Patty Waters
A late discovery for me, I didn't even find out about Patty Waters when I was listening regularly to Diamanda Galas, an artist who was clearly influenced by Waters vocal prowess. Discovered by Albert Ayler, Waters is not remembered for her traditional sounding jazz work, but for her daring vocal exercises. Within a few seconds, a song could turn from cool to disturbing to deranged with each transition piercing through your skull and into your soul. These songs are extremely difficult listening. I remember trying to listen to this while my ex-wife was in the room and hearing her say a calm: "She's not right in the head!". The song that was playing was Waters' most famous work Black Is The Color Of My True Loves Hair and indeed, anyone who listens to this the first time is bound to react. You will either love it or hate it with a clear majority who will probably lean towards the latter group. I myself reacted quite strongly when I first heard it. I was sitting in the train on the way to work with the music quite loud in my headphones. When the vocal yelps and shrieks finally showed up, they sounded so heartfelt and raw that I simply burst out laughing in the train! Not because it was funny or silly but because it felt so overwhelming.
I have to thank the other artists from the ESP-Disk label for leading me towards Waters. If I wouldn't have started listening to Ayler and Sun Ra, I probably would have never encountered her name. I even needed convincing before I bought her albums, they looked pretty tame and unparticular to my eyes, but after reading many reviews and articles about her since then, my curiosity was sparked and I had to find out what all the fuss was about. Thank God I did. I still listen regularly to her two early albums, she has stayed out of the public for a long time and only recently resurfaced with new material, but unfortunately, her avant-garde spirit has taken a back seat to the more traditional jazz she fell in love with.
SingsLabel: ESP-Disk/Abraxas Records Release: 1965 Format: CD Cat. no: ESP1025 |
|
Song list: | |
| |
College TourLabel: ESP-Disk/Abraxas Records Release: 1966 Format: CD Cat. no: ESP1055 |
|
Song list: | |
| |