Profile No. 551

John Patitucci

Double bass, six-string electric bass, composition — American — B: December 22, 1959, Brooklyn, New York

John Patitucci on double bass with Chick Corea's Akoustic Band at Kongsberg Musikkteater during the Kongsberg Jazzfestival, Norway, July 6, 2018 (the band that night was Chick Corea on piano, Patitucci on double bass, Dave Weckl on drums and Marius Neset on saxophone) CC BY-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; attribution: Tore Sætre, own work, photographed with Wikimedia Grants support) — Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Patitucci_Kongsberg_Jazzfestival_2018_(170909).jpg

John James Patitucci was born December 22, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York, into an Italian-American family. He picked up the electric bass at ten, was performing and writing by twelve, added the acoustic bass at fifteen and piano at sixteen. The first bass playing he studied came off the radio and off his grandfather's jazz records, and the two pairings he has consistently named as formative are Oscar Peterson's albums with Ray Brown and Wes Montgomery's with Ron Carter. In the late 1970s he studied classical bass at San Francisco State University and then at Long Beach State University, and that conservatory training on the upright is why his career has run on two parallel tracks ever since.

He turned professional in Los Angeles in 1980 and spent the first half of the decade as a session player, building connections with Henry Mancini, Dave Grusin and Tom Scott. The sheer volume of that work is what marks the period. His earliest catalogued album credits are small West Coast gospel, funk and soul dates, among them the self-titled LP by the group Tamarack on Parbar Music in 1981, and by the middle of the decade he was appearing on jazz records for Bobby Shew, Victor Feldman and Clare Fischer while still cutting pop and film sessions. In 1986 the Los Angeles studio community voted him the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Most Valuable Player on acoustic bass.

The break came in 1985, when Chick Corea hired him for the newly formed Elektric Band. Patitucci played on the group's entire first run: The Chick Corea Elektric Band (GRP, 1986), Light Years (1987), Eye of the Beholder (1988), Inside Out (1990) and Beneath the Mask (1991), a body of work in which the six-string electric bass functions as a lead voice rather than a support instrument. Corea then built the Akoustic Band around the same rhythm section, with Dave Weckl on drums, and that trio's 1989 GRP debut won a Grammy at the following year's ceremony. Patitucci also anchored the Chick Corea Quartet with saxophonist Bob Berg on Time Warp (Stretch, 1995). The association ran, on and off, from 1985 until Corea's death in 2021, and Corea produced Patitucci's own first album.

That debut, John Patitucci, was cut at Corea's Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles in December 1987 and issued by GRP as GR-1049, with Michael Brecker on tenor and three different drummers (Peter Erskine, Weckl and Vinnie Colaiuta) spread across the record. It reached number one on the Billboard jazz chart and set the shape of his GRP-era leader catalog: On the Corner (1989), Sketchbook (1990), Another World (1993) and Mistura Fina (1995), plus Heart of the Bass (Stretch, 1992), a fully notated project pairing Jeff Beal's Concerto for Jazz Bass and Orchestra with a Corea suite for solo bass, piano and string quartet. Mistura Fina, recorded across three blocks of sessions in June and August 1994, was his first sustained Brazilian record and the start of a strand he has never dropped.

In 1996 he signed with Concord Jazz, and the seven albums he made there between 1997 and 2009 track a deliberate turn toward the upright and toward New York players. One More Angel (1997) put him with Paul Motian, Michael Brecker and Chris Potter. Now (1998) is a quartet date with John Scofield, Bill Stewart and both Brecker and Potter on tenors. Imprint (recorded August 1999, released 2000) brought in Danilo Pérez, Mark Turner and Jack DeJohnette. Communion (2001) is the largest of them, a ten-track program with Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Potter, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Duduka Da Fonseca, Luciana Souza and a string section that includes his wife, cellist Sachi Patitucci. Songs, Stories & Spirituals (2003), Line by Line (2006) and the trio record Remembrance (2009), the last of them carrying a track written for Brecker, close out the run.

The most durable working relationship of his career began in 2000, when Wayne Shorter formed the quartet with Pérez on piano and Blade on drums. Over more than two decades that band produced Footprints Live! (Verve, 2002), Alegría (2003), Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005), Without a Net (Blue Note, 2013) and the three-disc Emanon (2018), a group whose working method was to treat written material as a point of departure and rebuild it in real time, night after night. In parallel Patitucci was the bassist in Directions in Music, the all-star quintet Herbie Hancock led in 2001 with Brecker, Roy Hargrove and Blade, documented on Live at Massey Hall. Three of his Grammy wins come out of these two groups, and his own management counts a fourth from the Massey Hall album.

