52.119.1.55 His sense of time was freer, less tied to the ground beat, than any jazz bassist had previously acheivedIt is not going too far to see this short-lived trio as redefining the nature of the jazz rhythm section. Q: What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? [3] He took up double bass at 18 before entering college because learning a string instrument was required of music education majors. Born in Irvington, New Jersey, the son of a big band musician, Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 - July 6, 1961) was five when his family moved to Geneva, New York. We decided to move the family to California. Chicago, 1956. Already a member? Each year during the first week of April, The Smith hosts the Scott LaFaro Day Celebration concert that features a contemporary bass player. For Evans, Misery offered a glimpse of a relationship to come., Two months later, on December 28, 1959, the Bill Evans Trio made its premiere recording for Riverside,Portrait in Jazz. Oscar Peterson Trio . You may additional context in comments. I was also told by classical bass players that this also changed things for them because as was with all music pretty much up until then, the bass was considered more of a rhythm instrument only. He proved to be a natural for the instrument, which obsessed him, and early in his sophomore year he went on the road with Buddy Morrows orchestra. Scott was extremely picky and choosy, and he wanted to call the trio. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. Providing entertainment, education, and the energizing force that pulls us all together in celebration of great work. LaFaro was taken from this world 60 years ago, on July 6, 1961, in Flint, New York, where he was involved in an auto accident a few days after playing with Stan Getz at Newport. A jazz musicians legacy can be a multifarious slope. Composer: Hammerstein II / Kern When Scotty was killed at age 25 (I was 24), I was devastated I couldn't play for months. He wanted the conversation back and forth between each of the players, and he wanted to play melody. They worked together with vocalist Dick Haymes, whose road show included dancers and a comic. Search Music. ~ Charles A. Ralston, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. Ornette Coleman was another musician who appeared on the Jazz Abstractions datebut as with Dolphy and Evans, on just half the recordand I often imagine the conversations he might have had with LaFaro during breaks and between takes about what Coleman had in mind for the next day. His death came just ten days after recording two live albums with the Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, albums considered among the finest live jazz recordings. Postings here are the last known photographs or videos of a person. Bassist Scott LaFaro would die in a car accident just ten days after this album's recording, at the age of 25. LaFaro is heard soloing while George Duvivierplays the bass riff that Percy Heath had introduced on the first recordings of "Django" by the Modern Jazz Quartet. Composer: Porter: This Third Stream affair has jazz as a major tributary vein, and it has LaFaro to thank for it. As such, the album is a sort of memorial record for him; all of the tracks featured were either written by him, or feature a bass solo performed by him as the centerpiece of the track. The young bassist was friends to other artists and art during his all-too brief sojourn upon the mortal coil. Bill Evans Trio. 2023 Smith Center for the Arts, All rights reserved. LaFaro-Fernandez: On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. It was there his career exploded. The Scott La Faro book was wonderful. LaFaro went on to perform with Victor Feldman, Chet Baker, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Stan Getz and Ornette Coleman. There is also a street off of Seneca Street, just across from the Smith Opera House, that has been renamed Scott LaFaro Way. [9], Writing for AllMusic, music critic Thom Jurek wrote of the album: "While the Sunday at the Village Vanguard album focused on material where LaFaro soloed prominently, this is far more a portrait of the trio on those dates Of the many recordings Evans issued, the two Vanguard dates and Explorations are the ultimate expressions of his legendary trio. Often controversial, always entertaining, JazzTimes is a favorite of musicians and fans alike. At the time it was such a revolutionary idea, and it ushered in a sea change for jazz. When Scotty was in sixth grade we took our first piano lessons. