Patti Bown Plays Big Piano!
Overall (HWD) (sleeve): 12 × 12 in. (30.48 × 30.48 cm)
Overall (HWD) (jacket): 12 3/8 × 12 3/8 in. (31.433 × 31.433 cm)
Patti Bown Plays Big Piano is the first and only album released by Jazz pianist Patti Bown. The album was published by Columbia in 1959, three years after Bown moved to New York to pursue a career in music. Although this is the only album Bown ever released, she is credited on over 100 records, either as a performer or as a writer/arranger.
Patti Bown (1931-2008) was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Encouraged by her mother, and following in the footsteps of her similarly musically inclined sisters, Bown began teaching herself to play piano at age two. By age six she was receiving classical training on the piano and being recognized as a prodigy. While her mother disliked the Jazz scene, and wanted her daughters to be classical pianists, Bown was entranced by Jazz. At age thirteen she was covertly working with Vernon “Pops” Buford (b. unknown – 1994) and sneaking out of the house to play piano in Jazz rooms. She received a music scholarship to attend Seattle University, where she continued studying piano and playing with local orchestras. In 1956 she moved to New York in order to work as a musician. During her career, Bown toured with artists such as Quincy Jones (b. 1933) and Sarah Vaughn (1924-1990), worked as the music director for Dinah Washington (1924-1963), and recorded with artists including Duke Ellington (1899-1974), Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) and James Brown (1933-2006).
12” phonograph record with red label. A side text reads: “Columbia / Patti Bown Plays Big Piano / CL 1379 / Nonbreakable / Side 1 / (x”Lp” 48565) / 1. Nothin’ But the Truth –P. Bown- / 2. It Might as Well Be Spring –Hammerstein II- -Rodgers- / 3. Waltz De Funk –P. Bown- / 4. I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair –Hammerstein II- -Rodgers- / 5. Head Shakin’ -P. Bown- / “Columbia” / Marcas Reg. / Made in U.S.A.” B side text reads: “Columbia / Patti Bown Plays Big Piano / CL 1379 / Nonbreakable / Side 2 / (x”Lp”48566) / 1. G’Won Train –P. Bown- / 2. Sunshine Cake –J. Burke-J. Van Heusen- / 3. Give Me the Simple Life –H. Ruby-R. Bloom- / 4. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was –Harl-Rodgers- / 5. Always True to You in My Fashion –Cole Porter- / “Columbia” / Marcas Reg. / Made in U.S.A.”
White album jacket. Front features black and white photograph of Patti Bown leaning on a piano. Multi-colored text on front reads: “Patti Bown Plays Big Piano / 10 c / CL 1379 / Columbia / Guaranteed High Fidelity / Lp” Text on back reads: “CL 1379 / Patti Bown Plays Big Piano! / with Joe Benjamin, bass, and Ed Shaughnessy, drums / Columbia / Guaranteed High Fidelity / Lp / CL 1379 / Nothin’ But the Truth / It Might as Well Be Spring / Waltz De Funk / I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair / Head Shakin’ / G’won Train / Sunshine Cake / Give Me the Simple Life / I Didn’t Know what Time It Was / Always True to You in My Fashion / Critics rarely “discover” jazz musicians. Booking agents don’t either. Nor do managers, press agents or impresarios. Even A.&R. men don’t. (Well, hardly ever.) / Jazz musicians discover jazz musicians. Fresh from a club date in Detroit, a trumpet player will bring news of a new alto man with exciting things to say; a concert tour of one-nighters will net knowing nods about a fine, swingin’ drummer among the musicians who “fell in” to a late spot in Oklahoma City; a pianist returning home to Atlanta to visit his family will return to New York and spread the word about a 17-year-old school girl who sings like Ella or “a horn” who shows signs of developing a technique as phenomenal as Dizzy’s, or a youngster with the wild brilliance of a new “Bird.” / And so it was with Patti Bown. Before any magazine writer, booking agent, night club owner or record company executive ever heard of her, she had been discovered. For the past few years, musicians returning from Seattle, Washington, brought back stories about a young pianist with a sound all her own – a swingin’ girl who managed to sit in with and impress every traveling band to hit town; undoubtedly someone to watch out for. One of the most vocal and enthusiastic heralds of this new talent was arranger Quincy Jones, also from Seattle. It was Quincy, given the opportunity of assembling his own band for the Harold Arlen Show, Free and Easy, who finally brought Patti