Alongside all of that he has written concert music and taught. A 1994 commission from the Italian chamber orchestra Suono e Oltre in Pescara produced a piece for six-string electric bass and string orchestra, premiered with Patitucci as soloist in Italy in March 1995 and with the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo that August. British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage later wrote A Prayer Out of Stillness for him and cast him alongside Scofield and Erskine in Scorched, which drew a 2005 Grammy nomination in the classical crossover category. He succeeded Ron Carter at the City College of New York in 2002 and was Professor of Jazz Studies there for ten years, joined Danilo Pérez's Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2010, and is a Visiting Scholar at Berklee. In 2015 he and Sachi launched their own label, Three Faces Records, which issued Brooklyn (2015) by his all-electric guitar quartet with Adam Rogers, Steve Cardenas and Blade, the solo-bass Soul of the Bass (2019), and a remastered digital edition of Irmãos de Fé, the Brazilian trio record with guitarist Yotam Silberstein and percussionist Rogerio Boccato that Newvelle Records first pressed to vinyl in 2017. He has since played bass on three Silberstein leader albums, Future Memories (2019), Standards (2024) and Standards, Vol. 2 (2025). His most recent leader records are Live in Italy, cut in Genova in July 2021 and picked up by Edition Records in 2025, and Spirit Fall (Edition, 2025) with Potter and Blade, nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Patitucci is one of the few bassists equally identified with two instruments that ask for opposite things. On the six-string electric he plays lead: fast, articulate single-note lines with a clean midrange attack, chordal writing, and a habit of building whole compositions around the extra low B and high C strings that the extended range gives him. On the upright he is a different player, darker in tone and rhythmically elastic, and the Wayne Shorter Quartet years pushed that side of him furthest, since the band's premise was that the bass had to move with the form rather than hold it down. The Panamanian rhythmic vocabulary he absorbed from Danilo Pérez and the Brazilian repertoire he has worked at since Mistura Fina both feed back into his own writing, which favors long sung melodic lines over harmonic display. His record in the specialist readers' polls is nearly unbroken for a decade: Guitar Player named him best jazz bassist in 1992, 1994 and 1995, Bass Player every year from 1993 through 1996, and the same magazine gave him its Lifetime Achievement award in 2019. Grammy.com credits him with three wins under his own name plus thirteen further nominations; his management's biography puts the win total at four, counting the Directions in Music live album.

Key Recordings

The Chick Corea Elektric Band (1986, GRP) - The record that introduced him nationally, cut at Mad Hatter Studios with Chick Corea and Dave Weckl, and the first extended showcase for his six-string electric playing. Spotify - The Chick Corea Elektric Band
John Patitucci (rec. December 1987, rel. 1988, GRP) - His debut as a leader, produced by Corea, with Michael Brecker on tenor; it reached number one on the Billboard jazz chart. Spotify - John Patitucci Listen
Chick Corea Akoustic Band (1989, GRP) - The acoustic trio counterpart to the Elektric Band, recorded at Clinton Recording Studios in New York, and a Grammy winner at the 1990 ceremony. Spotify - Chick Corea Akoustic Band Listen
Now (1998, Concord Jazz) - Recorded over four days in January 1998 with John Scofield, Bill Stewart and both Brecker and Chris Potter on tenors, the clearest statement of his shift to a straight-ahead New York band. Spotify - Now Listen
Communion (2001, Concord Jazz) - The broadest of his Concord albums, cut at Avatar Studios with Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Luciana Souza and a string quartet; its title track drew a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. Spotify - Communion Listen
Footprints Live! (2002, Verve) - The first document of the Wayne Shorter Quartet with Danilo Pérez and Blade, the group that defined the next two decades of Patitucci's playing. Spotify - Footprints Live!
Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005, Verve) - Assembled from quartet concerts recorded across three continents between November 2002 and April 2004, and the winner of the Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Spotify - Beyond the Sound Barrier Listen
Children of the Light (2015, Mack Avenue) - The Shorter quartet's rhythm section on its own, co-led with Pérez and Blade and named for a Shorter tune. Spotify - Children of the Light Listen
Spirit Fall (2025, Edition Records) - A trio date with Chris Potter and Brian Blade mixing Patitucci originals with Shorter's "House of Jade," nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2026 Grammys. Spotify - Spirit Fall Listen

Full Discography

John Patitucci: Full Discography

The sideman table below is a representative selection, not an exhaustive list. Identity confirmed via the live Discogs API: John Patitucci is artist ID 253208 (realname "John James Patitucci," born December 22, 1959, profile text and linked official site matching). Discogs credits him on 919 releases under that ID: 69 in a "Main" leader or co-leader role, 688 sideman "Appearance" credits, 62 track-level appearances, 84 unofficial pressings, and 16 production, co-production or mixing credits. A further handful sit under the separate group entities John Patitucci Trio (1679186) and John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet (4996751), both of which are his own bands and are folded into the leader table here.

Selection criterion for the leader table: every first-issue album billed to Patitucci alone, to one of his own group entities, or to a small co-billed group in which he is one of the named principals. Reissues, retitlings, label samplers and bootleg pressings are excluded. Every row's label, catalog number, format, recording date and personnel was read off a specific Discogs release record rather than off the artist index, and where a source conflicts with that pressing the conflict is named in the Notes column.

Selection criterion for the sideman table: roughly 750 sideman and track-level credits reduced to 47 entries, weighted toward (1) the Chick Corea groups of 1985 to 1995 and their later reunions, (2) the Wayne Shorter Quartet from 2000 on, (3) leaders he recorded with repeatedly (Michael Brecker, Danilo Pérez, Chris Potter, Herbie Hancock), and (4) historically notable or award-winning one-off dates, including pop and film work. It is not exhaustive and is not meant to be. Patitucci spent 1980 to 1996 as a full-time Los Angeles session player, and several hundred of the credits Discogs holds are gospel, contemporary-Christian, pop, television and film-score dates that no jazz discography would itemize.

