Pat Senatore, Dado Moroni & Roberto Gatto - Groovin' in Rome (2024)

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Pat Senatore, Dado Moroni & Roberto Gatto - Groovin' in Rome (2024)

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I grew up in Newark, New Jersey where such great artists as James Moody, Sarah Vaughan, Walter Davis Jr., Hank Mobley were my neighbors and Wayne Shorter was my dear friend. Wayne and I went to grammar school and Arts High School together. I was very influenced by Wayne in every way and knew at young age that he was a genius. But I could not tolerate the cold winters, so I decided to move to Los Angeles. It was 1960. In 1961, I received a call from Jules Chaikin, a young contractor that I worked for, who knew my playing and asked if I wanted to go on the road with Stan Kenton. I was overwhelmed since this was one of the bands I dreamed of playing with. Nine months later we ended the tour at Capitol Records. I recorded three albums with the band, including “Adventures in Jazz” which won a Grammy for Stan and “Adventures in Blues” which Stan said was my album since it featured the bass walking predominantly through the whole album.

In 1962, I joined Les Brown and His Band of Renown. We did The Dean Martin Show once a week, and Frank Sinatra was a guest. It was surreal playing with my favorite singer. We also did The Bob Hope Show once a month. Bob Hope always did a Christmas tour with beautiful young stars where American soldiers were stationed. In 1964, he took the band to Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. When we arrived in Saigon,Vietnam, our hotel was bombed. Despite that, the tour was a success but it was nice to get home to the USA.

In 1965, Herb Albert and The Tijuana Brass was selling millions of records. But the albums were recorded by studio musicians and there was no real group so he was forced to put a band together. I got the call. The rest is history. Over 70 million albums sold. Five years of world tours. A Command performance for the Queen of England, who was a big fan. We sold out five performances at the Royal Albert Hall in one afternoon. Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles, held a party for us at his apartment to meet the Beatles. George was my favorite. We went on to do a Command Performance for President Johnson and President Diaz-Ordaz Bolanos of Mexico at the White House.

In 1970, I did a short tour with Buddy Rich. He had fired his whole band and he asked Don Menza for a bass player. Don recommended me. I did a few gigs, plus the Monterey Jazz Festival. Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy, a piano player and I did a quartet session. It was great and Buddy wanted me to go on the road with the band but after five years of world tours with Herb, I needed a rest. I was sorry to turn the gig down because we played well together and Buddy dug me.

During the next few years, I contemplated having my own jazz club. In 1978, I opened Pasquale’s jazz club with my wife Barbara on the beach in Malibu, California. Every major jazz artist played there. Just to mention a few: Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, Joe Pass, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Frank Rosolino, Pat Metheny, Joe Farrell, Eddie Harris, Toots Thielemans, Victor Feldman. Some of the singers included: Anita O’Day, Carmen McRae, Mark Murphy, John Hendricks. The rhythm section rotated piano players such as: George Cables, Alan Broadbent, Roger Kellaway with drummers Billy Higgins, Roy McCurdy, and so many others. I was the bass player with them all. It was paradise every night. We closed the club in 1983 due to some unfortunate circumstances.

In 1988, I also had the chance to record two CDs with Cedar Walton and Billy Higgins: “V.I.P. Trio Standards” Vol.1 and Vol.2 at the Mad Hatter Studio with Bernie Kirsh, one of the greatest engineers. What a pleasure to play and record with two of my heroes. We did 22 tunes in eleven hours. It was like playing a gig. Both volumes were re-issued on Fresh Sound Records in 2016.

Around 2000, a club called Rocco’s in Bel Air was about to close. I had been talking to Herb about the fact that L.A. needed another jazz club. Three years and a few million dollars later, Vibrato Grill and Jazz opened and Herb hired me as the Artistic Director. He was impressed that I had operated one of the best jazz clubs ever, Pasquale’s, and knew I could do the job. As with my club, we continued to present the best quality jazz music available. During that time, I recorded two albums for Fresh Sound Records: “Ascensione” with Josh Nelson & Mark Ferber, and “Inspirations,” featuring Tom Ranier, Christian Euman, Larry Koonse and Herb Alpert, who honored me by performing two tunes.

At the same time, I was attempting to realize another one of my dreams — to live in Italy. Thanks to the diligence of my wife, Barbara, I obtained dual Italian citizenship and moved to Rome after retiring from Vibrato.

In 2023, after living in Rome nearly six years as a retired citizen, my dear friend of approximately 25 years, Jordi Pujol of Fresh Sound Records, asked me to do a recording with two of Italy’s greatest jazz musicians, Dado Moroni and Roberto Gatto. I had played with Roberto numerous times and always enjoyed his groove. I had never played with Dado but I met him one time. We went into the studio on April 1st and 2nd for a total of about seven hours. We never rehearsed or listened back to anything. Dado just spontaneously started playing tunes. It was like playing a live gig. I had no idea what the results would be but I knew that the groove was there. After getting a chance to listen, I was overwhelmed by the results.

Most times when I record, I listen once or twice. But this time, I could not stop listening. These two great masters made me feel like this was the best recording of my career. As I felt in the studio, every tune has a groove. The original treatment by Dado and Roberto’s creative musicality add all that is necessary to make the music complete. I feel like I added what is expected from the bass player.

At 88 years old, as I look back on my career, I feel that it was not a waste of time and that my passion has been fulfilled.