Ottilie Patterson

Ottilie Patterson (31 January 1932 – 20 June 2011) was a Northern Irish blues singer best known for her performances and recordings with the Chris Barber Jazz Band in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Anna Ottilie Patterson was born in Comber, County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 January 1932. She was the youngest child of four. Her father, Joseph Patterson, was from Northern Ireland, and her mother, Jūlija Jēgers, was from Latvia. They had met in southern Russia. Ottilie's name is an Anglicised form of the Latvian name "Ottilja". Both sides of the family were musical, and Ottilie trained as a classical pianist from the age of eleven, but never received any formal training as a singer.

In 1949 Ottilie went to study art at Belfast College of Technology where a fellow student introduced her to the music of Bessie Smith, Jelly Roll Morton and Meade Lux Lewis. In 1951 she began singing with Jimmy Compton's Jazz Band, and in August 1952 she formed the Muskrat Ramblers with Al Watt and Derek Martin.

In the summer of 1954, while holidaying in London, Ottilie met Beryl Bryden, who introduced her to the Chris Barber Jazz Band.

She joined the Barber band full-time on 28 December 1954, and her first public appearance was at the Royal Festival Hall on January 9, 1955. Between 1955 and 1962 Ottilie toured extensively with the Chris Barber Jazz Band and issued many recordings: those featuring her on every track include the EPs Blues (1955), That Patterson Girl (1955), That Patterson Girl Volume 2 (1956), Ottilie (1959), and the LP Chris Barber's Blues Book (1961); she also appeared on numerous Chris Barber records.

She and Barber were married in 1959. They divorced in 1983.

From approximately 1963 she began to suffer throat problems and ceased to appear and record regularly with Chris Barber, officially retiring from the band in 1973. During this period she recorded some non-jazz/blues material such as settings of Shakespeare (with Chris Barber) and in 1969 issued a solo LP 3000 years with Ottilie which is now much sought by collectors.

In early 1983 she and Chris Barber gave a series of concerts around London, which were recorded for the LP Madame Blues and Doctor Jazz (1984). This is her most recently issued recording.

Ottilie is buried in Movilla Abbey Cemetery, Newtownards, Northern Ireland in the Patterson family grave. Her gravestone, marked Ottilia Anna Barber, is by the wall adjacent to the car park.

In February 2012 a plaque marking her birthplace in a terraced house in Comber was unveiled, and the same evening a sell-out musical Tribute was performed at the La Mon Hotel in Comber.

Dates below are issue dates - if the recording date is very different it is noted. Deleted CDs have the catalogue number struck through. The principal source for this discography is Bielderman and Purser's Chris Barber discography.

Singles

• St Louis Blues / The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise (Decca FJ 10724) (1955) (OP on first side only)
• I Hate A Man Like You / Reckless Blues (Decca F 10472) (1955)
• Weeping Willow Blues / Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (Decca F 10621) (1955)
• Kay-Cee Rider / I Love My Baby (Pye 7N 15109) (1957)
• Jailhouse Blues / Beale Street Blues (Pye 7NJ 2015) (1958)
• Trombone Cholly / Lawdy, Lawdy Blues (Pye 7NJ 2025) (1958)
• There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight / Lonesome (Si Tu Vois Ma Mere) (Columbia DB 4333) (1959) (OP on first side only)
• The Mountains Of Mourne / Real Old Mountain Dew (Columbia DB 4531) (1960)
• Blueberry Hill / I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby (Columbia DB 4760) (1961)
• Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean / Swipsy Cakewalk (Columbia SCD 2156) (1962) (OP on first side only)
• Down By The Riverside / When The Saints Go Marching In (Columbia DB 4817) (1962)
• I Hate Myself / Come On Baby (Columbia DB 4834) (1962)
• Jealous Heart / Won't Be Long (Columbia DB 7140) (1963)
• Baby Please Don't Go / I Feel So Good (Columbia DB 7208) (1964) (with Sonny Boy Williamson II)
• Hello Dolly / I Shall Not Be Moved (Columbia DB 7297) (1964) (OP on first side only)
• Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred / Oh Me What Eyes Hath Love Put In My Head (Columbia DB 7332) (1964)
• Spring Song / Sound Of The Door As It Closes (Marmalade 598 016) (1969)
• Bitterness Of Death / Spring Song (Marmalade 598 020) (1969)
• Careless Love / The Georgia Grind (Fat Hen FM 001) (1982)

EPs

• That Patterson Girl (Jazz Today JTE 102) (1955)
• Blues (Decca DFE 6303) (1956)
• That Patterson Girl Volume 2 (Pye Jazz Today NJE 1023) (1956)
• Ottilie (Columbia SEG 7915) (1960)
• Ottilie Swings The Irish (Columbia SEG 7998) (1960)

Solo LPs

• Ottilie's Irish Night (Pye NPL 18028) (1959)
• 3000 years with Ottilie (Marmalade 608 011) (1969)
• Spring Song (Polydor 2384 031) (1969)
• Back In The Old Days (Timeless CBJBLP 4001) (1988) (recorded 1959-1962)