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As Leader / Co-Leader

Album Title	Recording Date(s)	Release Date	Label	Catalog Number	Format(s)	Personnel	Role	Reissue History	Spotify	Buy	Notes
John Patitucci	Recorded and mixed at Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, December 1987	1988	GRP	GR-1049 (LP) / GRD-9560 (CD)	Vinyl LP, Album, Stereo; CD	John Patitucci (Smith/Jackson six-string bass, acoustic bass, Lag bass), Chick Corea (acoustic piano, synthesizer, Synclavier, percussion), Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone), David Witham and John Beasley (acoustic piano, synthesizer, synth bass), Dave Weckl, Peter Erskine and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums, percussion), Rick Riso (vocals); produced by Chick Corea	Leader	Japanese reissues 2005 (UCCU-5387), 2012 (UCCU-9939, remastered), 2014 (UCCV-9535), 2016 (UCCU-90202)	Spotify - John Patitucci	—	Date conflict. Wikipedia and AllMusic both date the album 1987; every Discogs-catalogued pressing worldwide, and the Spotify master, carry 1988, and the sleeve gives December 1987 as the recording month. 1988 is used here. The LP runs 9 tracks; the CD and streaming edition add "Then & Now," "Killeen" and "The View." Wikipedia's personnel list misspells keyboardist David Witham as "Dave Whitham"
On the Corner	Not stated on the release	March 1989	GRP	GRD-9583	CD, Album	John Patitucci (bass), Chick Corea and John Beasley (piano, synthesizer), David Witham (synthesizer), Michael Brecker and Kirk Whalum (tenor saxophone), Eric Marienthal (soprano saxophone), Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar), Al Foster, Alex Acuña, Vinnie Colaiuta and Dave Weckl (drums), Judd Miller (electronics), Alfie Silas, Howard McCrary, Phyllis St. James and Rick Riso (vocals)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - On the Corner	—	Grammy-nominated for Best Jazz Fusion Performance at the 1990 ceremony
Sketchbook	Not stated on the release	1990	GRP	GRD-9617	CD, Album	Not itemized on any Discogs pressing: the release records carry production credits only (John Patitucci, producer and mixing; Bernie Kirsh, recording; Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, executive producers)	Leader	Japanese CD 1992 (MVCR-90)	Spotify - Sketchbook	—	Personnel deliberately left blank rather than guessed. Twelve tracks including "'Trane" and "Junk Man"
Heart of the Bass	Not stated on the release	1992	Stretch Records	STD-1101	CD, Album	John Patitucci (bass, soloist) with orchestra and string quartet; music by Jeff Beal (Concerto for Jazz Bass and Orchestra), Chick Corea (Miniatures for Solo Bass, Piano and String Quartet) and Patitucci; produced by Chick Corea and John Patitucci	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Heart of the Bass	—	Wikipedia lists the label as Stretch, correctly; several secondary sources file it under GRP, which distributed Stretch. Genre-tagged Jazz and Classical on Discogs. Includes a solo-bass reading of Bach's Prelude in G major from the first cello suite
Another World	Not stated on the release	1993	GRP	GRD-9725	CD, Album	John Patitucci (double bass, synthesizer, backing vocals), Jeff Beal (trumpet, keyboards, programming), Michael Brecker and Steve Tavaglione (tenor saxophone, EWI), Armand Sabal-Lecco (bass, piccolo bass, backing vocals), John Beasley (keyboards, percussion), Andy Narell (steel pan), Alex Acuña (African drums, percussion), William Kennedy and Dave Weckl (drums), Luis Conte (percussion)	Leader	None catalogued (two unofficial Russian and Polish pressings exist)	Spotify - Another World	—	Two conflicts. Spotify dates the album 1992-09-15; every Discogs pressing and Wikipedia say 1993. Wikipedia's personnel section lists Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen as producers, contradicting its own infobox; the pressing credits them as executive producers and Patitucci as producer. Grammy-nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album at the 1994 ceremony
Mistura Fina	Recorded June 23-24, August 10-12 and August 16-20, 1994	1995	GRP	GRD-9802	CD, Album	Not itemized on the Discogs pressings; John Patitucci producer, Bernie Kirsh engineer, Bernie Grundman mastering	Leader	Japanese CD 1995 (MVCR-210); European reissue 2005	Spotify - Mistura Fina	—	Date resolved. Discogs's artist index lists 1994 because of a US advance promo (GRD-9802, 1994); the commercial release is 1995, which matches Wikipedia and the recording dates printed on the European pressing. His first sustained Brazilian record
One More Angel	Recorded Sound On Sound, New York, October 15-18, 1996; "Sachi's Eyes" and "Beloved" recorded live to two-track at Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, November 19, 1995	1997	Concord Records	CCD-4753-2	CD, Album	John Patitucci (acoustic bass, arco bass, six-string and piccolo six-string bass guitar), Michael Brecker and Chris Potter (tenor saxophone), Steve Tavaglione (soprano saxophone), Alan Pasqua and John Beasley (piano, synthesizer), Paul Motian (drums), Sachi Patitucci (cello), Thomas Patitucci (acoustic guitar)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - One More Angel	—	First album of his seven-record Concord run
Now	Recorded Sound On Sound Studios, New York, January 14-17, 1998	1998	Concord Jazz	CCD-4806-2	CD, Album	John Patitucci (acoustic bass, Yamaha six-string electric bass), Michael Brecker and Chris Potter (tenor saxophone), John Scofield (guitar), Bill Stewart (drums); all compositions by Patitucci except "Search for Peace" and "Giant Steps"	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Now	—	Closes with John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and McCoy Tyner's "Search for Peace"
The Hudson Project	Recorded live at the Manhattan Center, New York, October 17, 1998	2000	Stretch Records	SCD-9024-2	CD, HDCD, Album	John Patitucci (bass), John Abercrombie (guitar), Bob Mintzer (saxophone), Peter Erskine (drums); Chick Corea and Ron Moss executive producers	Co-leader (four-way billing)	None catalogued	Spotify - The Hudson Project	—	Produced by Hudson Music under license to Stretch. Includes Patitucci's "The Well" and "Labor Day," both also on his own albums
Imprint	Recorded and mixed at Avatar Studios, New York, August 1999	2000	Concord Jazz	CCD-4881-2	CD, Album	John Patitucci (acoustic bass, six-string electric bass, kalimba, percussion), Chris Potter (tenor and soprano saxophone), Mark Turner (tenor saxophone), Danilo Pérez and John Beasley (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (drums, percussion), Giovanni Hidalgo (congas), Sachi Patitucci (kalimba)	Leader	European pressing, same catalog number	Spotify - Imprint	—	The pressing itemizes only Patitucci; the sleeve's "appears courtesy of" lines name Pérez and Turner, and the personnel above is completed from the All About Jazz review. Closes with Mongo Santamaría's "Afro-Blue" and a Japanese folk melody handed down through Sachi Patitucci's family
Communion	Recorded Avatar Studios, New York, February and March 2001	2001	Concord Jazz	CCD-4970-2	CD, Album, Stereo	John Patitucci (acoustic and electric bass), Branford Marsalis (soprano saxophone), Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), Chris Potter (tenor and soprano saxophone), Tim Ries (flute, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet), Brad Mehldau, Bruce Barth and Edward Simon (piano), Brian Blade and Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (drums), Duduka Da Fonseca, Valtinho Anastacio and Marc Quiñones (percussion), Luciana Souza (vocals), Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and Richard Rood (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), Sachi Patitucci (cello)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Communion	—	The title track was Grammy-nominated for Best Instrumental Composition at the 2002 ceremony. Closes with Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes" and Oscar Pettiford's "Bohemia After Dark"
