Pat Blackwell celebrates 90th birthday, extensive career in jazz music

Pat Blackwell looks into the audience while singing at her 90th birthday celebration Oct. 28, 2017 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

As music continues to change faster by the year, many yearn for the big band sounds of early popular music.

Before the days of rock 'n' roll, jazz music dominated local airwaves.

Pat Blackwell grew up with her ear to the radio, listening to hits by legends like Tommy Dorsey and Duke Ellington.

She asked her mother for a dime every week to buy Hit Parade magazine so she could study the lyrics to the newest chart-topping songs.

Steve Williams, drummer for the Jerry Ford Orchestra, partially credits her vocal abilities to the rich big band culture available to her as a child.

Cutline-Body Copy:Jerry Ford, center, presents Pat Blackwell with a gold record for her 90th birthday celebration Oct. 28 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Cutline-File Credit:BEN MATTHEWS

"She had the opportunity to hear the 'Great American Songbook' and hear the fine musicians that played that music," Williams says.

As a young jazz enthusiast, her life was much like the music she loved -- spontaneous.

Pat grew up in the heart of a vibrant St. Louis jazz scene with dreams of singing at big name venues like the Casa Loma Ballroom, which she remembers sneaking into once as a young woman.

"I just walked in there and saw all these tables with white tablecloths and this beautiful stage with this sparkly curtain," Pat says. "I got up on that stage. Nobody was there but the janitor, and I started singing."

Building off her vocal lessons and experience in local choirs, Pat's family moved to Cape Girardeau her sophomore year of high school and she began singing her way onto the local music scene.

Cutline-Body Copy:A program for the Joe Blackwell Orchestra sits on display during Pat Blackwell's 90th birthday celebration Oct. 28, at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Cutline-File Credit:BEN MATTHEWS

She was dancing at The Palms when guitarist Joe Blackwell tapped on her shoulder and asked for a dance.

Three months later, the two were married.

Pat became a vocalist in the Joe Blackwell Orchestra, and the Blackwells went on to have three children -- Sally, Sam and Scott.

Pat's voice took her to the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle with the Cape Choraliers, under the direction of Jack Palsgrove and his wife, Susie, a music teacher at Southeast Missouri State University.

Through the Choraliers, Pat joined up with singers Virginia Hill and Virginia Boren and formed The Mama-nettes -- a trio of mothers, each with three children.

An article from the Daily Egyptian hangs on display with old photos during Pat Blackwell's 90th birthday celebration Oct. 28, 2017 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

"We were best friends. We hung out all the time," Pat says. "We used to go camping and we'd always have Thanksgiving dinner with them or at my house, one or the other every year -- and also New Year's Eve."

The Mama-nettes wore a chic look for performances at the annual Jaycee Follies, donning stylish dresses made by members of the trio.

Many came to recognize the Mama-nettes from their performances on a KFVS morning show, where they stunned morning audiences with style and song in harmonic unison.

"Try singing at 7 o'clock in the morning and try working up three songs to harmonize -- all with nine children underfoot," Pat says with a laugh.

Jerry Ford remembers hearing the Mama-nettes for the first time, describing Pat's vocal style as "very comfortable and conversational" with "impeccable timing and phrasing."

Cutline-Body Copy:Photos of Pat Blackwell with former music group the Mama-nettes and with the Bob Sisco Band sit on display Oct. 28, at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Cutline-File Credit:BEN MATTHEWS

"She's always been a classic."

As an up-and-coming musician, Ford worked alongside Pat with a branch of the television station producing advertisements for clients like Blue Bell Meat Company, Central Hardware, Burgermeister Beer and Bunny Bread.

Ford acquired his own big band in 1960, which Pat has been a member of since the Blackwells joined in 1965.

Jerry Ford's big band remained true to the jazz genre as rock 'n' roll began pervading popular music.

And Pat wouldn't have it any other way.

Cutline-Body Copy:Birthday cakes sit waiting to be cut during Pat Blackwell's 90th birthday celebration Oct. 28, 2017 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Cutline-File Credit:BEN MATTHEWS

"Like the song says, 'It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.' That's the way I feel about it," Pat says. "I won't sing country, I won't sing rock. Never would."

The allure of jazz for Pat comes from its lively, vivacious style, which she can emote through her vocal delivery.

Jerry Ford's big band led Pat to sing on riverboats and eventually return to perform at the Casa Loma Ballroom of her childhood dreams.

She rubbed shoulders with some of jazz's great artists, meeting Ella Fitzegerald's bass player Ray Brown while visiting Chicago, as well as having her photo taken with Oscar Peterson during a tribute jazz cruise.

After a singing career spanning the decades, Pat now resides in Cape Girardeau.

Her husband died in 2014, and she is the only surviving member of the Mama-nettes.

Pat attends every jazz concert held at the Southeast's River Campus and strongly supports jazz bands, still refusing to break away from the genre.

Pat admits that she misses the musical landscape of her singing days.

"Well, when that's the main thing in your life, you don't want to ever quit," Pat says. "I miss it all the time now."

On Saturday, Oct. 27, Pat's singing days were brought back to life for her 90th birthday party at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Friends and family from across the country coming from places like Colorado, Florida and Ohio, all came to see Pat's return to the stage, where she sang like it was the '60s again.

"Saturday, I think, was one of the happiest days of my life," Pat says. "I saw old friends that I hadn't seen in years."

Her new favorite piece of music memorabilia is her gold record, a birthday gift presented "by all of Pat's past, present and future friends" on behalf of the Jerry Ford Orchestra.

While her music's mainstream popularity may be fading, Pat continues to shine as a star of jazz's golden days.

Pat's birthday party stood to show that the Jerry Ford Orchestra is more than just a band of musicians -- they're a musical family fighting to preserve what they love.

"It's something that keeps you young, regardless of what the style is," Ford says. "It keeps you engaged. It keeps you energized for life."