Listen Local
Catching up with Patti Zlaket
This month’s LISTEN LOCAL SHOW is guest hosted by Helen Wilson of The Art Center Ramona. We chat about all things art while we share this month’s music and messages sent in by music makers from San Diego and beyond. THEN? Scroll on down because I am honored to share a story by Blake Morgan about my dear friend Patti Zlaket and her latest endeavors. Thanks for stopping in, readers! xo Cathryn
Photo Credit: Taylor Ballantyne
Recording artist Patti Zlaket has been performing for the better part of 35 years. A pianist since she was seven and a songwriter since she was a teenager, Zlaket has recently signed to Meridian (ECR Music Group) for a series of fully remastered, deluxe-edition reissues of her complete recording catalog in advance of her forthcoming new record, out next year. The artist is also set to embark on a West Coast tour of elite listening rooms this March.
“The coalescing of my career with these reissues is incredibly meaningful to me,” says Zlaket. “Not only do these deluxe editions set the stage for my new record, they bring together—in one place—the story and the music that’s brought me to this exciting moment.”
Remastered by Blake Morgan (Lenny Kravitz, Janita, Lesley Gore), these deluxe-edition re-releases feature never-before-heard recordings, beginning with Zlaket’s first record, The Promise [Deluxe Edition], and its bonus track, the insightful and haunting “Somewhere Down The Tracks.”
“The Promise was music I birthed in my early twenties. When I listen to it now, I hear innocence blossoming into maturity. I hear my youth, my naiveté, and my vulnerability as a musician, a singer, a writer, and a human being,” explains Zlaket. “‘Somewhere Down The Tracks’ is about how you can’t make another person happy no matter how hard you try, or pray, or dream, or suffer for it. But you can free yourself from their unhappiness. This song is about being on the precipice of that decision.”
After growing up in Tucson, Arizona, Zlaket graduated from USC with a BA in Theatre. She would later move to Nashville, but prior to that, The Promise was recorded at The Village in Los Angeles, with top LA session players. “The engineer on the project was Barbra Streisand’s engineer, and when we arrived at the studio, there was a bouquet of flowers there that had been left for Barbra,” remembers Zlaket. “She was supposed to have the studio that evening, but she was booted for us.”
Zlaket would go on to tour the United States and the U.K., establish herself as a premiere commercial jingle singer, release a storied catalog—and graduate from law school. Her unique blend of storytelling and songwriting has been praised by the San Diego Troubadour: “Zlaket uses her voice as a finely tuned instrument, showing she can belt or whisper with equally stunning results.”
With a new record label behind her, a new record in production, and the remastered deluxe-edition releases of her albums The Promise, Bliss, and Tunes this spring, Zlaket’s moment appears to have arrived. “For all I’ve done and all the miles traveled,” says Zlaket, “I feel I have a real ‘team’ for the first time now, one that understands who I am and what I’ve been after from the very beginning. And that beginning, aptly, starts with The Promise. With this deluxe-edition remaster, its ‘promise’ is finally fulfilled.”
Patti Zlaket performs at Humphreys Backstage Live on Thursday, March 20th. Tickets available at Humphreysbackstagelive.com