Songs, Stories & Spirituals	Recorded Avatar Studios, New York, May 9 and 10, 2002; mixed at Sony Studios September and November 2002	March 11, 2003	Concord Records	CCD-2149-2	CD, Album	John Patitucci (bass), Edward Simon (piano), Brian Blade (drums), Tim Ries (flute, alto flute), Luciana Souza and John Thomas (vocals), Tom Patitucci (guitar), Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and Richard Rood (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), Sachi Patitucci (cello)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Songs, Stories & Spirituals	—	Date conflict. The Discogs pressing prints May 9 and 10, 2002; several secondary listings give April 9 and 10, 2002. The pressing is followed here. Dedicated to Ray Brown, who died in July 2002; individual tracks are dedicated to Jimmy Garrison and to Chuck Domanico. Its arrangement of "In the Bleak Midwinter" was Grammy-nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals at the 2004 ceremony
Line by Line	Not stated on the release	October 3, 2006	Concord Jazz	CCD-30003-2	CD, Album, Stereo	John Patitucci (double bass, six-string electric bass), Chris Potter (tenor saxophone), Adam Rogers (electric and nylon-string guitar), Jeremy McCoy (double bass), Brian Blade (drums), Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and Richard Rood (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), Sachi Patitucci (cello)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Line by Line	—	Includes Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" and the traditional "Jesus Is on the Mainline." Grammy-nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2008 ceremony
Dr. Joe	Not stated on the release	September 19, 2007	Stretch Records	UCCJ-3017	CD, Album (Japan)	Chick Corea (piano, keyboards), John Patitucci (bass), Antonio Sánchez (drums)	Co-leader (three-way billing)	Japan only	Not found on Spotify	—	A Japanese-market trio release. Includes Monk's "Crepuscule with Nellie" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" as "1% Manteca"
Music We Are	Recorded NRS Recording Studios, Catskill, New York, February 22-24, 2008	2009	Golden Beams Productions	KRM-CD-1150	CD plus DVD-Video	Jack DeJohnette (drums, melodica), John Patitucci (upright and electric bass), Danilo Pérez (piano, keyboards)	Co-leader (three-way billing)	None catalogued	Not found on Spotify	—	Co-produced by Patitucci and Pérez, executive-produced by Jack and Lydia DeJohnette. The DVD carries performance footage and artists' statements
Remembrance	Recorded Avatar Studios, New York, September 16-17, 2008; strings recorded at Bennett Studios, Englewood, New Jersey, September 11, 2008	2009	Concord Jazz	CJA-31018-02	CD, Album	Billed to the John Patitucci Trio: John Patitucci (bass), Joe Lovano (saxophones), Brian Blade (drums), with a string section including Sachi Patitucci (cello)	Leader	Japanese CD (UCCO-7009); European pressing (0888072310186)	Spotify - Remembrance	—	A memorial record: the closing title track is dedicated to Michael Brecker, and other titles salute Monk and Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson. Grammy-nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2010 ceremony
Brooklyn	Recorded The Bunker, Brooklyn, New York	May 15, 2015	Three Faces Records	No catalog number	CD, Album	Billed to the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet: John Patitucci (electric bass), Adam Rogers and Steve Cardenas (electric guitar), Brian Blade (drums)	Leader	None catalogued	Spotify - Brooklyn	—	The first release on Three Faces Records, the label Patitucci and his wife Sachi founded in 2015. Wikipedia files it as a plain Patitucci leader album; the release is billed to the quartet. Includes Monk's "Trinkle Tinkle" and "Ugly Beauty" and the spiritual "Go Down Moses." The documentary Back in Brooklyn (August Sky Films, directed by Patrick Cone) was shot around these sessions
Children of the Light	Recorded Avatar Studios, New York; strings at Pastasushi Studios, New York; overdubs at Cholo Music Studios, Quincy, Massachusetts	2015	Mack Avenue Records	MAC1104	CD, Album, Digipak	Danilo Pérez (Yamaha CFX grand piano, CP4 keyboard, Panamanian pujador drum), John Patitucci (acoustic bass, five-string and six-string Yamaha electric bass), Brian Blade (drum set)	Co-leader (three-way billing)	None catalogued	Spotify - Children of the Light	—	The Wayne Shorter Quartet rhythm section under its own name; includes Shorter's "Dolores" inside "Light Echo"
Irmãos de Fé	Not stated on the release	February 2017	Newvelle Records	NV007LP	Vinyl LP, Stereo, clear vinyl	John Patitucci (acoustic and electric bass), Yotam Silberstein (acoustic and electric guitar), Rogerio Boccato (drums, percussion); recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli, mastered by Alex DeTurk	Leader (John Patitucci Trio)	Remastered digital edition on Three Faces Records, 2020	Spotify - Irmãos de Fé (Remastered)	—	Newvelle issued it as a subscription-only vinyl release in its Season Two box; the streaming edition is the 2020 Three Faces remaster, which Spotify still date-stamps 2017. A Brazilian program including Baden Powell's "Samba do Grande Amor" and Chico Buarque's "As Vitrines." Absent from Wikipedia's leader discography
Soul of the Bass	Not stated on the release	April 5, 2019	Three Faces Records	No catalog number	CD, Album	John Patitucci (acoustic and electric bass, largely unaccompanied), with Sachi Patitucci (cello) and Nate Smith (drums, voice) on selected tracks	Leader	Japanese CD 2019 (AGATE AGIP-3636)	Spotify - Soul of the Bass	—	A solo-bass record with a small number of exceptions. Includes an Allemande from J. S. Bach and "Elvin," for Elvin Jones
An Evening with John Patitucci & Andy James	Not stated on the release	2021	Le Coq Records	No catalog number	2xCD, Album	John Patitucci (bass) and vocalist Andy James, with guests including Chris Potter, Vinnie Colaiuta and Bill Cunliffe	Co-leader (two-way billing)	None catalogued	Spotify - An Evening with Andy James & John Patitucci	—	Seventeen tracks on streaming. A Le Coq Records label project rather than a Patitucci-conceived album
Trio	Not stated on the release	February 19, 2021	Le Coq Records	COQ003	CDr, Stereo, digipak	John Patitucci (double bass), Bill Cunliffe (piano), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums)	Co-leader (three-way billing)	None catalogued	Spotify - TRIO	—	A standards program: "Conception," "Seven Steps to Heaven," Shorter's "Ana Maria," Monk's "We See"
Live in Italy	Recorded live in Genova, Italy, July 22, 2021, except "Without a Song," recorded in Alba, Italy, July 24, 2021	Digital release September 16, 2022; Japanese CD August 23, 2023; European CD February 2025	Three Faces Records (digital and Japan) / Edition Records (2025 CD)	AGIP-3782 (Japan) / EDN1257 (Edition)	CD, Album; digital	Billed to the John Patitucci Trio: John Patitucci (acoustic and electric bass), Chris Potter (tenor and soprano saxophone), Brian Blade (drums, percussion)	Leader	The 2023 Japanese CD adds a bonus track, "And I Love Her," for seven tracks; the 2022 digital release and the 2025 Edition CD carry six	Spotify - Live in Italy	—	Three release dates, one album. Discogs indexes the Japanese CD as 2023 and the Edition CD as 2025; the Spotify master is dated September 16, 2022, which is the actual first release. Includes "Echoes of Scarlatti: In Memory of Chick Corea," written after Corea's death in February 2021. Absent from Wikipedia's leader discography
Spirit Fall	Not stated on the release	February 14, 2025	Edition Records	EDN1258 (CD) / EDNLP1258 (2xLP)	CD, Album; 2xLP, Album, Stereo	John Patitucci (acoustic and electric bass), Chris Potter (soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Brian Blade (drums, percussion); produced by Patitucci and John Davis	Co-leader (billed John Patitucci, Chris Potter, Brian Blade)	Vinyl edition limited to 250 signed copies with an A5 insert	Spotify - Spirit Fall	—	Nine Patitucci originals plus Wayne Shorter's "House of Jade." Nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2026 Grammy Awards. Wikipedia lists it as a solo leader album; the release carries three-way billing

