Patti Wicks Returns To Metropolitan Room 4/7 - 11

The incomparable jazz pianist and vocalist Patti Wicks, who began her career in New York in the early 70’s playing such clubs as Bradley’s, The Half Note, Ted Hook’s Backstage, Jimmy Weston’s, The Living Room and The Apartment, continues her steady New York reemergence from the shadows in an exclusive five-show engagement at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, from April 7 to 11.  In a new act “Songs of Love and April,” Wicks shows why she c an lay claim to being one of the most arresting jazz soloists playing today.  According to Bruce Crowther of Jazz Journal International, “This is jazz piano playing of the very highest order.”  Her smoky vocals – by turns craggy and lyrical -- have been called haunting, blissful, fascinating, sensuous and captivating.
 
Born two-months premature, the Long-Island native compensated for a visual disability by learning the piano by ear.  Her teachers soon saw in Wicks a natural heir to Bill Evans.  Before long Wicks was accompanying Anita O’Day, Sheila Jordan, and Carol Sloane, and working with Charles DeForest, Clark Terry, Larry Coryell, Cecil Payne and Buddy DeFranco among many others.  Her trio often opened for comedians George Carlin and Bob Newhart.
 
But in the mid-90’s Wicks migrated to South Florida and her touring took her mostly to Italy and to the cities on t he East Coast other than New York.  A string of recent recordings in Italy with SFR/EGEA and Geco Records have cemented her reputation there, while she has remained something of a phantom presence in New York.  In Ancona Jazz, Massimo Tarabelli has written: “Wicks has a deep, cavernous voice that is uniquely fascinating and starkly contrasts with her frail appearance.  Her phrasing is behind the beat, and yet extremely fluid, and most effective in communicating a lyric.  She has a killer sense of swing and a repertoire filled with illustrious standards and lesser-known lost gems.”  A growing number of jazz writers are beginning to see the writing on the wall: the Wicks eclipse of recent years is coming to an end.
 
"Songs of Love and April" features Linc Milliman on bass.  Performances are Tuesday April 7 at 7pm, Wednesday & Thursday April 8 & 9 at 7:30pm, and Friday & Saturday Aprii 10 & 11 at 9:45pm.  Wicks’s music charge is $20.  For reservations call 212/206-0440.  Rated "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, the Nightlife and Bistro Award-winning Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, celebrates its third anniversary in May. For more information visit www.metropolitanroom.com.

Photo taken from www.metropolitanroom.com.

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