Listen Up: Pat Register
Sax player Pat Register performed his first professional gig when he was 14.
“It was at a country club with my brother,” said Register, 44. “He was on trombone.”
He’s played professionally ever since.
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A native of Charlotte, N. C., Register got a Hohner electric organ from his grandfather one Christmas. “I attribute that thing to teaching me a lot about music. I learned Christmas songs. ‘Joy to the World.’ ”
Register’s parents wanted him to play an instrument in the high school band. “My dad went to the band director and said, ‘What should I have him play?’ And he said, ‘Well, I play saxophone. Have him play saxophone.’
“I got a saxophone and it probably wasn’t a year before I was already improvising and doing little jam sessions with my friends.”
When he was 16, Register got his first house gig playing at a jazz/rhythm and blues club in the West End of Louisville, where his family had moved. “They called me ‘The Kid.’ I was the little white kid in the all black clubs (performing with) black musicians.”
He flirted with college, but ended up playing music. “I just wanted to go on the road and see what else I could learn and do.
“Two guys from Marvin Gaye’s band who I played with in Louisville said, ‘Come with us to Florida and do this house band gig.’ I was 18 years old. It turned out to be a two-week run. So, it was seven guys in a two bedroom apartment with no income.”
He finally was offered a job playing in a Top 40 band in Ft. Lauderdale. “I got tired of eating ramen noodles so I said, ‘OK.’ ”
Later Register got a job playing five nights a week in the MVP band at the old Capt. Bilbo’s restaurant in Memphis. “Beale Street was a ghost town. That was the place to go. Huge crowds every week.”
He was with MVP for five years. He then joined the jazz funk band Come in Berlin with Niko Lyras. That band evolved into Register’s current band, Voodoo Village.
Register now mostly plays solos with his sax and music tracks.
During his career, Register had a No. 1 hit in Austria — “I Believe.”
His voice also could be heard on popular jingles, including “Memphis Light, Gas and Water — We want you to know,” and “Super D, the super store. We take better care of you.”
When he’s not performing at private parties, his regular gig at Villa Castrioti Pizza restaurant or at Hope Presbyterian Church, Register teaches martial arts. Like Elvis, Register is a student of Khang Rhee.
Instead of “The Kid,” Register has a new nickname. “My little kids I teach at Grace St. Luke’s call me ‘Mr. Dragon.’ In Khang Rhee style, everyone first rank gets an animal title. I chose ‘dragon’ ’cause I love Bruce Lee plus I was born in the year of the dragon.”
Former students now are his music fans. “I’m seeing them out at my gigs grown up: ‘Are you Mr. Dragon?’”
Pat Register plays 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Villa Castrioti Pizza at 714 North Germantown Pkwy. No cover charge. Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.
To see a video of this performer, go to gomemphis.com and click on music.
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