Additional co-billed dates

These are further releases on which Patitucci shares top-line billing but is not the conceiving leader. Label and year are taken from the Discogs artist index rather than from an individually verified release record, and are flagged as such.

Year	Title	Billed to	Label
1987 (Japan/US cassette) and 1989 (US LP/CD)	All Strings Attached	Tal Farlow, John Abercrombie, Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell, John Scofield, John Patitucci, Billy Hart	Verve (841 291-1/-2); first issued in Japan on NEC Avenue (A28U-1006)
1990	The Promise	Wolfgang Muthspiel featuring Bob Berg, Richie Beirach, John Patitucci, Peter Erskine	Amadeo
2005	The Green Field	Steve Khan, John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette	Tone Center
2006	Crossing the Border	Ratko Zjaca, John Patitucci, Stanislav Mitrovic, Al Foster	Nishville
2009	Continental Talk	Ratko Zjaca, John Patitucci, Steve Gadd, Stanislav Mitrovic, Randy Brecker	In+Out
2011	Berlin - New York	Ben Kraef, Rainer Böhm, John Patitucci, Marcus Gilmore	ACT
2014	Viva Hermeto!	André Marques, John Patitucci, Brian Blade	Borandá
2017	Don't Try This Anywhere	Simone Zanchini with John Patitucci, Stefano Bedetti, Adam Nussbaum, Ratko Zjaca	Abeat
2022	Paris/New York	Thierry Maillard, John Patitucci, Dennis Chambers	Ghost Note

As Sideman (selected major credits)

