Patti Austin adds Disco to her live show!

[keefelc]

Went to Patti Austin’s concert at Yoshi’s San Francisco this past Saturday, 11/21/09. What a night of wonderful surprises! My first time seeing a show at this relatively new venue over on Fillmore and Eddy Streets. We were surprised, actually shocked, to see how nicely the surrounding area has been rejuvenated and restored. There was a time that you kind of feared for your safety in this area. So, we were quite surprised to see tons of new restaurants, shops and new condominium buildings surrounding the multilevelled club.

The show started pretty close to the 8 pm start time (since there was also a 10 pm show). The band and Patti's background vocalists were introduced as they walked onto the stage. I was absolutely thrilled to find out that Greg Phillinganes was the Band Director for this tour! I didn't have any idea prior to the show.

You immediately felt his influence as they opened the show with a superb 3 song medley of Quincy Jones produced tunes and all from the disco era!! The medley consisted of “Stomp,” “Give Me The Night,” and “Razzamatazz”!!

I think the following song was Patti getting down with some blues as she sang "Hey Joe". One of our friend's excited told us that was a song was a Jimi Hendrix hit and Patti did it justice. Can you imagine Patti sings the Jimi Hendrix songbook???

Of course, Patti performed her hits with James Ingram, "Baby Come To Me" and "How Do You Keep The Music Playing" - which are pretty standard in her shows. However, she had me cheering when she talked about Greg and her working on a song with Quincy that was written by Stevie Wonder. Greg then proceeded to do a dead on imitation of Stevie at the piano before they started playing one of my favs, “Betcha Wouldn’t Hurt Me”! I can't remember hearing her sing this live in the many years I've seen her live concerts.

Patti took huge advantage of having 3 terrific backup singers to perform songs from her catalog with more intricate vocals. This was most evident to me when she surprised us with “Ability To Swing” from her “That Secret Place” album. If you know this fab Thomas Dolby penned track from the album, you know how this bebop delight just begs for a full chorus of multipart vocals!

One of the many highlights of the evening was when Patti started a song in a hip hop direction and then turned the song into a jazz delight! Scatting and whistling with the greatest of ease. She had all of us cheering before she could finish the song! There’s a clip of part of the song on YouTube. I almost venture to say the song was a reimagining of "Make It Right" from her "On The Way To Love" album, but the lyrics aren't quite right (I've now been reminded the song is the title track from her "In And Out Of Love" album!) .

Patti also did a sassy latin/salsa number (which we didn't recognize) where she had the audience singing backup for her. Another of my friends had to run to the restroom during this song. He told us that when he was rushing back in, the latin gentleman who collected our tickets was dancing up a storm to the number. And he was quite good! :icon_biggrin:

Lots more stories about the world of Quincy Jones peppered throughout the show including, of course, Michael Jackson. Most quite funny, especially one part where Patti tried to sing a MJ song but couldn't remember the lyrics so she made them up! :icon_lol:

Patti also incorporated her amazing version of Bill Withers's "Lean On Me" into the show, which she sang as the finale the last time I saw her about a year ago. Nobody expected that amazing finale. And nobody expected the finale to this current show.

Patti started by telling us how much she loved living in the San Francisco Bay Area (Marin). She's now in LA but she said that's only because of work. She hoped to be back in Northern California sometime in the future. Well, that endeared her to all of us. Then, she told us she was going to steal a line from Kathy Griffin, and she asked us, "Where are my Gays???" Which endeared us to her even more. She then commented that she had to end the show with something fast and she was going to venture into disco! We thought, “Ahhhh, she’s going to sing Do You Love Me!” Nope!! She floored us with Brainstorm’s “Loving Is Really My Game”! Now, I was with several of my former Trocadero Transfer friends. I think you can imagine our joyful reactions!! :icon_biggrin: What's even better is the entire audience started cheering and bouncing away as Patti ended another incredible show.

If you get a chance to catch her and Greg on this tour, please don't miss the opportunity!

Oh, I forgot, Patti was interviewed on a local television show in support of the Yoshi's SF shows. Here's a link to the 6 plus minutes clip:

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=58325@kpix.dayport.com

[SandraDee]

Keefe, I'm so jealous of you!:icon_twisted: Patti's one of my absolute fave singers eva! I always think of her & Gwen Guthrie as having similar styles - they are/were skillful/powerful without having to be too histrionic/screechy (naming no names!) if u know what I mean. It's so nice when artists acknowledge their disco fans too. (I went to see Herbie Hancock last year & did he perform 'I Thought It Was You' or 'You Bet Your Love' or 'Lite Me Up' or 'Go For It'? Did he heck!) I'd have been in 7th heaven when Patti did 'Razzamatazz' & 'Betcha Wouldnt Hurt Me' as 'The Dude' is in my top 10 LPs of all-time.:icon_razz: Can you imagine how fab it would've been if Luther Vandross was still alive & they could've done 'Im Gonna Miss You In The Morning' from Quincy's 'Sounds & Stuff Like That' LP? (I'm getting into fantasy mode now!)

[keefelc]

Oh Sandy, I didn't post the mini review to make you jealous. I posted to give everybody a heads up to catch Patti during this tour if they can! If you watched the interview on Bay Sunday, you'll hear that she wanted to do songs that people have been requesting for awhile but she hasn't performed live.

Like you, Patti Austin is truly one of my favorite singers!! Such an incredible singer with so much control, plus she knows how to entertain during her live concerts. I thought for awhile with all of her tribute albums to Ella and Gershwin that she might ton down some of the humor in her shows to concentrate on superb singing. So glad to find out from Saturday's show that she is as entertaining as ever (if not more so!).

BTW, I was reminded by my cousin that the song in the YouTube clip is a reworking of the title cut from her 1998 "In And Out Of Love" album. I knew I knew this song!!

[SandraDee]

BTW, I was reminded by my cousin that the song in the YouTube clip is a reworking of the title cut from her 1998 "In And Out Of Love" album. I knew I knew this song!!

That 'In & Out of Love' CD is very special to me as my 'husband' bought it for me 'cos he knows I love her, & the track 'If We're Not In Love' (Why Do You Call Me)' was 'our' song for a while. It's a gorgeous song I think. C'mon everybody, say awww...

[Cdnbob]

Damn. I love Patti. How come we don't get artists like her up here in Vancouver in concert? Maybe I'd go to more then. Thanks for sharing the review Keefe.