Patrice’s wonderful tribute to Ella and Joe Pass, Comes Love, is a lovely recording. I was especially impressed with her improvisations.  Her scat singing has a wonderful swing feeling.   – Sheila Jordan , April 2017 ”

— Sheila Jordan

Sample Track

Comes Love

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Patrice Williamson is a scintillating, soulful singer who swings hard and can scat with the best of them. She’s rightly been compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan in publications such as the Los Angeles Times and The All-Music Guide to Jazz. 

A favorite of the Boston music scene, Patrice’s sensitive ballad work and fluent scat style have garnered invitations to perform most recently with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano and Terri Lyne Carrington for the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. As an Associate Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music, her work has taken her to Perugia, Italy, Seoul, South Korea, and India, where she performed with saxophonist Donald Harrison in the New Delhi Jazz Festival. 

Both of her independent recordings, My Shining Hour and Free to Dream, have received high praise from jazz critics around the country. In 2014 she started The Ella Project, a multi-faceted tribute leading up to Ella Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday, including a concert series, biographical performance, and recordings, including the recently released Comes Love, an album celebrating the collaboration between Fitzgerald and legendary guitarist Joe Pass. 

Patrice received both her Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma from the famed New England Conservatory of Music.  In addition to performing, Patrice is actively passing on her knowledge and love of the jazz tradition through teaching, ensuring that new generations will have an appreciation for this great American music.

I’m a big fan of Patrice Williamson. Her new recording is a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, featuring guitarist, Jon Wheatley. Comes Love should win her many new fans. The setting is intimate, intense, warm, and soulful! Ella and Joe are smiling! - Donald Brown, March 2017 

Patrice Williamson’s new CD, “Comes Love,” is a beautiful, swinging tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. Jon Wheatley and Patrice have such a warm rapport they make it look easy. From the playful articulation of the tongue twisting lyrics on the title track, the sparse and moving ballads accentuating Patrice’s sumptuous tone to the undeniable pocket that permeates both artists' improvising, this is the work of two experienced talents who have found musical companionship and all the joy that accompanies it.   –Dominique Eade, April 2017 

There is much to say about Patrice’s new release Comes Love. Patrice has this ease in her singing, something intuitive (although she has all the training anyone can wish for) and something all her own. She grew up immersed in music and it is her language. But I keep coming back to her sound - it is a jewel. 

Having known Patrice for many years, I have seen her growth as an interpreter and her deep immersion in Jazz in search of her own style. And having done many recordings in a duo format, I understand the challenges and also the desire of having a true dialogue with another musician. I believe that’s what kept bringing Ella and Joe together and that’s what brought Patrice to this beautiful record. 

Luciana Souza, March 2017

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