OTTILIE PATTERSON by Jen Wilson

Remembering OTTILIE PATTERSON by Jen Wilson

Turning The Tables on The Blues: The Voice of Ottilie Patterson

When I was growing up in Wales in the 1950s, the voice of blues in the UK on records, the radio, and TV specials was Ottilie Patterson, singing with the Chris Barber Band. Ottilie was born in Comber, County Down, Northern Ireland, in 1932. While at Art College in 1949, she heard the voice of Bessie Smith on 78 rpm records and was hooked. She sang along with the records and began performing blues vocals with local bands. Then, she formed The Muskrat Ramblers. That this small, fair-haired woman would replicate the sound of the classic African American blues singers challenged perceptions when she opened her mouth to let out this huge voice.

In 1954, she set off for London to track down the Chris Barber Band, “The best band in the land.” They were the frontrunners of the British traditional jazz scene, recreating music from the African American masters of the genre. British “Trad” music fought alongside Elvis Presley in the British charts and was the go-to music in clubs, halls, and jazz festivals. Chris Barber was a trombone player and band leader with a huge 78 rpm record collection. He recognized the legacy left on record by Big Bill Broonzy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Muddy Waters, and Howling Wolf. He promoted and replicated their music.

When Barber heard Ottilie sing, she was in the band. Audience reaction to this small, unassuming woman with the authentic voice, was euphoric. She was thrilled to perform alongside US figures like gospeller Sister Rosetta Tharpe and bluesmen Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, and Big Bill Broonzy, who were invited to tour in Britain with Barber’s band. Though their careers were dormant in the U.S.A., they were invigorated by excited British audiences, seeing and hearing the real thing.

Ottilie toured the U.S. seven times with Barber’s band. Her highlight experience was at Smitty’s Corner Blues Club on Chicago’s South Side, after “responding to an invitation to come up and sing with Muddy Waters’ band.”

Ottilie Patterson and Chris Barber married, and continued touring, until Ottilie’s health became fragile, and she retired from the band in the 1970s. She was a fine piano player and recorded Shakespeare’ sonnets and her own material. In 1983, she emerged from retirement to record Madame Blues and Doctor Jazz, growling her way through gospel and vaudeville classics. I interviewed Ottilie Patterson in 1990, for Jazz Heritage Wales’ Oral History Collection. Expecting a story of stardust and glamour, I returned after three days, with a different narrative. I transcribed the tapes and put them away as I felt her story was too raw to be aired in public. Thirty-one years later, DoubleBand Films based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, tracked me down and asked if I would be prepared to release her story. They wanted to make a film about their “local girl made good.” Realizing that the time was right, I released the tapes. My Name Is Ottilie will be screened on the BBC4 channel in 2023.

Jen Wilson