Jeb Patton

Described as both a “young phenom…on piano” and an “absolute great,” Jeb Patton has earned a well-regarded reputation in the international jazz community. The multi-talented Patton is known as a “player of great expression” and “not one to tread the predictable,” as well as a “simpatico accompanist” for The Heath Brothers, an “innovative” arranger, and one who “cuts…[an] impressive swath on his composition, ‘Hanna’s Mood,'” a tribute to his late teacher, Sir Roland Hanna.

Jeb Patton graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree with a major in music from Duke University, where he studied piano with Tibor Szasz, Douglas Buys, and Jane Hawkins. As a member of the Duke Jazz Ensemble under Paul Jeffrey, he performed with and/or arranged for more than 60 professional jazz artists, including 48 musicians from New York and more than 12 international jazz musicians from Italy, Monaco, and Portugal.

Studying under Sir Roland Hanna and Jimmy Heath, Jeb earned his Master of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1997 from the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, City University of New York, where he also received the Louis Armstrong Award for composition from the ASCAP Foundation.

Since graduating, Jeb has toured throughout the United States and abroad with the Heath Brothers and with Jimmy Heath’s Generations Quintet, performing in theaters, festivals, concert halls, colleges, and clubs. Since moving to New York in 1996, Jeb has also performed with Charles McPherson, The Jimmy Heath Big Band, The Dizzy Gillspie Alumni Big Band, The Dizzy Gillespie All Stars, George Coleman, the Faddis/Hampton/Heath Sextet, James Moody, Jeremy Pelt, Michael Mossman, Lewis Nash, Antonio Hart, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Barbara Cook, Jessye Norman, Frank Wess, Dmitry Baevsky, Grant Stewart, Mike Karn, Joe Magnarelli, Lew Tabackin, Jerry Weldon, Sachal Vasandani, Pete Van Nostrand, Roberta Gambarini, Rodney Green, David Wong, Winard Harper, Diego Urcola, Peter and Will Anderson, Willie Jones III, Marlene Verplank, as well as with his own trio.

Major national and international festival appearances include Savannah Music Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Tri C Festival, Newport (Rhode Island), Mt. Hood (Oregon), Charlie Parker Festival (NYC), Atlanta (Georgia), Baden-Baden Festival (Germany), 8th Salzburg Jazz Autumn Festival (Austria), 45th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival (California), Healdsburg Jazz Festival (California), North Sea Jazz Festival (Holland), Äarhus Jazz Festival (Denmark), the Pori Festival (Finland), Graz “Jazz-Sommer” (Switzerland), and Wiggin Jazz Festival (England). Patton has also appeared on several Jazz Cruises with the Heath Brothers, Charles McPherson, and with Roberta Gambarini.

Recent New York City metro area appearances include performances with the Jimmy Heath Big Band at the Blue Note, with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard, with the George Coleman Quintet at the Jazz Standard, and with the Rodney Green trio feat. Peter Washington at Mezzrow.

Other recent highlights include two performances with the WDR Bigband in Germany, a tour of France, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland with his quartet, a solo concert in Versaille, a tour of Mexico with his trio, and a solo/duo performance honoring Thelonious Monk as part of Monk@100 Duke Performances Series in North Carolina.

Career highlights also include performing at the Opening Nights of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jimmy Heath’s 75th Birthday Celebration, October 2001 as well as at Jimmy Heath’s 90th Birthday Celebration, October 2016 at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. In October 2003, Patton joined Antonio Hart at the National Visionary Leadership Project Gala and Awards Dinner. As protégés of Jimmy Heath, the duo performed a medley of all Jimmy Heath compositions in honor of Heath being named a Visionary in the Performing Arts. Other memorable performances include Jazz at Lincoln Center, Duo Series with Percy Heath in the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse, February 1 through 3, 2001.

