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Artist
Patty Waters
12+ albums
jazzfree jazzAvant-Gardefemale vocalistsvocal jazz
about
Patty Waters is a jazz vocalist, best known for her free jazz recordings in the 1960s for the ESP Disk label. Although she has rarely recorded since then, she is more and more recognized as a vocal innovator whose influence extends beyond jazz. Fellow female vocalist pioneers Yoko Ono and Diamanda Galás, as well as rock singer-songwriter Patti Smith, have all named Patty Waters as an influence, while Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has stated to be an admirer. Patty Waters was born March 11, 1946 in Iowa. She started singing semi-professionally in high school. After school she sang for the Jerry Gray Hotel Jazz Band. Her family moved to Denver, Colorado where she started listening to Billie Holiday, whose life and singing had a profound influence on her. In the early 1960s she followed the recommendation of friends to move to New York. While in New York, she was invited to sing as a guest with Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard, with Chic Corea at Minton's, with Walter Davis Jr. at Slug's, with John Hicks at the Five Spot, with Jaki Byard, Sir Roland Hanna, Ben Webster and Charles Mingus at various times at the Five Spot, and sang with Herbie Hancock at his home. She worked in an Upper East Side supper club with Richard Wyands and George Joyner and made a Jax beer commercial with Joe Newman, and performed with the big band of Warren Smith. Albert Ayler heard her in a dining club and introduced her to Bernard Stollman, the owner of the experimental jazz label ESP Disk. Her mos
