Bass player Dewayne Pate is so busy working as a sideman that it has taken him 14 years and a pandemic lockdown to find the time to record his second album as a leader. On The Upside comprises funk, blues, and jazz fusion tunes performed with a variety of instrumentation. Besides being an in-demand bass player, Pate is also an accomplished composer and included five of his original compositions. Pate released his first CD, Melting Pot, in 2008 featuring an all-star band, Reviewer Andrew Gilbert called the album " an impressive array of groove."
Pate is a master of many styles and has performed around the world with many top acts in a variety of genres, like Arturo Sandoval, Huey Lewis and The News, Tower Of Power, Tony Orlando, Pete Escovedo, and Robben Ford to name a few.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, his first gigs as a teenager were with his grandfather's country western band. His grandfather was a guitarist and semi-professional musician , and the band performed at state fairs and other public venues. Pate played some upright bass in junior high, and by the time he was in high school, he wanted to play guitar in the school jazz band. However, the band needed an electric bass player, so he switched instruments. It was the beginning of his long and successful career.
After graduating, Pate took some lessons from John Patitucci and went down to Los Angeles to the Musicians Institute, one of the top music schools in the country where he studied with jazz fusion bass icon Jeff Berlin. After moving back to the Bay Area he met Patrick Ford and joined his band, the Ford Blues Band, touring around the country and throughout Europe. Ford's brother, Robben Ford, one of the premier blues guitarists today, needed a bass player for his band, and hired Pate at his brother's recommendation. Pate spent two years touring the world in Robben Ford's band. After more road stints with Arturo Sandoval and Tower Of Power he was finally off the road long enough to concentrate on his own music.
From jazz to fusion to Latin to funk to the blues, Dewayne Pate's superb musicianship has been an essential component of so many different recordings and live performances that audiences may not have realized just how accomplished and versatile he is.