Ben Patterson was introduced to classical music at a young age by his parents - his mother was a trained pianist and his father a one-time professional violinist. He studied contrabass and composition at the University of Michigan, and graduated in 1956. His ambition was to be the first black American to perform with a major symphony orchestra, but he was unable to find employment.
“In the end, even though such a famous conductor as Leopold Stokowski fought strongly on my behalf,” Patterson lamented in 2010, “America was not yet ready for a black symphony musician.”
He moved to Canada to perform with the Halifax Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 1958, and later with the Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1960, he traveled to Cologne to meet up with Karlheinz Stockhausen, clutching an introductory letter from the German ambassador to Canada, who was related to the composer through marriage.
Floored by Stockhausen's arrogance, Patterson said he “went into isolation for three days to ponder a more socially responsible way of making art”. Shortly afterwards a chance encounter with composer John Cage and pianist David Tudor resulted in an invitation to perform in a series of influential concerts held at the studio of artist Mary Bauermeister. Patterson performed Cage’s Cartridge Music on October 6, 1960, alongside Nam June Paik and Christian Wolff.
Patterson alerted George Maciunas to these events, which are typically seen as proto-Fluxus, and the pair began organizing festivals and performances in Germany including the Fluxus Internationale Festspiele Neuester Musik, held in Wiesbaden in September 1962. It was here that Fluxus was introduced to the world.
Patterson performed his own composition, Variations for Double-Bass, from 1961. Inspired by Cage’s prepared-piano works and Chance Operations, the score was first derived by ink blots, but noted "however, there are many other satisfactory solutions."
The score for Variations for a Double-Bass was reprinted in Fluxus 1, along with documentation photographs. His other contributions included Puzzle - Poem, Overture (vers. II-III), Lemon and Traffic Light.
Patterson died in 2016 at the age of 82.
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