Year	Project (Leader)	Title	Label	Catalog	Role	Notes
1985	The Manhattan Transfer	Vocalese	Atlantic	781 266-1	Bass	One track. Patitucci's first appearance on a major-label vocal-jazz record
1986	The Chick Corea Elektric Band	The Chick Corea Elektric Band	GRP	GRP-A-1026 (LP) / GRP-D-9535 (CD)	Electric and acoustic bass	Recorded at Mad Hatter Recording Studios, Los Angeles. The band's debut, with Dave Weckl on drums
1987	Chick Corea Elektric Band	Light Years	GRP	GRD-9546	Acoustic bass, electric bass; also credited on the mix	Frank Gambale and Eric Marienthal join for the full five-piece Elektric Band
1987	Wayne Shorter	Phantom Navigator	Columbia	FC 40373	Acoustic bass on track 2, bass guitar on tracks 4 and 5	Recorded 1986 at Mad Hatter and The Power Station. Patitucci is one of three bassists on the album, thirteen years before he joined Shorter's quartet
1987	David Benoit	Freedom at Midnight	GRP	GRD-9545 (unverified)	Bass	One of three Benoit albums he played on, with Waiting for Spring (1989) and Letter to Evan (1992)
1988	Chick Corea Elektric Band	Eye of the Beholder	GRP	GRD-9564	Bass
1988	Was (Not Was)	What Up, Dog?	Fontana	SFLP 4 / 834 291-1	Bass	One of three bassists on the album that carried "Walk the Dinosaur"; Marcus Miller and Neil Stubenhaus split the rest
1989	Chick Corea Akoustic Band	Chick Corea Akoustic Band	GRP	GRD-9582	Bass	Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, New York, released March 6, 1989. Winner, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group, at the 1990 Grammy Awards; "Bessie's Blues" drew a separate nomination
1990	Everything but the Girl	The Language of Life	Blanco y Negro	2292 46260-2	Bass guitar	Recorded 1989 in Los Angeles, produced by Tommy LiPuma
1990	Chick Corea Elektric Band	Inside Out	GRP	GRV-9601	Bass
1990	Chick Corea Akoustic Band	Alive	GRP / Pioneer	PILJ-1013 (Japan)	Bass	Live trio album; Wikipedia dates it 1991, the Japanese pressing 1990
1991	Chick Corea Elektric Band	Beneath the Mask	GRP	GRD-9649	Bass	His last studio album with the original Elektric Band lineup
1992	GRP All-Star Big Band	GRP All-Star Big Band	GRP	GRD 9672	Bass	The label's all-hands big band, followed by Live! (1993) and All Blues (1995)
1992	Roger Waters	Amused to Death	Columbia	468761 2	Upright and electric bass, track 11 only	He plays only on "Watching TV," the Don Henley duet; three other bassists cover the rest of the album
1993	Joey Calderazzo	The Traveler	Blue Note	CDP 7 89131 2 (unverified)	Bass	With Peter Erskine, in the trio Patitucci also worked in live
1994	Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder	Talking Timbuktu	World Circuit / Hannibal	WCB 040 / HNCD 1381	Bass	Recorded Ocean Way, Los Angeles, September 1993. Winner of the Grammy for Best World Music Album at the 1995 ceremony. Patitucci's credit is confirmed on the Ai Du + 2 promo single drawn from the sessions, alongside Jim Keltner and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
1994	Vinnie Colaiuta	Vinnie Colaiuta	Stretch	SCD-1114 (unverified)	Bass
1995	Chick Corea Quartet	Time Warp	Stretch Records	STD-1115	Acoustic bass	With Bob Berg on saxophones and Gary Novak on drums, the most straight-ahead of the Corea groups he played in
1996	Chick Corea Akoustic Band	Live from the Blue Note Tokyo	Stretch	SCD-9016-2 (unverified)	Bass	Recorded 1992
1997	Gary Burton & Friends	Departure	Concord Jazz	CCD-4749-2	Bass	With Peter Erskine and John Scofield
1998	Al Di Meola	The Infinite Desire	Telarc	CD-83433 (unverified)	Bass	Followed by The Grande Passion (2000) and Consequence of Chaos (2006)
2000	The Roy Haynes Trio	The Roy Haynes Trio Featuring Danilo Pérez and John Patitucci	Verve Records	314 543 534-2	Bass	Patitucci and Danilo Pérez share top-line billing with Roy Haynes, but the date is Haynes's
2001	Renee Rosnes	Life on Earth	Blue Note	7243 5 32690 2 3 (unverified)	Bass
2002	Wayne Shorter	Footprints Live!	Verve Records	314 589 679-2	Bass	Released May 21, 2002. The first Wayne Shorter Quartet album, with Danilo Pérez and Brian Blade. Grammy-nominated
2002	Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove	Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall	Verve Records	314 589 654-2	Bass	A Coltrane and Miles Davis centenary-tribute quintet with Brian Blade. Grammy winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2003 ceremony; Patitucci's own management counts this among his wins
2002	Danilo Pérez	Motherland	Verve Records	314 543 904-2	Acoustic bass
2003	Wayne Shorter	Alegría	Verve Records	314 543 558-2	Bass	The quartet plus a large ensemble, produced by Robert Sadin. Grammy winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2004 ceremony
2003	Michael Brecker Quindectet	Wide Angles	Verve Records	044007614228	Bass	Released September 9, 2003. Grammy winner for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album at the 2004 ceremony
2003	Mark-Anthony Turnage / John Scofield	Scorched	Deutsche Grammophon	474 729-2	Electric bass	Turnage's orchestral re-imagining of Scofield's music with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Scofield, Patitucci and Peter Erskine as the jazz trio. Grammy-nominated in the classical crossover category at the 2005 ceremony
2004	The Great Jazz Trio	'S Wonderful	Eighty-Eight's	VRCL 18822	Bass	Hank Jones's trio with Jack DeJohnette; Patitucci recorded five albums with the group between 2004 and 2007, including two Birdland live dates with Omar Hakim
2004	Chick Corea Elektric Band	To the Stars	Stretch Records	SCD-9043-2	Bass	The reunited original Elektric Band, its first studio album in thirteen years
2005	Wayne Shorter Quartet	Beyond the Sound Barrier	Verve Records	B0004518-02	Bass	Assembled from concerts recorded across North America, Europe and Asia between November 2002 and April 2004. Grammy winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2006 ceremony, credited to the quartet. Wikipedia's Patitucci article calls this a nomination; Grammy.com records it as a win
2005	Tim Ries	The Rolling Stones Project	Concord	CCD-2273-2 (unverified)	Bass	Followed by Stones World (2008)
2006	Pat Martino	Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery	Blue Note	0946 3 11226 2 0	Bass	Recorded 2005
2007	Michael Brecker	Pilgrimage	Heads Up International	HUSA 9095	Bass	Brecker's final album, recorded shortly before his death in January 2007. Grammy winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2008 ceremony
2013	Wayne Shorter Quartet	Without a Net	Blue Note	509999 79516 2 9	Bass	Mostly live; "Pegasus," with the Imani Winds, was recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall on December 8, 2010
2014	Danilo Pérez	Panama 500	Mack Avenue	MAC 1075	Acoustic bass, electric bass, cello
2015	José James	Yesterday I Had the Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday	Blue Note	00600406536204	Bass	With Jason Moran and Eric Harland
2016	Norah Jones	Day Breaks	Blue Note	B002520702	Double bass, tracks 1, 8 and 12	Recorded 2015. Wayne Shorter and Brian Blade also appear, effectively putting three quarters of the Shorter quartet on a pop-jazz record
2018	Wayne Shorter	Emanon	Blue Note	B002776802	Bass	A three-disc set: the quartet with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plus a London Jazz Festival concert recorded at the Barbican on November 20, 2016, packaged with a graphic novel. Grammy winner for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2019 ceremony
2018	Paul Simon	In the Blue Light	Legacy	19075841442	Bass, tracks 4, 8 and 10	Released September 7, 2018
2018	Chick Corea Akoustic Band	LIVE	Stretch Records (2018) / Concord Jazz (2021 reissue)	SR-AKB03 / CJA00291	Bass	Year conflict resolved. The album first appeared on Stretch in 2018; the 2021 Concord reissue is the version that drew a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album at the 2022 ceremony
2023	Donald Vega	As I Travel	Imagery Records	No catalog number	Bass	Released October 27, 2023 with Lewis Nash and Luisito Quintero. Nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album at the 67th Grammy Awards in February 2025
2024	Chris Potter	Eagle's Point	Edition Records	EDN1227	Bass	Released March 8, 2024, recorded 2022, with Brad Mehldau and Brian Blade
2024	Renee Rosnes	Crossing Paths	Smoke Sessions Records	SSR-2408	Acoustic bass, electric bass, vocals
2024	Yotam Silberstein	Standards	Jojo Records	JJR-009	Bass	Released February 23, 2024, with George Coleman on tenor and Billy Hart on drums
2025	Yotam Silberstein	Standards, Vol. 2	Jojo Records	JJR-011	Bass	Released April 18, 2025, same personnel, drawn from the same sessions