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Many believe that Evans never fully recovered from the loss, as well as that it contributed to his pattern of heroin usage, an addiction that would later kill him. He worked from sheet music for the clarinet, with its much higher pitch, to improve his command of the bass upper register. Lafaro's innovative bass playing, which combined virtuoso technique with a counter-melodic conception, was captured in all its glory at the Vanguard on June 25, 1961. Despite his short career, he remains one of the most influential jazz bassists, and was ranked number 16 on Bass Player magazine's top 100 bass players of all time.[2]. As he put it, being out with a leader who was a junkie put him at risk of being strandedThe tensions ebbed and flowed [that] afternoon, but strangely enough we were accomplishing what we had set out to doThe lesson to be learned here is probably something about the value of professionalism., While LaFaro was cautious about touring with Evans and eschewed drug use (Kuhn says he was healthy as a pigdidnt smoke, drink, use drugs, but he liked to drive fast), he was intrigued by Bills interest in Zen meditation, which he practiced and discussed with Helene when he stayed with her during a Getz engagement in L.A. Died . The all-timer live session that produced the aforementioned discs is rounded out by two studio LPs, Portrait in Jazz (1960) and Explorations (1961), which I sense are not listened to as much as they ought to be, but the Vanguard date is sufficiently lambent that it pulls us to it, which is good on one handthis is one sweet, invigorating flameand less than ideal on the other, because Scott LaFaro (who, along with Jimmy Blanton, Id posit as jazzs most important bassist) was a lot more, and did a lot more, than the prevailing narrative would have us believe. Scott LaFaro was an American jazz musician whose technique on the double bass left an indelible impression on future artists even though he died in a car accident in 1961 when he was just 25 years.. For the 1964 album with Monica Zetterlund, see, The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961, "Bill Evans Trio: Sunday At The Village Vanguard & Waltz For Debby", Plays the Theme from The V.I.P.s and Other Great Songs, Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings, Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2, On Broadway Vol. Little was as star-crossed as LaFaro, and hes usually talked about in conjunction with altoist Eric Dolphy as often as LaFaro is with Evans. AllMusic Quiz. Scott LaFaro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNqSL3xGW70, The Evans Trios appearance at the Village Vanguard opposite Lambert, Hendricks & Ross in June 1961 culminated with the legendary recordings made on the last day of the two-week engagement, Sunday, June 25. LaFaro-Fernandez: When Scotty was in sixth grade we took our first piano lessons. Rocco Scott LaFaro, in a career that lasted only six years, developed skills on the upright bass that few have been able to match. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. He remembered that Scotty was dressed up for the Newport appearance. Jazz. Tragically, LaFaros chance to see how far his talent would take him was cut short when he died in a car crash near Geneva in July 1961 at the age of 25. Hentoff heard LaFaro as the most important new bassist since Paul Chambers and Wilbur Ware, and added, It may be necessary to add for those hearing LaFaro for the first time that his bass is not electronically amplified. Victor Feldman. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. The highlight of the session was Scotts original, Misery (to Lady Day). Evans biographer Peter Pettinger said of the dedication to Billie Holiday, Not much happens, but a wavelength is established. So they were constantly trying for fresh approaches and fresh improvisationsAnd Bill told me, I remember it exactly, If I played the same lick on a tune two nights in a row, the next time I playe dit Scott would play it with me in harmonyhe would actually harmonize it so that at that point it was time for me to get rid of that lick and move on to something else.Is that what LaFaro was trying to bring to Getzs attention at the Blackhawk? My mom was still pregnant with my last sister. He was visiting some friends west of Geneva and was driving home late when he crashed. LaFaro continued to divide his time between Getz, Ornette, and Evans in 1961. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. LaFaro also played opposite bassist Charlie Haden in alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman's experimental double quartet on Free Jazz. It wasnt until he left for Ithaca College, where music majors were required to play a stringed instrument, that he first played bass. It remains what is likely Evans' most well-known song,[citation needed] one that he would play throughout his career. It was an idyllic childhood. