COME SING WITH PATTI PARKS

Blues artists often have diverse beginnings and take varied paths before they start writing and performing blues music. While researching Patti Parks ahead of our chat, I was surprised to discover that before becoming a bona fide Blues artist, she trained as a nurse. She continues to use her nursing skills to help people from all walks of life through her program, Nursin’ Blues. Intrigued, I was eager to learn more as we began our conversation.

WORDS: Stephen Harrison PICS: Marilyn Stringer

“Well, as you know, when you are starting out on the road to something, we all have ideas on what we want to do, but that doesn’t mean that we all follow our first instincts. I started my musical life as a cellist a part of a symphony orchestra. My mother had always taken me to shows, which had always been a part of my life, I watched various performers, and then when I got to the age of about twenty, I knew I had to do something with my life financially to support myself.”

As I said, this is not what you would normally expect from a blues artist, and not just a blues artist, Patti Parks incorporates, soul, gospel, and boogie into her repertoire. I have always felt that blues music can be a healer, It’s not all gloom and doom, it’s a story of real-life experiences that we all go through from time to time, some good, some bad, but when you play or listen to blues music, you don’t have the blues, it’s extraordinary.

“I started working as a nurse to support myself, but I still kept my musical fire going. There was a time though, when there was nothing musical going on in my life, so I took door number one instead of door number two in my relationship, and this culminated in me having no music in my life. Then a chance meeting with someone after I had gone through my divorce, and the first thing that he said to me was – ‘Are you still singing?’ I said, Oh no, that’s all finished with, and he said, I bet if I put a microphone in front of you, you’ll still be singing”. It turns out that he was right, and he’s now my husband.”

Guy Nirelli is the guy in question, he’s Patti’s keyboard player and songwriting partner, so it seems that the chance meeting they had some years ago has turned out to be very productive.

“What I did was, I integrated the nursing and music together and thinking to myself, how can I merge these two things together? That’s why I have a programme called, Nursin’ Blues, bringing a holistic approach through the blues genre. I use this for people who have a chemical dependency, it’s not about me playing and trying to make you feel good, I hope that happens, but the blues genre is reflective of resilience, and the vibe and the beat. It’s all going to make people feel good in a way that people communicate.”

The Blues tells a story, and the rhythms and beats along with the lyrics can be of a great spiritual calmness. At the end of a long, and sometimes stressful day, I can listen to Blues, no matter who it is, and I feel better straight away, a spiritual calm washes over me, so I totally get what Patti is saying.

“I came across people who had Masters degrees, who had never listened to blues music who used to say, ‘It’s such sad music, its depressing’, but they are missing the point. I mean, you can get a great boogie woogie as part of the blues, that’ll surely cheer you up!”

Another couple of musicians that appear on the album, Anthony Geraci, and Richard Rosenblatt, are certainly no strangers when it comes to blues. Neither is Johnny Rawls, who co-writes and shares vocal duties alongside Patti on a couple of songs. Richard is a great harmonica player, and is also one half of the label on which Come Sing With Me is released, Vizztone. Anthony Geraci has been around the blues scene for a long time playing piano with many artists. So, I was eager to delve deeper into the working relationship between the three of them.

“This is the second album that I have done with Vizztone, my first album with Vizztone was recorded with Kenny Neal. He’d seen me performing and he’d also got a contractual thing going with Vizztone. It was a great team to work with, especially Amy Brat at Vizztone. I was doing a showcase in Memphis, and Johnny Rawls was in the audience and heard me sing. He came up to me and said, ‘I like what you do Miss Buffalo,’ - I’m from Buffalo, New York – ‘ I like how you sound, I think that we should do some work together.’ He’s a soul/-blues icon, he’s played with Buddy Guy and Otis Redding, he’s been a band director, he’s played with B B King, so his pedigree is impressive, and to top all of that, he’s been nominated for over twenty Blues Awards. So for me to have that opportunity to work alongside him was incredible.”

The conversation carries on with us finding out that we had the same musical heroes, people who have only been on the scene for a few years, artists that blow our respective minds in blues music, one such name was mentioned more than once, and it’s no surprise, Kingfish.

“I was playing at Ground Zero one night, that is an honour in itself, the legendary names that have appeared there, it’s almost overwhelming. Then who should walk in while we were playing? Kingfish. That was quite a moment, let me tell you. It’s amazing the situations we find ourselves in, situations that you would never believe would happen, but that’s the beauty of what we do, right? From the performing side of things to the stuff that you do. I used to think that when I first started out, wow, this is it for me, this is everything, but it’s only the beginning, it never ends.”

Finding that we had a few mutual people that we both raved about, led me to ask about Patti’s influences as she was growing up, Aretha, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday? Her answer was not a shock, but it wasn’t one I expected.

“You’re gonna laugh! Remember when I told you earlier that my mother took me everywhere with her, to various shows, my biggest influence, Liza Minelli? That was simply because of her performance. When I saw her on stage, I thought the connection was her soul was her music. As a little girl, I remember watching her drop to her knees, commanding the audience with just a look. Growing up, I used to close my bedroom door and sing to Liza Minelli. Then I started listening to more and more music, my influence with the blues didn’t start until I’d been singing for a while, and people like Etta James played a big part in my career. I began experiencing all different parts of blues music, it was like a school journey.”

Listening to Patti wax lyrical about her musical journeys, it’s obvious that being surrounded by music in the home, her father was a musician, and her mother became a sort of musical guide opening her eyes to all sorts of stuff, that Patti would follow some sort of musical path. Patti has recorded and written with some really talented musicians and artists, and long may it continue. Before I bid her good afternoon, I was curious about who she would still like to record with:

“Let me think about that for a moment, I’d love to sing a song with, Shemekia Copeland. She is something else when I hear her vocals, she has a range that is beyond belief she’s like nobody else out there, and she’s kinda got it all. Now that would be worth the wait, Patti and Shemekia performing together. Stranger things have happened.

Find out more at Patti’s website: www.thepattiparksband.com