to New York late in 1959 to work as a pianist with his band. It was, however, a discerning man about records named George Painkin who brought an acetate test record of Patti’s playing to Columbia. The impact on one hearing was powerful and convincing. She was signed on the spot. / Born in Seattle on July 26, 1931, Patti Bown began playing by ear before she was three years old. Neither of her parents had musical training although her mother was able to play simple blues and children’s songs at family gatherings. Amazingly enough, Patti and her four sisters were all born with perfect pitch. / Augustus Bown, Patti’s father, was a longshoreman and her mother, Edith Cahill Bown, a hairdresser. Both were determined that their children should receive the very best education possible, and their history was one of continual unselfish sacrifice. In spite of extreme poverty, the five Bown girls and their one brother were denied nothing in the way of cultural opportunities. / Patti’s first formal music lessons began when she was six – on a secondhand upright bought by her father for all of ten dollars. Her studies were continued in elementary and high schools and then, with the aid of music scholarships at Seattle University, the University of Washington and the Cornish School of Fine Arts. In addition, a great deal of study with books on harmony and composition borrowed from public libraries was patiently undertaken. / The concert stage was the goal, not only for Pattie, but for her sister Edith, also an accomplished musician. The sisters, in fact, had dreams of working together as duo-pianists. / Patti’s contacts with jazz were the usual ones that any urban Negro youngster might have had. She heard her share of gospel songs and blues as a child, and then, with her contemporaries, grew up with the music of Basie, Ellington and, int he Forties, of Parker, Gillespie and other modernists on the radio and the phonograph. A closer alliance to jazz came with her sister Edith’s marriage to Jerry Valentine, an arranger who has written for Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Art Blakely and other prominent bands and vocalists. / Opportunities of launching a concert career are limited, and Pattie engaged in several non-musical jobs while waiting for her change, among them washing windows, typing and working as a stock clerk in a department store. / All the while, however, she was also playing jazz and developing her own approach to the piano – and “going to bed and waking up thinking about music.” Patti sees the piano as a lifetime challenge and has some very definite ideas about herself and her playing. She believes in using the whole piano and being, both in personality and appearance, positive, individual and strong. Her playing has a definiteness, assurance and strength that accurately reflect who and what she is. / Patti has what jazz musicians call “time.” The beat is always there – not vaguely implied, it’s explicitly there to be heard and felt. And the listener will hear and feel that beat on every track of this record, in the ballads, and especially in the four Bown original blues and gospel-based compositions. / One of those compositions is called Head-Shakin', a pretty descriptive title not only for the piece itself, but for this entire collection. Only it doesn’t quite go far enough. This record not only contains head-shakin' music, but foot-tappin', finger-snappin', happy, melodic jazz as well. / Like the musicians who visited Seattle said, “Patti Bown’s someone to watch out for. / (The selections below are followed by their publishers and times). / Side I / Nothin’ But the Truth – Patti Bown (BMI) - 3:11 / It Might As Well Be Spring – Williamson Music Inc. (ASCAP) - 4:23 / Waltz De Funk – Patti Bown (BMI) - 3:50 / I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair – Williamson Music Inc. (ASCAP) - 3:39 / Head Shakin’ - Patti Bown (BMI) - 5:52 / Side II / G’Won Train – Patti Bown (BMI) - 3:46 / Sunshine Cake – Famous Music Corp. (ASCAP) - 3:32 / Give Me the Simple Life – Triangle Music Corp. (ASCAP) - 2:01 / I Didn’t Know What Time It Was – Chappell & Co., Inc. (ASCAP) - 3:40 / Always True to You in My Fashion – Buxton Hill Music Corp. (ASCAP) - 3:28 / This Columbia High Fidelity recording is scientifically designed to play with the highest quality of reproduction on the phonograph of your choice, new or old. If you are the owner of a new stereophone system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future.”
