Born in 1959 in Brooklyn, New York, John Patitucci began playing the electric bass at age ten. John began composing and performing at age 12. At age 15, he began to play the acoustic bass and at age 16 began the piano. He quickly moved from playing soul and rock to blues, jazz and classical music. His eclectic tastes caused him to explore all types of music as a player and a composer. John studied classical bass at San Francisco State University and Long Beach State University. In 1980, he continued his career in Los Angeles as a studio musician and a jazz artist.

In 2005, John has recorded and/or played with Jack DeJohnette, Danilo Perez, Kenny Barron, again with Hank Jones and Steve Khan. At this year's Chamber Music concert at Concordia College, John premiered a piece he wrote for his friend Larry Dutton for viola and piano entitled Gardens and Pools, which was a commission work inspired by the painting of artist Sedar Arat. John also performed on a recording with his friend Jeremy McCoy, Assistant Principal Bassist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra entitled Dialogues with the Double Bass on Bridge Records. He recorded two original pieces and the Bottesini Duetto No. 3 for Two Basses with Jeremy on this recording.
Also this year, John has continued to be busy with the Wayne Shorter Quartet, which recently performed again at Carnegie Hall as part of the JVC Jazz Festival and released a new recording entitled Beyond the Sound Barrier.