Patrice Rushen at Billboard Live Tokyo, June 1st 2026

 

 

At the same table we were, there was a guy from Switzerland, young dude, I think in his mid-twenties, because I mentioned a show I went to in 2002 and he said he was born around then. We talked about music. He said something that was definitely very accurate about the artist we were about to see. He said that she’s vastly underrated.                        

I couldn’t agree more. Patrice Rushen started her career in her teens, recorded her first album for Prestige in her teens. Yes, Saxophone Colossus, Eastern Sounds, first Miles Davis Quintet Prestige. On that album, Prelusions, Joe Henderson played tenor and Rushen sort of mapped a journey from hard bop to the jazz fusion of the day. Her amazing piano chops, especially on the Fender Rhodes were all over that album, but even more so on the following two, Before The Dawn and Shout It Out. She started to explore R&B introducing vocals to some of her songs. After signing with Elektra she released a series of albums trying to answer the question of how to make R&b jazzier and jazz more R&B. She definitely succeeded. It could be argued that those albums are some of the best examples of that balance. Her challenge was to make complex, accessible music and she accomplished it with incredible charisma, musicianship and top notch songs and arrangements. The whole package.

We had an hour and twenty minutes overview of her career at this early show at Billboard Live. It started with an instrumental tune from her most popular album Straight From the Heart. Number One set the mood for a night. It showcased the first of many jaw dropping keyboard solos from Ms. Rushen and established what would be the priority of the evening and perhaps the goal defines her career: to always keep grooving. We then got Hang It Up and Music of the Earth, the energy in the room way over the roof. Andrew Ford was laying it down hard on the bass for those.

We then saw that Enzo Ianello on guitar grabbed an acoustic, so it was time for a ballad, the sweet Settle for My Love. Like in the rest of the show, the vocal harmonies between Rushen and second keyboardist Alexis Angulo were a highlight. As they were for I Was Tired of Being Alone, which brought the house down once more. Them singing in unison “glad I got you, so glad I got you; you’re lifting me up and I’m mad about you” hit really hard, as funky as you can get, in my opinion.

The instrumental Kicking Back, from her second album with Prestige, Before the Dawn (what are you waiting for Jazz Dispensary, please reissue this on vinyl), has always been one of my favorites. It reaches a climax during the Fender Rhodes solo that is almost cinematic. I’d dare to say that the live version from this show was as good, perhaps even better. It played more with the start-stop structure that breaks down the main synth melodic line. There was also a really cool exchange between the keyboards and the horn section, that included Michael “Patches” Stewart on trumpet. Of course, Ms. Rushen’s solo was out of this world. Going back and forth from the synth to the Rhodes, locking those two signature sounds, it was just incredible.

Then we got the arpeggios at the start of one of her signature songs, we then knew Remind Me was coming next. Ms. Rushen had the audience singing the vocal arrangement, it just made you think about the complexities of that song. How at the end it is practically a canon that brings all the melodies from the song together. Just off the charts songwriting and arrangement skills.

The following two songs were instrumentals, more representative of the fusion genre, especially the first one that had a bit of a Latin feel to it that reminded me of the Pat Metheny Group in the eighties. Arrival included a drum solo by Rayford Griffin and the second one Song for a Better Tomorrow showcased Rastine Calhoun on alto sax.

The last three songs were three biggest hits of Ms. Rushen career and closed the show in an incredibly high note. First was Feel So Real, that had more of an eighties laid back kind of sound. Haven’t You Heard was missing the disco strings section from the original recording but didn’t miss any of its volcanic energy. It was a highlight, as well as the closer song, Forget Me Nots. It was always a treat when Ms. Rushen would step from behind the keyboard to the front. and she managed to take care of her keyboard duties and do this at the same time at the end of the show. She was handed a keytar to wrap up this amazing performance we were privileged to witness. Paraphrasing the lyrics for one of her songs: it felt so real that my mind won’t let go.
 
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