World Class Musician Patrice Rushen Will Perform in the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater on September 26th: Pursuing the Love of Music Wherever It Takes Her
Patrice Rushen has traversed the scales from jazz to classical music in her pursuit of her love of music no matter which genre she is participating in.
by Jonathan Gramling
On September 26th, Patrice Rushen will bring her love of music to the Overture’s Capitol Theater stage. Rushen is accomplished musically from jazz — what she calls “America’s classical music” — to the classical style of Mozart and everything in between. She is like a child in a candy store who takes one of each because she loves them all.
“I enjoy performing,” Rushen said. “I enjoy writing. There are so many aspects of making music that are challenging and at the same time offer a means of expression. I have several means of expression and I am enjoying having a chance to do that.”
And it all began with jazz.
“Learning to play America’s classical music was something that began even when I was in high school,” Rushen recalled. “The vocabulary and the idea of improvisation, working in that music involves a lot of everything. I had always wanted to be a composer, especially for film and television because I grew up in LA and film and television were a big deal. I wanted to be able to write whatever the project — the film, the musical or whatever — would entail. And that vocabulary allows you to explore different things. I learned how to play piano utilizing classical repertoire additionally. That also allowed me to be able to incorporate it. That took me into that understanding when I began to understand the importance and the relevance of jazz. As I continued to do that and was recording and the budget got bigger and I was able to write for strings and horns. These are things that I had wanted to do and I would incorporate that into the songs that I had been doing. Things kind of led from one thing to another. But they were all in the process of developing more ways to do music.”
Rushen’s career blossomed because of her versatility, love of all genres of music and willingness to go where the music took her.
“People sometimes forget that the music industry involves a lot of different kinds of possibilities as far as work goes,” Rushen reflected. “And the
skill set that kind of develops through my love of playing a lot of music and wanting to write also introduced the possibility of music direction, which I had kind of been doodling through having groups and things like that. Learning how to translate that into what I could do for shows for television and things like that, it turned out to be much of the same thing, breaking things down into actionable bites and musically offering that to the musicians who are able to play and to be able to do it very fast. And that is one thing that TV definitely taught me about composing for television and doing the shows that I did, the NAACP Image Awards, the Emmys, and the Grammys.
It taught me how to be accurate and to be fast, make up your mind about what you want to do and then execute that. All of those kinds of things have served me well in one form or another.”
Rushen has also focused on giving back and has taught youth in many capacities, from being chair of the Popular Music Program at USC’s Thornton School of Music to working with organizations dedicated to establishing music education and mentorship programs for underprivileged youth.
“One of the things that I do is teach and pass on information that was valuable that you can’t necessarily read in books and might not understand just by interpreting the notes you see on the page,” Rushen said. “That’s the kind of information that has been a part of my teaching. And I really enjoy seeing other people respond in that way. That’s one more avenue of expression for me is being able to share and to teach.”
Rushen was one of the classical music composers for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Convergence two years ago. And now she is back for a residency during WCO’s 2026-2027 season. Her mission? To expose Madison to a variety of musical styles and genres.
“When I come this time in September, the goal is to involve and invite the entirety of the Madison community who want to hear music,” Rushen said. “And many of the people know me for one thing and others know me for something else. So to be able to bring that together is to bring an audience of people together for celebrating music. And the idea of doing the concert is we are going to do half of the concert in acoustic jazz and the other half will be ‘Top Hits.’ Everybody will get something that they can relate to and hopefully when we come back in subsequent visits to do other things that may involve the orchestra or involve the environment that is associated with classical music, there will be that many more people who will come to hear those works, which will include my symphonic work as a commission.”
For the acoustic jazz portion, Rushen is bringing in some heavy hitters.
“These are people whom I enjoy playing with,” Rushen confided. “These are people whom I have known for a long time. And among them, they are considered at the top of their game. Ernie Watts is going to play. Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith is going to play as well as Reggie Hamilton. Together we form the Jazz Classics Quartet.”
For the “Pops” side of the concert, Rushen is bringing in some well known artists as well, including some of her former students.
“I have some former students who are now professional,” Rushen said. “And I have some veterans. We’re going to be able to explore the catalog that probably more people know the songs that are associated with me like ‘Forget Me Nots.’ People will probably recognize ‘Haven’t You Heard’ and ‘Remind Me.’ Those are songs that people who don’t typically go to a concert will recognize. And then when we grab them, we’ll say, ‘Hey, check out this next thing we’re going to do,’ which may involve the orchestra.’”
In Rushen’s subsequent visits, she will continue to expose the Madison audience to the versatility of music.
“If you liked what you heard, then I’m coming back,” Rushen emphasized. “‘Oh, let’s go hear what she is doing now!’ And that is to introduce people to the concept of the community of art and music particularly. It thrives on people’s curiosity. And to come and to experience something and to leave that particular concert with the idea that, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to get to the next concert to explore and experience that.’ That is what it is supposed to be, if I can light that flame.”
The lighting of the musical flame begins September 26th at Overture.
“Come on out,” Rushen exclaimed. “Buy your tickets now. The idea of doing something like this is a little different. And I think one of the exciting things for me that I’ve noticed in the times that I’ve come to Madison is that doing something really well and trying to offer the enjoyment of that excellence is something that people really respond to if they know. They got to know. And when they do, they respond.”
Come be a part of the musical movement and moment.
