Just come.” Because it’s really communal.
we met? microcosm of what the church should be.
[WM] I think so. It was during your “Tamarack” every possible culture and shade all working
Because there’s a blending of everybody from
band days. together, and when it’s right there’s something
[John] It was an incredible time actually. I moved back to New York, obviously in the 80s
ago here in Franklin, TN. It was right on the
this electric band that he had in mind. He said
to me, “The first thing we’re going to do is the
Merv Griffin television show”, and I said, “Okay,
because Dave Weckl was going to do it, but
he had moved to Los Angeles. Oh and by the
Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. I remember
years, here we are.
life since we last saw each other twenty years
moment for me was I was the first one hired for
drums, and I looked across the stage and I see
[WM] I can’t believe that after all of these
[WM] I know so much has happened in your
with Chick Corea in 1985, the most hilarious
and I’m sitting there with Tommy Brechtlein on
all these great musicians and saying, “What
with that band, and met all you guys.
where, even before that when I first got the gig
Merv Griffin show and they’re doing duets,
thought I couldn’t do it. I kept calling people
producer Jonathan (Browne), started playing
things, God has done a lot of things in my life
way Herbie is playing too. So, we’re on the
Flatbush in
what transpired when we recently met.
moved to Southern California in 1978, met
[John] Aww. And that was one of those
wow.” So, it was me and Tommy Brechtlein,
Player”. How is this all even possible in a
world that often segregates the sacred from
was undone, it impacted me so much!
that transcends. So, what happened was we
the whole thing with Chick Corea and then
meeting Wayne Shorter and all that, Herbie
Hancock, that was a huge thing. Then I started
doing a bunch of records of my own.
[WM] You were part of Herbie Hancock’s
Possibilities (Now on Prime Video), right?
thinking, “How did this happen? How did I
get here? I’m just a kid from East Flatbush in
Brooklyn”. And I still marvel at that.
My brother and I talk on the phone. He’s a pastor
and a great guitar player and was also my first
teacher. I call him all the time with the recent
things happening that jogs our future and our
past all at the same time. When we were kids,
I remember living in Brooklyn and going up into
the attic. My brother had his guitar and music
books, with songs in them from Paul Simon of
Simon and Garfunkle. And all of these years
later, I just did Paul Simon’s new record In the
Blue Light. It just came out. We really hit it off!
Everyone says he’s so precise and everything,
and that he’s challenging to work with. But you
know what? We totally hit it off, and I played
on almost everything, almost anything that has
any bass on it is me on this record. There is one
public square for a Jazz festival and you were thing with some beautiful overdubs by a guy
playing with guitarist Mike Stern. who plays with a bow named Renaud Garcia-
Fons. So, I called my brother up and said,
[John] Yes, I remember that. Well since then, “Remember when we used to play “Sounds
my girls grew up. My gosh, Sachi and I got of Silence” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
married in 1995, and she wanted to go back from the guitar book?
to New York, but I was afraid to. All of my
favorite bass players were in New York, and I
“Possibilities” trailer
May 2019
[WM] There’s a lot to be said here with you
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