Recurring sideman relationships not itemized above

Chick Corea beyond the studio albums: Rendezvous in New York (Stretch, 2003), Live at Montreux 2004, Five Trios (2007), The Musician (2017), The Montreux Years (2022), The Future Is Now (Candid, 2023) and the Candid box The Complete Studio Albums 1986-1991 (2023) all contain Elektric or Akoustic Band material with Patitucci. Several of these pressings do not itemize personnel on their Discogs release records.
Film and television scores: Patitucci has recorded regularly for Carter Burwell (Adaptation., Kinsey, A Serious Man, Hail, Caesar!, The Good Liar), Dave Grusin, Jerry Goldsmith (The Russia House), James Newton Howard, Mark Isham, Rachel Portman, Alexandre Desplat, Clint Mansell (Noah), Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, 2019) and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (Barbie, 2023). None are itemized here.
Los Angeles session years, 1980-1996: several hundred Discogs credits from this period are gospel, contemporary-Christian, pop and library dates (Twila Paris, Roby Duke, Bob Bennett, the Maranatha! Singers, Kenny Pore, Steve Camp and many others). They are real credits and they are why Discogs's total is so large, but they are outside the scope of a jazz discography.
Japanese and European jazz dates: Manhattan Jazz Quintet (four albums, 1988-1992), Sadao Watanabe, Kazumi Watanabe, Makoto Ozone, Enrico Pieranunzi, Rosario Giuliani, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Camilo, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh and Gerardo Núñez among others.

Credits excluded as Discogs index errors or unconfirmed

Discogs indexes Patitucci on 919 releases, and its artist-level index is broader and looser than any individual pressing's credit list. The following were checked and left out, with the reason.

