With every new recording, the extraordinary Beata Pater defies predictability. What can always be expected though are rich musicality, fascinating settings, a wonderful repertoire and Beata’s unique and compelling vocal style.

For this album Beata has surrounded herself with an 18-piece ensemble – a wind and brass double quartet, a double string quartet, piano and bass – for a delightful set of nine brilliant interpretations of a pair of iconic jazz works, three time-honored American Songbook classics, a modern standard by Bill Cantos and three originals by Beata’s longtime friend and colleague Chip White.

Tet  is Beata’s ninth album,  and aptly titled not only because it is the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the symbol for 9, but also as Beata explains: “It is symbolic of creativity, a vessel which holds something within, a womb for creation. Goodness is hidden within it.”

The winds – trumpet/flugelhorn; trombone; French horn; bass clarinet/alto flute – and strings – a standard string quartet of two violins, viola and cello – each play two distinct parts written for the album by Aaron Lington (winds) and Alex Danson (strings). The core arrangements are by Beata and the album’s pianist Hiromu Aoki.

The outstanding repertoire includes Freddie Hubbard’s Little Sunflower and Chick Corea’s Crystal Silence (with lyrics by Al Jarreau and Neville Potter respectively); timeless gems Invitation, Old Devil Moon and Lazy Afternoon; Bill Cantos’ I Feel You and the three Chip White items that close the album, The Countess, Strays and Ode to Max.

With the marvelous interplay between Beata and her piano/double bass tandem of Hiromu Aoki and Dan Feiszli, and the sumptuous arrangements embellishing her radiantly captivating voice, Tet is another stunning example of the superb artistry and consummate creativity that is Beata Pater.

09 Ode To Max

08 Strays

07 The Contessa

06 Invitation

05 Old Devil Moon

Crystal Silence

03 I Feel You

02 Lazy Afternoon

"Joined by several revered jazz and classical North Californian accompanists, Beata opens with an immaculate version of Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower” which highlights her beautiful soprano range on Al Jarreau’s lyrics, the lovely string arrangements and the gorgeous piano solo played by Hiromu Aoki. "
Paula Edelstein - Sounds of Timeless Jazz

Little Sunflower

Fire Dance

Curse Of The Locust

There are singers, and then there are musicians whose instrument is their voice.  Beata Pater is clearly the latter.  Whether interpreting lyrics with the emotional depth and lyrical expression of her personal “goddess” Sarah Vaughan and her beloved Shirley Horn; soaring on the fanciful flight trajectories of another profound influence, Betty Carter; or translating her studies on the violin into a fascinating musical narrative, Beata embodies creativity in its purest sense.
Immersed in music in the most organic sense since her earliest memories, Beata grew up in her native Poland with absolutely no sense of genre barriers or subjective classification. Yet she made the decision to pursue her personal path of expression through jazz.

A world traveler who after leaving Poland has lived in England and Japan, Beata moved to San Francisco in 1994, finding its open-minded ambiance to be ideal for her limitless creative process.
Embracing both the intimacy of classic jazz vocal artistry and the wide open terrain of adventurous expressiveness with equal commitment, Beata has blended both approaches with her stunning 3-album ‘color’ series, Black (2006), Blue (2011) and Red (2013).  Drawing upon a rich and varied repertoire of classic standards, works by such heavyweights as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Mongo Santamaria and the legendary Polish master Krzyszof Komeda, and her own remarkable compositions along with those of her frequent collaborator Mark Little; Beata has forged a unique place for herself in the forefront of jazz vocal artistry. On Blue, she began to utilize her wordless approach that occupies a special place somewhere between scat and solo violin, moving deftly from one to the other, but most often blending the two into a concoction of aural delight.

Now Beata has decided to travel both paths separately as well, planning to release two albums a year – one as a stripped down intimacy of vocals and rhythm section; the other in a wilder, freely structured boundless adventure.

The first foray into the former zone was her most recent release Golden Lady, a brilliant collection of Brazilian and American songs by a diverse array of songwriters like Tom Jobim, Stevie Wonder, Gordon Jenkins, Marcor Valle, Razao de Viver, Dimitri Tiomkin and Oscar Castro-Neves.

Beata’s extraordinary journey is one that could make a spectacular film.  Surrounded by music throughout her life, from an age so young that she can’t even specifically recall how she discovered some of her earliest influences like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Donny Hathaway, Jaco Pastorious, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and so many others.  But not only was she exposed to these artists at home, but also through the progressive, artistically open environment of her schooling in Poland, where her musical talents were recognized in kindergarten.  As a member of the Wladyslaw Skoraczewski Choir at the National Theater in Warsaw she participated in operas by Bizet, Mussorgsky, Wagner and Penderecki, an experience that had a tremendous effect upon the young singer.

A fully seasoned, mature and enormously versatile artist by the time she left Japan to settle in San Francisco, Beata has been on a non-stop mission to explore every nuance of her diverse and expansive musical vision.  Calling upon a wide-ranging team of exemplary musicians to achieve her goals, every touring and recording project of Beata’s is specially conceived and specifically assembled to deliver her powerful message as vocalist, violinist, composer, arranger and musical visionary.

With 30 years of vividly conceived and fiercely inventive artistry in hand, the real journey has just begun.	

Beata Pater

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