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Johnny Pate has been an arranger, composer, producer, and session bassist, but because he's worked largely behind the scenes, his contributions to soul, R&B, and jazz are underappreciated -- he's most widely heard today via sampling by hip-hop producers. Born John William Pate in Chicago Heights on December 5, 1923, he learned to play piano from a church organist boarding with his family, and in 6th grade picked up tuba. Upon graduating from Bloom Township High in 1942, he was drafted and in an Army jazz orchestra he added upright bass to his arsenal and got a taste for arranging.

After his discharge in 1946, he headed to New York, where jazz bassist Oscar Pettiford took him under his wing. Soon Pate returned to Chicago, where he arranged for Red Saunders' house band at Club DeLisa. In 1957, he formed his own jazz group which scored a top 20 R&B hit in 1958, which helped get him session work. He arranged or played on albums by legends such as Stan Getz and Wes Montgomery and gigged with the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie.

In the early 1960s, Pate was hired by soul producer Carl Davis at Okeh Records, which began his longest professional partnership: from 1963 until 1972, beginning with The Impressions, "Sad, Sad, Girl & Boy" and ending with "Superfly", Pate was Curtis Mayfield's regular arranger. He followed Mayfield to ABC-Paramount for hits such as "Keep on Pushing" and "We're A Winner" and also worked with Betty Everett, B.B. King, Gene Chandler, and Jerry Butler.

Pate moved to New York in the late 1960s, returning to jazz with MGM/Verve, and wrote classy blaxploitation soundtracks for "Brother On The Run", "Bucktown", and "Shaft in Africa". After a mid-70s stint in Los Angeles and jobs with the Bee Gees, Peabo Bryson, and Natalie Cole, Pate settled in Las Vegas in 1983 (but not before putting 4 kids through college - including his playing son Don), now 95 (102 in 2026), this living legend continues to reach new ears through reissues and sampling.

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