Patrice Rushen is the type of musician whose skill set can't be neatly summed up in a few sentences. After studying to become a classically trained pianist—work that began while she was barely a toddler—she arranged, performed and composed three albums of jazz fusion for Prestige records in the mid-'70s, all while landing sessions playing with the likes of Donald Byrd and Jean-Luc Ponty. She was already a highly respected arranger, writer and instrumentalist in her scene and one of the few women at the time to lead their own band and control the creative process. But it was her five album stint for Elektra Records that really brought her virtuosic musicianship, songwriting and her voice to disco and R&B.
If you haven't heard her music yourself, you've almost definitely heard it sampled by the likes of Mary J. Blige, George Michael and the Men In Black theme song (calling it a sample is generous—the producers more or less added Will Smith's vocals to a modernised version of her 1982 composition "Forget Me Nots."). Apart from her career as a performing and recording artist, she's also a veteran music director, calling the shots for big budget tours, awards ceremonies and TV shows. She even composes symphonic pieces for orchestras and has a growing portfolio of film soundtracks.
Listen back to Zakia Sewell's 2019 conversation with the veteran artist to learn more about her multifaceted career.