LPs with Chris Barber

• Chris Barber Plays (Jazz Today JTL 3) (1955) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Echoes Of Harlem (Pye Nixa NJL 1) (1955) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Chris Barber In Concert (Pye Nixa NJL 6) (1957) (OP on 3 tracks)
• Chris Barber Plays Volume Four (Pye Nixa NJT 508) (1957) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Chris Barber In Concert Volume Two (Pye Nixa NJL 15) (1958) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Chris Barber In Concert Volume Three (Pye Nixa NJL 17) (1958) (OP on 4 tracks)
• Chris Barber Band Box Volume One (Columbia 33SX1158) (1959) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Barber in Berlin (Columbia 33SX1189) (1960) (OP on 1 track)
• Chris Barber's Blues Book Volume One (Columbia 33SX1333) (1961) (OP on all 12 tracks)
• Chris Barber at the London Palladium (Columbia 33SX1346) (1961) (OP on 2 tracks)
• Best Yet! Chris Barber Band Box - Volume Three (Columbia 33SX1401) (1962) (OP on 3 tracks)
• Chris Barber Jazz Band (Qualiton LPX 7195) (1962) (OP on 3 tracks)
• Chris Barber's Jazz Band In Prague (Supraphon ST 65101) (1963) (OP on 4 tracks)
• Folk Barber Style (Decca LK 4742) (1965) (OP on 3 tracks)
• Good Mornin' Blues (Columbia 33SX1657) (1965) (OP on 5 tracks)
• Chris Barber V Praze (Panton 01 0273) (1971) (OP on 6 tracks)
• The Chris Barber Jubilee Album 1 (Black Lion BLP 12124/5) (1975) (OP on 1 track, recorded 1958)
• The Chris Barber Jubilee Album 2 (Black Lion BLP 12126/7) (1975) (OP on 4 tracks, recorded 1958-1964)
• The Chris Barber Jubilee Album 3 (Black Lion BLP 12128/9) (1975) (OP on 4 tracks, recorded 1970)
• Madame Blues & Doctor Jazz (Black Lion BLM 51101) (1984) (OP on all 9 tracks)

Other LPs featuring Ottilie Patterson

• 12th International Jazz Festival Ljubljana 71 (Suzy LP 303) (1971) (OP on 1 track)
• Muddy Waters In Concert 1958 (Krazy Kat KK 7405) (1982) (with Muddy Waters, OP on 1 track, recorded 1958)

CDs

• Ottilie Patterson with Chris Barber's Jazzband 1955-1958 (Lake LACD30) (1993) (OP on all 18 tracks, recorded 1955-1958)
• Madame Blues & Doctor Jazz (Black Lion BLCD760506) (1994) (OP on all 9 tracks, recorded 1983)
• 40 Years Jubilee (Timeless CD TTD 586) (1994) (OP on 9 tracks, recorded 1955-1956)
• The Chris Barber Concerts (Lake LACD55/56) (1995) (OP on 9 tracks, recorded 1956-1958)
• Chris Barber's Blues Book Volume One / Good Mornin' Blues (BGO BGOCD380) (1997) (OP on 17 tracks, 12 recorded 1960, 5 recorded 1964)
• Echoes of Harlem / Sonny, Brownie and Chris (Lake LACD87) (1997) (OP on 2 tracks, recorded 1955)
• Back In The Old Days (Timeless CBJBCD 4001 or CBJCCD 4001) (1999) (OP on all 18 tracks, recorded 1959-1962)
• Ottilie Patterson with Chris Barber (Jazz Colours 874742-2) (2000) (OP on all 12 tracks, 9 recorded 1983, 1 recorded 1958, 1 recorded 1964, 1 recorded 1970)
• Chris Barber at the BBC (Upbeat URCD158) (2000) (OP on 4 tracks, recorded 1963)
• Chris Barber's Jazz Band With Special Guest Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Lake LACD130) (2000) (with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, OP on 1 track, recorded 1957)
• Irish Favourites (Pulse PLS CD 166) (2001) (OP on 8 tracks, recorded 1958)
• The Best Of Chris Barber's Jazz Band (EMI 7243 5 40181 2 1) (2002) (OP on 5 tracks, recorded 1964)
• In Barber's Chair (Lake LACD185) (2003) (OP on 3 tracks, recorded 1960-1962)
• Bandbox No. 1 (Lake LACD194) (2004) (OP on 5 tracks, recorded 1959-1960)
• The Nixa Jazz Today Albums (Sanctuary CMBXBX 981) (2004) (OP on 15 tracks, recorded 1955-1958)
• International Concerts: Berlin, Copenhagen, London (Lake LACD210D) (2005) (OP on 3 tracks, recorded 1959-1961)
• Best Yet! (Lake LACD219) (2005) (OP on 7 tracks, recorded 1961-1962)
• The Complete Decca Sessions 1954/55 (Lake LACD141D) (2006) (OP on 5 tracks, recorded 1955)
• Chris Barber 1955 (Lake LACB235) (2006) (OP on 2 tracks, recorded 1955)
• Folk Barber Style (Vocalion CDLF 8118) (2006) (OP on 3 tracks, recorded 1964)
• That Patterson Girl (Lake LACD244) (2007) (OP on all 23 tracks, recorded 1955-1963)
• Chris Barber 1956 (Lake LACD246) (2007) (OP on 3 tracks, recorded 1956)

• A Life in Music: Chris Barber discography 1949-2001, Gerard Bielderman & Julian Purser, published by Gerard Bielderman, December 2001