(January 1, 2018) We are sad to inform SoulTrackers of the death of noted gospel/jazz soprano saxophonist Patt Casion. The Monterey, California-based Casion had been battling cancer for some time. Sadly, she died on her birthday, December 31.
Casion graduated from Boston’s noted Berklee College of Music and pursued a career that led her around the world, working in multiple genres. Along with playing with her own band, IOC – with its rotating membership – she performed regularly in every kind of venue, from major concert halls to prisons and schools, expressing her musical vision. Her versatility also made her a noted musical instructor.
Casion’s publicity materials described her music in this way: “Patt Casion and IOC’s delivery is a unique return to the sound of the 50s and 60s, which saw several African based music ideologies incorporated into the music of the post-Bop era. While their sound is rooted in the foot-stomping-lose-your-breath-Sunday-morning Black church gospel cadence, it breathtakingly melds heavy improvisation over very carefully crafted sounds.”
Casion was a friend to many SoulTrackers, who admired her work and her expansive approach to music. May she rest in peace.
