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THE REVIEW
Certain music is made for the night; it needs soft lighting and a gentle atmosphere to enter your intimacy. The night is the most particular moment, where you retrace the day backwards, face to face with the past and with a future that will only come after the death of sleep. You remember the mistakes and the happy moments; it is the time when you feel the most tired and perhaps the most alone, where you can question why to continue living without any rush.
In these moments of desolation, certain music gets inside you and becomes a companion to your dreams and nightmares. Such is Patty Waters, a strange experience between sleep and wakefulness, a journey to the darkest confines of your mind, just as with Tim Buckley, both navigators of the infinite space of our thoughts, with the veil of sadness of Nick Drake's spectral compositions, delicate and pale like the moon. Albert Ayler must have felt the same emotions after listening to her in a New York nightclub; he did not hesitate to recommend her to ESP-Disk, fascinated by her voice used in such an unusual yet engaging way.
The first album from 1965 is simply titled "Sings," and the first seven songs are slow ballads accompanied only by the piano, decadent, infinitely sweet in their simplicity and at the same time ineffably melancholy, they are almost a single long composition. The eighth song, the cover "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair," arrives unexpectedly, starting quietly, then becoming like slow free-jazz where the solo instrument that moves untamably is the voice, a voice that has paved the way for much experimentation and has explored the most disturbing capabilities of this so "human" instrument, it is a song that enters not through the ears, but directly through the skin, paving its way with scratches, companion and inspirer of the worst nightmares, with the word "black" being shouted and whispered in all manners, an exorcism of all our pains.
This album is like the night, dark and desolate, companion of our loneliness, and Patty Waters remains one of the great jazz vocalists, whose experimental importance goes beyond, not coincidentally artists like Diamanda Galas, Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, point to her as a reference and inspiration.
Admired and loved by the (few) listeners who have known her intimate sensitivity, she is certainly worth rediscovering.
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Summary by Bot
Patty Waters' 1965 album 'Sings' uses jazz vocals to explore deep intimacy and melancholy, creating an evocative nighttime mood. Its experimental style, particularly on the track 'Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair,' showcases Waters' pioneering vocal techniques. Praised by figures like Albert Ayler, the album influences artists such as Diamanda Galas and Patti Smith. It remains a significant, though underappreciated, work in experimental jazz vocals worth rediscovering.Tracklist Videos
Patty Waters
American avant‑garde jazz vocalist who emerged in the 1960s. After moving from Iowa to San Francisco she became associated with the New York scene and recorded for ESP‑Disk (notably Sings, 1965). Albert Ayler recommended her and College Tour documents early ESP‑Disk era performances. She stepped away from recording to raise a son and later returned for recordings and concerts (Love Songs, You Thrill Me, live releases in the 2000s).02 Reviews
