December 22, 1959

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Bassist John Patitucci was born on December 22, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York.

Patitucci began playing bass when he was 12 and considers Ray Brown and Ron Carter to be his early influences.

After studying at San Francisco State University and Long Beach State University, he freelanced in the Los Angeles area starting in 1980, playing with Henry Mancini, Dave Grusin, Tom Scott and others.

Patitucci became famous in the jazz world for his association with Chick Corea starting in 1985, working with Corea’s Elektric Band and Akoustic Band during the next six years and occasionally in more recent times.

A true virtuoso on both acoustic and electric basses who is equally at home in fusion as he is in post bop jazz, Patitucci has been one of the pacesetters in the field for over 30 years, leading his own record sessions since 1987, and a regular member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet since 2001.

Here is John Patitucci performing “Ides Of March” in 2017 with his Electric Guitar Quartet, a group also including Adam Rogers and Steve Cardenas on guitars along with drummer Nate Smith.

-Scott Yanow

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