Eddie Patterson has had a long and colorful history
as a lead guitar accompanist and as a songwriter of lyrical and instrumental
compositions. In the early 1990's, Eddie was part of the original
Al Brant Band - which was to later evolve into the Stone Merchants.
After recording the debut album, "Let it Fly"
with the band, Ed returned to his native Ontario; but, he returned to Edmonton
in mid-1999 to commence pre-production work on a suite of Millennium Music
commissioned by Edmonton's First Night Festival. The album "21st
Century Tango" by the Millennium Crew was
released in November of 1999.
Ed rejoined the Stone Merchants and performed
on the band's recordings' "Live in the Living
Room" and "have
another blue juice, mister." Ed's playing
can also be found on a couple of the Ancestors' short-run releases, such
as "No Second Takes / Live at the Sidetrack"
and "Live at Tim's Grill."
In August of 2002, Ed returned to Ontario, again.
But, he returned ti record two albums with SMAC (Stone Merchants Ancestors
Collective) at Homestead Recorders, "Yigi Yigi" (2003) & "vox populi"
(2004). The Stone Merchants look forward to another reunion with
Eddie in the Summer of 2009.
HISTORY (compiled from Edmonton media sources)
Photo: Wade Ozeroff
"Patterson was an Ontario boy raised on a diet
of rock and blues, when he first began playing the club scene around Toronto.
Within a couple of years, he and some friends had moved to Vancouver, picked
up some openers for the likes of the Supremes and Little Richard, and became
the Vancouvers. Within months, they were signed to Mowtown.
Patterson remembers opening for many of the major
artists on the label including Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, James Brown
and young group called The Jacksons. On a trip to London, England,
where locals turned out for a listen, a guitar player named Jimi Hendrix
joined the group on stage for several hours. It's a fond memory that
had a telling effect on Patterson's own ambitions to play guitar.
A return to the West Coast signalled greater demand
for Patterson's talents as a session player and a chance to work on his
own writing. Amidst jobs for everyone from Paul Horn and the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra to David Foster and Valdy, Patterson found the time
to get together an album, the 1983 largely instrumental Distinguished Alien.
"
- Roger Levesque, The Edmonton Journal November
1st 1989
"In Edmonton, where he moved in order to further
explore his productions skills, his jazzy, bluesy , always-progressive
compositions have been a weekly fixture at Andante's where he plays either
solo or with the Edward Patterson Project."
- Helen Metella, The Edmonton Journal March
18th 1989
"Today's musicians, the Steve Vai's and Joe Satriani's
come out of schools saying, 'Look what I can do with a $6,000 guitar.'
They're doing things on the neck I couldn't dream of doing. But none
of the other guitar players (in the 1989 Canadian Guitarwarz) was making
any music. As tehcnicians, they were making our jaws drop, but when
Eddie started he got into a groove, making segues into his different styles
very musically. He was miles above the rest, not in technique, but
in making music."
- Kim Mitchell, from the Edmonton Journal
October 12th, 1989
"Planning to expand his musical horizons in the
large Southern Ontario market and to help his father restore the family's
heritage house, Patterson says the energy generated by his sudden departure
may motivate him to finally release the five or six album's worth of material
he's been recording in his home."
- Helen Metella, The Edmonton Journal August
28th, 1992
"Jazz City has been the catalyst that brought
sometime Edmonton resident Eddie Patterson back to the city this week.
Patterson's guitar pedigree stretches back to the ancient mists of the
sixties. He made his mark in Edmonton audiences in the late '80s
fronting the Eddie Patterson Project, along with a stint as guitarist in
Grace Under Pressure. For the past few years, 'our Eddie' has been
Waterdown, Ont.'s Eddie. Patterson has been living in Ontario ex-urbia,
teaching guitar, playing in a big band project and working on a solo thing.
He's been playing electric guitar against DAT loops and beat box a la post-King
Crimson Robert Fripp."
- Gary McGowan, Vue Weekly July 3rd, 1997
Photo: Wade Ozeroff
