Ivelee Patrick Flowers (October 16, 1917 – October 6, 2000) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist and singer. Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Flowers began his professional career as the pianist during

intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with an entr'acte ( ...

s at ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' in the city when he was 18 years old. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1939, where he played private engagements and

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

lobbies; he worked in Philadelphia and then New York again, and recorded for the first time in 1941. After returning to Detroit, Flowers took up a residency at

Baker's Keyboard Lounge Baker's Keyboard Lounge is a jazz club located at 20510 Livernois Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in May 1933 and is the oldest continuously operated jazz club in Detroit. History Early History In 1933 Chris and Fannie Baker opened ...

, where he played intermittently into the middle of the 1950s. From 1943 to 1948, Flowers was based out of New York again, where he initially collaborated frequently with Fats Waller at the Greenwich Village Inn. After Waller's death, Waller's manager

Ed Kirkeby Wallace Theodore "Ed" Kirkeby (October 10, 1891 – June 12, 1978) was an American bandleader, vocalist, manager, and salesman, best remembered as the manager of Fats Waller. He was one of the first recording managers at Columbia Records to ...

drafted Flowers as a possible successor for Waller, booking him for extended residencies at the Ruban Bleu and

Café Society Café society was the description of the "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. Maury Henry Biddle Paul is credited with ...

as well as radio appearances and recordings.Recorded sides for the Hit label in 1945 and for Victor ( Waller's old label) in 1946 and 1947. In 1945, he made three films, ''Scotch Boogie'', ''Dixie Rhythm'', and ''Coalmine Boogie''. Following his return to Detroit, Flowers became a mainstay of the local jazz scene. He had a residency at

Farmington, Michigan Farmington is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 10,372. It is surrounded by Farmington ...

's Danish Inn from 1974 to 1983. He toured Europe with a Fats Waller tribute show in 1975. At the end of his life he played the piano regularly at the Country Club of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms. He died in Detroit. Flowers's early recordings were collected as ''I Ain't Got Nobody'', released on

Black & Blue Records Black & Blue Records was a record company and label founded in France in 1968 that specialized in blues and jazz. Black & Blue reissued music from small American labels before producing original releases. Some of these releases were by black mu ...

in 1972.

References

*Howard Rye, "Pat Flowers". '' Grove Jazz'' online. * Scott Yanow, Review of ''I Ain't Got Nobody''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Pat 1917 births 2000 deaths Singers from Michigan American jazz pianists American male pianists American jazz singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists People from Farmington, Michigan Jazz musicians from Michigan 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Black & Blue Records artists