Inspired by the late Sir Roland Hanna, Patton is also very involved with classical music. Classical performances include a solo recital at Queensborough Community College featuring the Chopin Ballades and two performances with the New York Philomusica. These concerts featured Ellington’s concerto, A New World A-Comin’ arranged for chamber ensemble, Haydn Piano Trio in Eb major, and a premiere of a chamber piece by Michael Berkeley. In addition, Patton performed Ellington’s concerto with the Queens College Orchestra in honor of Sir Roland Hanna, and has performed extensively with Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. Patton studied classical piano with Lawrence Schubert.

Presently, when Jeb is not on the road, he teaches piano, ear training, transcription, and improvisation at Queens College and Five Towns College. He is also part of the faculty at NJPAC’s Jazz for Teens program. In the field of jazz education, Jeb has two books published by Chuck Sher: An Approach to Comping, Vol. 1 and 2.

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Nick Green: Green On The Scene

Read "Green On The Scene" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 6, 2023

Nick Green's latest release, Green On The Scene, is a captivating musical journey which combines masterful instrumentation, intricate compositions and a profound sense of improvisational exploration. Accompanied by trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, pianist Jeb Patton, bassist Mike Karn and the inestimable drummer Kenny Washington, the band embarks on a set list of compositions which are at the intersection of tradition and modernity. The session opens with Charlie Parker's “Red Cross," a contrafact written over the lines of ...

Album Review

Mike Melito: To Swing Is The Thing

Read "To Swing Is The Thing" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
July 24, 2023

A sense of discovery, exhilaration, and depth are not qualities often induced by recent jazz recordings that showcase some of the once innovative, now commonplace styles from the mid-to-late twentieth century. There is no shortage of less-than-stellar releases that land squarely inside the bop/hard bop continuum. One notable exception to the abundance of mere competence is the body of work of drummer Mike Melito. Beginning in the late twentieth century, Melito has led several impressive recording dates ...

Album Review

Jeb Patton: Preludes

by Jack Bowers
June 13, 2023

A jazz quintet performing eight classically-inspired Preludes and Duke Ellington's wistful “Prelude to a Kiss"? How could that possibly work? In the capable hands of pianist Jeb Patton (who wrote the Preludes) and his quintet, quite well, actually. Patton, who grew up in a household where listening to classical music was the norm, never forgot those early years even as he moved toward jazz and found his calling there. When Covid struck in 2020, Patton had time to revisit his ...

Album Review

Mike Melito: To Swing Is The Thing

Read "To Swing Is The Thing" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 8, 2023

The leader of any group whose credo is To Swing Is the Thing had best enlist some hired hands whose propensity to swing is sure and steady, regardless of mood or tempo. Veteran drummer Mike Melito's talented quintet runs that course without breaking a sweat, lending Melito all the help he needs to keep his eighth album as leader bright and swinging from start to finish. Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, past masters to ...

Album Review

MIke Melito: To Swing Is The Thing

Read "To Swing Is The Thing" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 4, 2023

Rochester NY native Mike Melito is an fine drummer who has been active on the jazz scene for many years. His whose drumming style was inspired by Roy McCurdy, who was an integral part of the jazz groups fronted by both Nat Adderley and Julian Cannonball" Adderley. With a wide-ride cymbal beat and fluid phrasing, Melito's drumming style shows to full effect on To Swing Is The Thing. Joining him are several standout New York-based musicians including tenor saxophonist Grant ...

Album Review

Melvin Smith: Perseverance

Read "Perseverance" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 22, 2023

Perseverance, Florida-bred saxophonist Melvin Smith's seventh album as leader of his own group, is a hard-blowing session on which he shows (again) that he is one of the leading bop-based reed masters on today's scene. On soprano or tenor, Smith displays a clarity of purpose and storehouse of astute phrases that serve him well at any pace and in any context. Besides alternating horns (tenor on seven numbers, soprano on four), Smith adds texture and variety to ...

Album Review

Sam Taylor: Let Go

by Edward Blanco
April 17, 2023

Presenting his third offering from the Cellar Live record label, Harlem-based and Philadelphia native, saxophonist Sam Taylor unleashes an exciting bop-filled package of contemporary jazz covers, making a superb job of interpreting the music of composers such as Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen and laying down sturdy new treatments of oft-recorded and ageless classics. The goal of this project is best described by the saxophonist himself in the liner notes when he states: “Fill the ...