Herbie Hancock, Possibilities (Hear Music, 2005). Wikipedia's Patitucci article lists it. The US pressing's Discogs credit list does not name him, and no independent personnel listing was found that does. Excluded pending confirmation rather than carried forward from Wikipedia.
Natalie Cole, Unforgettable... with Love (Elektra, 1991). Discogs indexes an appearance and Patitucci's own management biography names Natalie Cole among his studio clients, but neither the US nor the European pressing itemizes him. Excluded.
Lee Ritenour, Wes Bound (GRP, 1993). Indexed as an appearance; the US pressing's credit list does not name him. Excluded. He is confirmed on Ritenour's Stolen Moments (1990) and Smoke 'n' Mirrors (2006).
Danilo Pérez, Central Avenue (Impulse!, 1998). Indexed as an appearance; the pressing does not itemize him. His confirmed Pérez credits are Motherland (2002), ...Till Then (2003) and Panama 500 (2014).
Sting, Duets (A&M/Interscope, 2021). A career-spanning compilation, not a session. The Patitucci connection is the 2005 recording of "My Funny Valentine," which Discogs indexes separately. Not listed as a session credit.
Eighty-four unofficial pressings. Russian, Polish and Indonesian bootlegs of the GRP albums (F&R, Team Records, Euro Star, Nord Group, Limited Edition and others) inflate the Discogs release count. None are itemized.
Label samplers and compilations. New GRP Digital Sampler Volume 3, GRP 10th Anniversary Collection, A GRP Christmas Collection, Bass Maximizer, the various Jazziz on-disc series, Classic Jazz: The Eighties and The Nineties, Priceless Jazz Sampler and similar are compilations of already-issued tracks. Excluded.
Duplicate artist entities. Discogs's search also returns "John Patitucci Trio" (1679186) and "John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet" (4996751) as separate artists. Both are Patitucci's own bands, and their releases (Remembrance, Live in Italy, Brooklyn) are in the leader table above, not double-counted.
Unrelated Patituccis. Discogs also holds Sachi Patitucci (1567257), his wife and a genuine collaborator, and Tom Patitucci (4003323); neither is the subject of this profile, and Sachi's credits are noted inline where she plays.

Errors found in Wikipedia's discography

Wikipedia is the most-cited source on this artist and is wrong or incomplete in several specific places. Recorded here so the profile above does not repeat them.

The debut album's year. Wikipedia dates John Patitucci 1987 and says it topped the Billboard jazz chart in 1987. The record was cut in December 1987 and every catalogued pressing worldwide is dated 1988.
Wayne Shorter is missing entirely from Wikipedia's "as sideman or guest" section, despite five Wayne Shorter Quartet albums between 2002 and 2018 and an earlier appearance on Phantom Navigator (1987). This is the single largest gap in that list.
The Beyond the Sound Barrier Grammy. Wikipedia's awards section calls it a nomination. Grammy.com records it as a win at the 2006 ceremony.
Irmãos de Fé (2017) and Live in Italy (2022) are both absent from Wikipedia's leader discography, which jumps from Brooklyn (2015) to Soul of the Bass (2019) to Spirit Fall (2025).
Another World's producer credit is self-contradictory: the infobox names Patitucci, the personnel section names Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen. The pressing credits Patitucci as producer and Grusin and Rosen as executive producers.
Billing errors. Brooklyn is billed on the release to the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, and Spirit Fall to Patitucci, Chris Potter and Brian Blade jointly; Wikipedia lists both as plain solo leader albums.
A personnel misspelling. The John Patitucci (album) article renders keyboardist David Witham as "Dave Whitham."

Sources

Discogs: John Patitucci (artist 253208), queried via the Discogs API, release by release
Wikipedia: John Patitucci and the individual album articles
Grammy.com: John Patitucci
John Patitucci official biography, Three Faces Management, 2021
Spotify Web API (album search and album detail endpoints) and the Apple iTunes Search API, used to confirm release dates and track counts on post-2015 titles where Discogs lags
All About Jazz: John Patitucci, Imprint review
All About Jazz: Donald Vega earns Grammy nomination for As I Travel

Personnel & Collaborations

Chick Corea - bassist in the Elektric Band from 1985, in the Akoustic Band trio with Dave Weckl, and in the Chick Corea Quartet; the relationship ran on and off from 1985 to Corea's death in 2021, and Corea produced Patitucci's 1988 debut.
Wayne Shorter - bassist in the Wayne Shorter Quartet from 2000 through the group's final years, across five albums from Footprints Live! (2002) to Emanon (2018). He had first recorded with Shorter on 1987's Phantom Navigator, playing acoustic bass on one track and bass guitar on two others.
Danilo Pérez and Brian Blade - the Shorter quartet rhythm section, which also worked as a co-led trio under the name Children of the Light and made Music We Are with Jack DeJohnette in 2009. Patitucci credits Pérez directly for his rhythmic development.
Chris Potter - a recurring saxophonist on his leader dates from One More Angel (1997) onward, and his co-star with Blade on Live in Italy and Spirit Fall.
Michael Brecker - on Patitucci's debut and several later leader albums; Patitucci in turn played on Brecker's Wide Angles (2003) and his final record Pilgrimage (2007), and wrote a piece for him on Remembrance.
Herbie Hancock - bassist in Directions in Music, the 2001 quintet with Brecker, Roy Hargrove and Blade, documented on Live at Massey Hall (Verve, 2002).
Yotam Silberstein - the guitarist on Patitucci's Irmãos de Fé (Newvelle, 2017); Patitucci reciprocated on three Silberstein leader albums, Future Memories (2019), Standards (2024) and Standards, Vol. 2 (2025), the last two alongside George Coleman and Billy Hart.
Peter Erskine, John Abercrombie and Bob Mintzer - The Hudson Project, a co-led quartet recorded live at the Manhattan Center on October 17, 1998 and released by Stretch in 2000.
John Scofield - on Now (1998), and his fellow soloist in Mark-Anthony Turnage's Scorched.
Adam Rogers and Steve Cardenas - the two electric guitarists in the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, the band that made Brooklyn (2015) and toured behind it.
Sachi Patitucci - his wife, a cellist, his manager, and co-founder of Three Faces Records; she plays on One More Angel, Communion, Songs, Stories & Spirituals, Line by Line and Soul of the Bass.

Linked Profiles

Links & Sources