BLP 4229

John Patton - Got A Good Thing Goin'

Released - 1966

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 29, 1966
John Patton, organ; Grant Green, guitar; Hugh Walker, drums; Richard Landrum, congas.

1730 tk.7 Soul Woman
1731 tk.28 Amanda
1732 tk.37 The Shake
1733 tk.42 Ain't That Peculiar
1734 tk.45 The Yodel

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
The Yodel	John Patton, Grant Green	April 29 1966
Soul Woman	John Patton, Grant Green	April 29 1966
Side Two
Ain't That Peculiar	Warren "Pete" Moore, Smokey Robinson, Marv Tarplin, Ronald White	April 29 1966
The Shake	Sam Cooke	April 29 1966
Amanda	Duke Pearson	April 29 1966

Liner Notes

THERE isn't an artist in the world, be he or she a classical singer, a member of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, a professional fighter. or a part of Madame Larump's girlie sect, who doesn't know if they have got a good thing goin’.

To me the sound of the organ has always had a special musical fulfillment. My first encounter with the organ goes back to the early 1930's when I was part of one of the finest religious choral groups in the New York City area. The choir was made up of voices singing tenor, baritone, soprano, alto and basso parts, voices that filled a number of beautiful synagogues. The average age of the choir member was between 10 and 17 and the feeling of the musical harmonies between sections never failed to put chills down my spine. The organ was the instrument that kept us in our magnificent musical shell. With the emotional impact felt through the worshippers in the synagogue, we youngsters knew we had a good thing goin'.

In presenting a jazz show on WABC FM, I try to be as selective as possible, playing sounds that will get to many jazz bugs. I like creating a mood, keeping a musical pace no different than a group or band leader would have at a regular gig. In this way I have the listeners wondering what they will hear next. Often during an organ record the phone will ring and a well-known musician will ask, "hey Alan, how come an organ sound on your show? A week or two later I see the same musician and his date up at Count Basie’s in Harlem. both are tappin’ the table, nodding in complete cadence with the groovin’ organ trio, enjoying the depth and the exciting drive of this electrically driven instrument.

In jazz, as in any other musical form, it is not the instrument that tempts the public to buy the record, attend the concert or visit the club, it’s the artist. His interpretation of the composition that brings the listener into his world and which soon becomes your world. “Big” John knows his instrument and as he says, you play it, it must not play you. In his performance the organ is the middle man and John talks, whispers, shouts, cries and laughs to this middle man and the middle man tells you, the listener, John Patton’s story, with each composition addiing another chapter to that story.

At this writing, John is appearing at Slug's, a jazz club that caters to the hard-core jazz lover. Slug’s, located in the far East of New York City on East Third between Avenues B and C, has featured such artists as Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Yusef Lateef, Lucky Thompson and a number of free-form jazz musicians. “Big’ John Patton put the organ welcome mat out at Slug’s, his being the first organ group to play a week’s gig at this cookin’ establishment. I might add that Jerry and Robert, co-owners of Slug’s, had nothing but wonderful words to say about "Big" John’s quartet, which on this date consisted of Grant Green, Hugh Walker and Harold Vick, the tenor man Who played a wail of a date on a recent fine Blue Note LP, OH BABY (4192). Jerry and Robert remarked, “all the hippies here at Slug’s were brought back to the blues, they dug it, they felt they had a good thing goin’... and they sure did the night I caught the group there.

“Big” .John Patton hails from Kansas City. Mo. He switched from piano to organ in 1961 and has worked a good many clubs around the country. Here in New York City at Count Basie’s, Minton’s, The Five Spot, Club Shalimar, and he had the pleasure of being one of the talents to appear at the New York World’s Fair.

These being the first liner notes written for a Blue Note artist by this writer, brings to mind the question asked so often by sonic of my listeners, “how does Blue Note Records get such a definite, recognizable, groovy recording sound, compared to other recording companies? As I’ve known for years, the answer lies in the gentleman at the helm of Blue Note Records, Alfred Lion. When I asked "Big" John the same question his answer Was, “when I enter the recording studio to do a Blue Note date I know Alfred is going to work my butt off. He knows what’s expected of me, he pushes me to my top performance, he seems to have a seventh sense about the artist’s capabilities. It’s after the recording session is over that a good feeling of gratitude comes over me for Alfred’s understanding of artists. Blue Note Records has been a very important reason for most of the progress I’ve made as a jazz organist. Monsieur Grant Green sitting alongside during this interview nodded his approval...his remark...AMEN.”

Side one. cut one, features a composition written by John Patton and Grant Green which to me is the eye—opener of the album. An exciting, highly original tune, The Yodel derives its distinction through a strain that has a strong resemblance to the yodel as practiced for centuries in the Swiss Alps. This sure is a wild swinger with Green and Patton building fantastic solos and the rhythm section is cooking all the way.

From the sound of Soul Woman I take it that John Patton visualizes the walk of the soul woman, the way she moves, the uppity-come-conquer-me-baby look in her face.

The two tracks on side two, Ain't That Peculiar, made popular by Marvin Gaye and The Shake, a composition written by the late Sam Cooke, depict the rhythmic sounds of our young generation. This feeling brings into play the body, the dance of today, the rock-jazz rhythm that’s reaching our young public.

Amanda, an attractive tune written by Duke Pearson, is quite familiar to me. I’ve played it a number of times on my radio show. This tune is from Duke’s WAHOO LP (BLP4191) and I’m sure Duke appreciated the treatment "Big" John and the group gave it on this date.

As has been said many a time by many a critic having a genuine interest in jazz... the jazz artists’ performance on recordings or in the jazz club must he listened to intently not as background music. If you can relax your soul, put it into the hands of the artist for the time he or she needs to relay the musical message to you, you still definitely find a beautiful world of music opening to you. As mentioned in the above lines, the jazz musician is a member of the artistic world. "Big" John Patton is a member in good standing...he’s got a good thing goin’... join him.

- ALAN GRANT
"Portraits in Jazz"
WABC FM
New York

Cover Photo & Design by REID MILES
Recording RUDY VAN GELDER
Englewood Cliffs, New Jerscy, April 29, 1966.
Produced by ALFRED LION