Patrick Butler was born in Monan (Indiana). His father played the banjo, guitar, and mandolin and he was his first sound. Patrick was just four years old when his family moved to New Brunswick in New Jersey. New Brunswick was a region that was unusually wealthy in jazz musicians. Joe Pass was also born there. Renaldo Jorge, organist with the Fania All-Stars and trombonist with Fania All-Stars Renaldo Jorge, as well as James Spaulding, an alto saxophonist and Renaldo Jorge were other residents. Patrick began playing guitar when he was 13 years old and continued to record and perform with many different artists. Harry Leahey was a jazz guitarist genius who lived in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Patrick began studying with him when he was 15. Leahey was nicknamed “Buddha the Guitar” and was a member The Phil Woods Quintet. He was also a student at Johnny Smith, the Master in Chordal Theory and Dennis Sandole. His most notable students were guitarist Pat Martino and saxophonist John Coltrane. After graduating from high school, Butler spent some time studying and playing with James Spaulding while Spaulding was a Rutgers University professor. James Spaulding is a well-known name in jazz and has recorded with many of the greatest jazz musicians. Butler met Bill Curtis (funk drummer and impresario) and was invited to join The Fatback Band in Queens, New York. Brite Lites/Big City was the first record he recorded for Fatback. It went gold. The next few years saw Butler touring extensively and recording two more albums with Fatback. XII included King Tim III, which is reputedly the first major label rap song to be released. Butler studied jazz guitar with Roland Prince, a Trinidadian guitarist, during the Fatback years. Prince was then living in Brooklyn. After touring with Fatback ended, Butler took two years off to focus on composition. He also wrote a book called “Pentatonic Flights” during this time. It used the pentatonic as the basis for the harmonic structure and not the diatonic. After moving to Los Angeles, Butler recorded with Stephen Perkins’ acid jazz jam band Banyan. On Mike Watt’s Ball Hog or Tug Boat, he also features on a track with Henry Rollins. He is currently the frontman of Superkeltic, a Los Angeles-based Celtic Funk unit. He also attends Uli Jon Roth’s Sky Academy every year. from www.butlerjazz.com
