On June 1st I was privileged to work an afternoon concert with the renowned vocalist Kate Patterson. And what a great crew of jazzers to back her!
We had Chuck Shermetaro on Keys, Rich Michaels on Drums, Danny Kolton on upright bass, Dave Tatrow on trumpet, Steve Wood on reeds and Terry Kimura on trombone. We even had Meri Slavin along with Marvin Jones stand in for some great vocal performances.
It was a magical afternoon as Kate filled the air with a renewed sense of energy despite her illness. The great American Song Book was alive and well in her care, with well placed notes, great phrasing and thoughtful delivery.
One half of Kate’s lung had been removed only a few months ago. I thought she would be struggling for air. Not Kate. The woman was kicking ass all over the place .”My God…how did you give her this energy?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! What an inspiration!
We played to a full house. In the audience were other notables like drummer Jerry McKenzie, trumpeter Craig Strain and vocalist Tony Camilletti. But, my big surprise was to find the legendary Johnny Trudell along with his son, drummer Jeff Trudell in the crowd.
I was so happy to see Johnny. No, he didn’t play. But he was there to support us…to talk to the cats…to share the stories and to revel in Detroit’s Motown history. Here was the man who had backed all the major players coming out of West Grand Boulevard with the likes of Marvin and Smokey and all the other headliners. And still, he went beyond the area and across the world, conducting his orchestras to back up artists like Frank Sinatra and a host of Hollywood notables.
I had to ask Johnny how it was to work with Frank? Trudell exclaimed, “Most of the time he would say ‘get out of my way’…that’s what I heard from him most of the time.”
Afterwards, I was left with the impression that Johnny was not the whip cracking band leader that many try to be. But, I did know what he was thinking…”There’s no room for slackers in our business”.