JT Platt, Jr.

J.T.Platt Jr. Tenor & Alto Sax /vocals- Being from Louisiana, that great Southern music …..Blues, soul, funk, gospel and jazz were all around me. Eager to be a part, I was very lucky to be accepted by the Masters surrounding me and taking me under their wings. In a band in Texas with Dan Del Santo and the Professors of Pleasure…..was were I met and was smiled upon by the biggest influence on my saxophone growth, one of my mentors, Tomas Ramirez …The original Jazzmanian Devil…...the way every note was important, to play from the heart, to open up and not be afraid to fall, go for that note and sing, sing through the horn. Even to this day, as I’m improvising, I think to myself….What would Tomas play here. Got my first chance playing soul and Motown with Blue Mist, another band in Austin, and some of these guys are still together. Then a door opened , and I got an opportunity to move to San Francisco where I met and still thank , The Blues Boss Kenny Wayne , who brought me to Canada with Cliff Dunn, the guitarist with Billy Dixon and with what was supposed to be a 6 month tour, turned out to be a career and life choice. That band quickly developed into that long standing week to week workaholic machine known as Ron Haywood and Stripes. I’m sure many of you remember those marathon gigs at Richards on Richards, The Big Bamboo, The Soft Rock, and places all over B.C. and Alberta. Man did we work!! From there, I saxed up lots of bands in Vancouver, Solcola, Mike Henry’s Funkdelicious, H.B. Concept , and Utektik, (a rock fusion project that performs crazy and frantic originals and covers) and I got to play with the great Kim Kuzma quartet……to name a few. Along the way, I met another huge influence on my sax playing…Stan Karp and got to take lessons. Oh, that’s how ya do it!!
And now I’m really happy to work with Billy and the boys, we always have a great time performing and it’s like old friends getting together when we play. Come see us at Rossini’s and you’ll see what I mean. Always a packed house, the crowd is great and so is the food. See you soon.