Patti Austin to perform at Jazz Festival Oct. 13

The Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival recently announced that international artist Patti Austin is the 2016 Artist of the Year.

Austin will receive her award and be performing at the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival Thursday, Oct. 13. 

Since breaking through to solo success in the mid-1970s, Grammy winner Patti Austin has become one of the world’s most popular and versatile vocalists.
A mainstay on the Billboard charts, she has 19 solo albums to her credit and has performed her award-nominated hit songs on both the Grammys and the Oscars. The ultimate Jazz/R&B/pop crossover artist, in 2008, Austin received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her critically acclaimed “Avant Gershwin,” a Top Five hit on the Billboard Jazz Chart. She shows off her versatility in the R&B/pop/gospel-styled 2011 release titled “Sound Advice.”

A volume two of “Sound Advice” is on the way with previously released Austin hits included. “The Excellence Of Ellington,” the follow-up to the Grammy-winning “Avant Gershwin,” will soon be released as a Patti Austin vocal tribute to The Duke. She will also soon release a funky take on some of the world’s classic fairy tales. With her very popular social media presence, Austin has an opportunity to give her fans more of her always adventurous material.

The goddaughter of musical legends Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington, Austin made her stage debut with Washington at the world-famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem at the age of 4. During the 1970s she was the undisputed queen of the New York session scene; her voice was heard behind everyone from Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, James Brown and Joe Cocker to Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Luther Vandross, and Diana Ross, as well as on countless memorable commercial jingles. At the beginning of the 1980s, she earned a wider audience through her performances on a series of albums with Quincy Jones, including his best-selling “Stuff Like That,” his Grammy-winning classic, “The Dude” and “From Q With Love “ Vols. 1 & 2.

A major highlight of Austin’s career is her special relationship with her fans in Asia. During the Christmas holidays of 2013, she journeyed to Manila to perform two concerts in partnership with Habitat for Humanity for Typhoon Yolanda relief and building new homes. She has traveled to the Philippines and Japan throughout the years and recently has developed an excellent following in China. She even sings several songs flawlessly in the Mandarin language to the delight of her fans in China. Austin also has performed with the legendary Francis Yip for Chinese fans in America.

Aa a gifted songwriter and performer, Austin’s early solo career resulted in the chart-topping, Grammy-nominated hit “Baby Come To Me,” a now classic duet with James Ingram; the R&B smash, “The Heat of Heat,” and the Oscar-nominated, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” A later stint at GRP Records produced 1991's “Carry On,” followed by “Love is Gonna Getcha” (featuring the across-the-board hit “Through the Test of Time”), “That Secret Place,” and “Patti Austin Live” (recorded at New York's Bottom Line), which showcased her amazing stand-up comedic skills and brilliant impersonations. Her 1998 album, “In and Out of Love” spent almost two years on the contemporary jazz charts. In 1999-2000, she recorded “On The Way to Love,” a superb Warner Brothers album produced by Paul Brown.

Performances continue Oct. 14-16, by artists including Nick Colionne, The Rippingtons, Gerald Albright, Ramsey Lewis, Brian Simpson, Matt Marshak, Najee, Alex Bugnon, BWB, InGratitude: A Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire, Steve Cole, Kim Waters, Jackiem Joyner and many more.  Go to rehobothjazz.com for all festival details, and see capegazette.com for the full weekend lineup of music.