Patti Austin interviewed

The godparents of singer Patti Austin were none other than Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington, as Joe Klopus reports (Kansas City Star). For a long time the singer worked mostly in the background of the music industry - she could be heard in numerous commercial jingles. “The same singers sang most of the commercials on TV and radio,” Austin says. Because of these jobs she didn't have to tour as much, although they also kept her in the background. She names musicians such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus as influences and emphasizes how important it is to let the notes ring. When you're young, music easily becomes a competitive thing. "Then the words get lost." Singing jazz today, one has to add what's happening now. "Real progress can’t happen in a vacuum. It has to be molded by the time and the place and the history and the news."