Pat Patrick

Pat Patrick shared with John Gilmore the distinction of devoting nearly all his professional life to Sun Ra’s Arkestra, a choice that left him somewhat overshadowed. His baritone saxophone possessed a notably attractive tone, and although he never fronted a session under his own name he ranked among the stronger baritone players of the 1950s and 1960s. During childhood he took up piano, drums, and trumpet before turning to the saxophone family. It was at Chicago’s Du Sable High School that he first encountered John Gilmore. He appeared on John Coltrane’s Africa Brass dates, spent a brief period in Duke Ellington’s band, joined a little-known edition of Thelonious Monk’s quartet in 1970, and participated in a 1974 Jazz Composer’s Orchestra recording. From 1954 onward, however, with only intermittent interruptions until his death, Pat Patrick remained a steadfast member of Sun Ra’s ensemble, serving as one of its most dependable sidemen.