Patrice Ruschen

Verdi, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach…Germany’s premer jazz bassist Dieter Ilg has instigated several creative projects, in which he has taken the great composers of Western classical music off in new directions. Here, alongside pianist Rainer Böhm and drummer Patrice Héral, his focus turns to Ravel.

French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave’s first leader date for ECM introduces a new project with German pianist Florian Weber and Swiss bassist Patrice Moret. On La traversée - The Crossing - Bordenave explores musical ground between contemporary composition and jazz, subtly influenced by the innovations of the Jimmy Giuffre 3 with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, who “opened new territory that remains relevant for improvisers today.” The recording of La traversée, he explains, was guided by an approach to trio playing, “in which melodic lines interweave and blossom in the nuances of tones, as each musician follows his intuition.” Bordenave leads the way with his highly distinctive saxophone sound, recently characterized by Down Beat as “light yet textured and authoritative”, establishing that this is music in which space will play an important role. La traversée was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines in the South of France last autumn, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

After recording three jazz-oriented albums for Prestige, Patrice Rushen switched to Elektra and gave herself a major R&B/pop makeover with Patrice. Even the funkiest parts of Shout It Out, the last of Rushen's three Prestige/Fantasy albums, couldn't have prepared listeners for this LP, which finds her taking the commercial plunge and successfully making the transition from jazz instrumentalist to R&B/pop vocalist. As expected, jazz's hardcore audience cried foul: Like Roy Ayers, George Duke, George Benson, and other jazz instrumentalists who took up R&B singing, Rushen was called a sellout and vilified in the jazz media. Patrice was trashed by jazz critics. Instead of hating this album because it isn't jazz, however, they should have judged it by R&B/pop standards. When those standards are applied, it becomes obvious that Patrice is, in fact, a rewarding R&B/pop effort.

Strut present the first definitive retrospective of an icon of 1970s and ‘80s soul, jazz and disco, Patrice Rushen, covering her peerless 6-year career with Elektra / Asylum from 1978 to 1984.

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this classic in demand 1977 Jazz Funk album from multi Grammy nominated Patrice Rushen. This album pre-dates her big commercial successes like 'Forget Me Nots' and shows her more as an incredible keyboard player in a similar style to Herbie Hancock's work of the time. On this album, Patrice introduced her vocals on the track 'Let Your Heart Be Free' which crossed over to a Soul audience. On 'Shout It Out', she is joined by some great musicians including James Gadson, Al McKay and Bill Summers, but the real highlight is Patrice's keyboard playing which is outstanding throughout. The album deserves its place amongst the best Jazz Funk albums of all time.

Quand le temps s’étire, quand le paysage que l’on parcourt est sans fin, c’est en cet instant, ici même, que la sérénité approche et qu’elle s’offre à nous. Lorsque le futur et le passé se confondent, là où le Nord et le Sud ne sont plus qu’un, la paix sans doute se comprend et peut enfin s’affirmer. C’est ce que nous dit à sa manière la musique du guitariste Gérard Pansanel, qui pour son dernier enregistrement, Future Early Years (label Nord/Sud ; Coadex), a réuni comme à un point de maturité maîtrisée le contrebassiste Arild Andersen et le batteur Patrice Héral. Ces trois musiciens ont trouvé ici pour leur première rencontre une sorte d’équilibre, d’écoute réciproque et partagée, mais aussi d’attention aux choses du monde, à tous les univers possibles et imaginables. L’équilibre est parfait. A chaque instant, chaque mesure. Pansanel a beaucoup voyagé.

This 1998 CD reissues keyboardist Patrice Rushen's first two recordings as a leader except for one selection ("Puttered Bopcorn") from the first date that was left out due to lack of space. Twenty at the time of the earlier set, Rushen showed a great deal of potential for the future, potential that (at least in the jazz world) was unfortunately never realized. Rushen is heard on the Prelusion album heading a septet that includes tenor-saxophonist Joe Henderson (the most memorable soloist), trumpeter Oscar Brashear, trombonist George Bohanon and Hadley Caliman on reeds; the music is essentially advanced hard bop with touches of fusion. The later date has a similar group (without Henderson) and with guest spots for flutist Hubert Laws and guitarist Lee Ritenour. The R&B-ish vocal by Josie James on "What's the Story" hints at where Rushen would be going in the future: straight to the pop market. So overall this CD, which should have served as a bright beginning for the young keyboardist, is practically the artistic high point of Patrice Rushen's erratic career.

After she mixed post-bop, soul-jazz, and jazz-funk with nimble ingenuity over three albums for the Prestige label, Patrice Rushen moved to Elektra, and with labelmates Donald Byrd, Lenny White, and Dee Dee Bridgewater extended the imprint's commercial reach while continuing to obscure the distinctions between jazz and R&B. Elektra VP Don Mizell promoted the term jazz fusion. Musician James Mtume referred to his similar approach as sophisti-funk. Whatever the category, Rushen was in the top tier. She continually moved forward as a keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer with the five LPs – Patrice and Pizzazz, which hit the Top Ten of the jazz chart, followed by Posh and the Top Ten R&B albums Straight from the Heart and Now – expanded and gathered for this boxed set.