Recording

Vocalist/Composer/Arranger Kristen Lee Sergeant New Release February 15 - Smolder - With Jeb Patton, Cameron Brown, Ted Nash And More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
January 19, 2019

Vocalist/Composer/Arranger Kristen Lee Sergeant—New Release February 15—Smolder with Jeb Patton, Cameron Brown, Ted Nash and more! Kristen Lee Sergeant is a vocalist with effervescent energy, musical intensity and dramatic flair. Her debut record, Inside Out, was a Downbeat Editor's Pick. Smolder is a story of fire—fully ablaze or newly extinguished, and is set to further ignite her international career. Smolder spans '80s pop, bold interpretations of standards, and breathtaking originals—all bound together with a theme of elemental flame. Kristen is ...
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130

Performance / Tour

Free Concert Featuring Heath Brothers and Pianist Jeb Patton in North Salem (NY) on Sept. 17

Source: Chie Ogura
September 5, 2011

The New York chapter of the Alumni Association of Tama Art University, as part of its Opening Reception on September 17 at the Hammond Museum in North Salem, NY, will present a free performance featuring pianist Jeb Patton, vocalist Kazue, and bassist David Wong. Tama Art University is one of the top art colleges in Japan. Its New York City alumni group is having its annual Home Away From Home art exhibit, which features works by alumni based in the ...
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226

Performance / Tour

Dmitry Baevsky, Jeb Patton, John Webber and Joe Strasser at Kitano, NYC

Source: Michael Ricci
May 6, 2010

Dmitry Baevsky Quartet at the Kitano (NYC) on May 5th at 8pm & 10pm The Kitano is located 66 Park Avenue at East 38th Street, New York City 10016 Dmitry Baevsky (alto sax) Jeb Patton (piano) John Webber (bass) and Joe Strasser (dms) NO cover charge, just a $15.00 minimum (they serve great food both American and Japanese). About Dmitry Baevsky mitry Baevsky was born in St-Petersburg, Russia in 1976. He discovered his passion and seriousness for music as a ...
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127

Contest

Announcing the Winners of the MAXJAZZ "4-CD" Giveaway

Source: All About Jazz
April 6, 2010

265

Contest

Enter the MAXJAZZ 4-CD Giveaway!

Source: All About Jazz
March 4, 2010

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the MAXJAZZ 4-CD giveaway contest starting today. Five winners will win all four CD's listed below at the conclusion of the contest on April 3rd. Click here to enter the contest

(Following Jeb Patton at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! Your Friends at MAXJAZZ Records

Jeb Patton - New Strides

Pianist, composer and arranger Jeb Patton has been described as both a ...
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126

Recording

MAXJAZZ to Release New CDs from Pianists Manuel Valera and Jeb Patton

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
July 29, 2009

The latest email newsletter from MAXJAZZ brings word that the St. Louis-based indie label will release CDs this fall from pianists Manuel Valera and Jeb Patton.Valera is a native of Cuba and the son of saxophonist Manuel Valera, who has played with Paquito D'Rivera, Chucho Valdes, Gonzalo Rubacalba and Tito Puente. The younger Valera has performed and recorded with well-known musicians in both jazz and Latin music, including D'Rivera, Vincent Herring, Donny McCaslin, Claudio Roditi, Louis Hayes, Bobby ...
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"...pianist Jeb Patton is not one to tread the predictable and his time signatures cavort delightfully as he shifts pace and thrust seamlessly. Add clusters of notes and probing lines and this one becomes one for indulgement. Patton cuts another impressive swath on his composition 'Hanna's Mood.' He is a player of great expression, bringing to the surface every little vignette that gives a song its depth and character." --Jerry D'Souza, All About Jazz, March 2004

"It was Jeb Patton who went in for youthful displays: he played a walloping 'Élégie,' a transcription of Art Tatum's version of Massenet. It felt like watching the changes in a fireworks show." --Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, April 4, 2003

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