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 08:03. Tracks. In his liner notes, producer Orrin Keepnews focused on the phenomenon of Bill Evans thepianist, but the lone paragraph devoted to the other members of the trio noted that they werent limited toconventional rhythmic backing, and cited Autumn Leaves, as a harbinger of things to come. The Jazz la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music. A post-bass bass player, maybe. To top it off, the old cars didn't have self-sealing gas tanks and as in the case of LaFaro's accident, if they ruptured, frequently resulted in fire. Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 28 Dec 1958. As was, really, LaFaro. LaFaro spent most of his days practicing his instrument. Find him on the web at colinfleminglit.com (where he maintains the unique online journal, the Many Moments Moreblog) and on Twitter @colinfleminglit. May 23, 2021. Showing all 2 results. Fraternal guidance, in that this endeavor allowed fellow band members to do what they best did. Born 1936 in Newark, N.J., La Faro studied clarinet and tenor sax as a boy, but in college switched to bass. ", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzbINNrqcQ. He used a Zen epigram in the closing of his letter to Gloria: Im trying to remember a bit of Zen I like so well: If you seek the fruits ofgood actionso shall they escape you. I try to smile everyday with that., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uugimR8honE, When I asked Kuhn if Scotty had similar anxieties about touring with Getz, he said no, but he recalled a bandstand incident between the bassist and the tenor player whom Kuhn called extraordinarily paranoid. One night at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, he said, they clashed. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he was an influential jazz bassist best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. Composer: LaFaro Joe LaBarbera, who drummed in the trio with Evans and Johnson, says, Bill said regarding Scott and the music, that Scott hated it when it remained the same. LaFaro joined the Bill Evans Trio in 1959 and, although he would record with Ornette Coleman (including Free Jazz) and gig with Stan Getz, the bassist is best-remembered for his association with Evans, particularly their Village Vanguard recordings of 1961. He was with Buddy Morrows band (1955-56), toured with Chet Baker (1956-57) and worked during the next few years with Ira Sullivan, Barney Kessel, Cal Tjader and Benny Goodman among others. Composer: Styne / Sondheim Click to reveal Is that a bass thing? Performers: Buddy Morrow, tb; Walt Stewart, tp; Dick Johnson, as; Scott LaFaro, b; plus unidentified other musicians. Later in high school, kids would go to the movies with their friends, or boyfriends, or girlfriends. He practiced from sheet music for the higher-pitched clarinet to improve his facility the upper register for bass. LaFaro died in an automobile accident on July 6, 1961, in Seneca, New York,[5] on U.S. Route 20 between Geneva and Canandaigua,[9] four days after accompanying Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_rZZusz90, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTEgBEaEM4. Tonight Show, 14 Feb 1957. He took up bass because he was required to play a stringed instrument at Ithaca College. There was great rapport. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. Thanks to Rifftides readers Frank Roellinger and Svetlana Ilyicheva for alerting us that last Thursday, Geneva honored LaFaro on his 78th birthday by proclaiming April 3rd its first annual Scott LaFaro Day. He died near Geneva in an auto accident in 1961. After Scotty joined the Buddy Morrow Orchestra, he traveled with them all over the country until they reached California, as he really wanted to be where the West Coast jazz scene was happening. One of the most substantial biographies I've read in recent years is the 2009 publication that Helene LaFaro-Fernandez devoted to her brother Scott. The important thing is his art while he lived. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. You can read our interview with Holland here. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world." Scott Yanow. [15][16], According to Joachim Berendt, LaFaro's innovative approach to the bass caused "emancipation", introducing "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before". Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In May 1960, the Bill Evans Trio joined in a program at Circle in the Square that was devoted to Gunther Schullers jazz compositions. In 2007, 46 years later, Roy introduced Helene to the great bassist Christian McBride. Later we moved to Elmwood Place, and during the summer we would spend many of our days at the Brook Street Playground. In Jeff Campbells essay, Scott LaFaro: The Complete Musician (an addendum toJade Visions), he singles out the trios performance of So What, saying that LaFaro and Kuhn engage in a brief musical dialogue just prior to the return of the theme[improvising] melodic ideas that are intertwined in a conversational manner. Campbell notes that LaFaros accompaniment on Whats New is much more activethan the traditional conventions of ballad playing., It is an interesting fact, Campbell asserts, That the earliest example of LaFaros active, conversational ballad accompaniment was with Steve Kuhn and not Bill Evans. When I ran this claim by Kuhn, he said, I dont agree with that necessarily. Bassist Dave Green joins Alyn Shipton to pick the highlights of these, and to trace the other significant records in LaFaro's brief but brilliant career. And there truly couldn't be a better way to . All is possible, and then all is no more. The last day was recorded for two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.[8]. He recorded with pianist Don Friedman as well. The Sampson Air Force Base was so big that it brought in big names like Duke Ellington. The great bassist is best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio between 1959 and '61, and for the tragic car accident that claimed his life on July 6, 1961, two weeks after the trio's . Active. It is well remembered as the final performance by the Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. It originally appeared as a solo piano piece on Evans' debut album, New Jazz Conceptions. This year The Smith is excited to have National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Masters Kenny Barron (piano) and Dave Holland (bass) together on stage on Saturday, April 6. That is what so many families Sunday ritual were like. But LaFaro had a pronounced Dolphy streak too, in that both musicians were playmakers, facilitators, helping others to raise their games by playing theirs at the highest level. Youll have to adjust your ears, but theyll fall into line quickly. Scotty and I rented a house for Mom and the girls, I got married a few months later and (soon) we all moved into a new house in a new development in West Hills. You can read our interview with Holland. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. Composer: Hawes [1] He played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant[4] on State Street in downtown Ithaca. Well, Michael Cera did play a bassist in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. The helmsman remains present to take us many places where we otherwise might not have gone, and no one has steered that ship better than Scott LaFaro. When Evans returned to the trio format later in 1962, it was with Motian and bassist Chuck Israels.[2]. Styles. Taking a tip from Red Mitchell, he trained himself to pluck the strings of his bass with his index and middle finger independently. Later in high school, kids would go to the movies with their friends, or boyfriends, or girlfriends. Our Dad was from here. They needed a bass clarinetist, and he promised Scotty that he would be allowed to play clarinet and eventually the tenor sax if he took that position. we do worse! At that years Monterey Jazz Festival, LaFaro performed with both the Coleman Quartet and Gunther Schuller. Those years of self-discovery can be challenging at times and those moments found their perfect expression in the Village Vanguard SessionsI listened to that music for so many hours that it became my constant silent companion and a beacon of hope.. What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? I dont blame him, said Morrow. In Meet Me at Jim & Andy's: Jazz Musicians and Their World, Gene Lees wrote, "The shock of LaFaro's death stayed with Bill for years, and he felt vaguely guilty about itHe felt that because of his heroin habit he had made insufficient use of [their] time togetherAfter LaFaro's death, Bill was like a mane with a lost love, always looking to find its replacement. Performers: Pat Moran, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Gene Gammage, d. 1958. ), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gzwXQGvXgc, LaFaro signed on with Stan Kenton for a tour in the spring of 1959. AMAGANSETT, N.Y. - Acclaimed tenor saxophonist Robert Berg was killed Thursday when a cement truck skidded across a snow-slicked road and rammed into his sport utility vehicle, East Hampton police said. By. I suppose technically, yes, though its also far more, and thats a LaFaro thing. Chops: What Bassists Listen for in Drummers, The 10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1950s: Critics Picks, Year in Review: The Top 40 Jazz Albums of 2022, Year in Review: The Top 10 Historical Albums of 2022, Chops: What Bassists Listen for in Drummers. My sense has always been that the music of this slipstream space needs him, all but knocks on his door and asks the helmsman to come out again. LaFaro is best known as the bassist in Bill Evans' groundbreaking trio, and also worked with Chet Baker, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins and the Stan Kenton Orchestra. In Jade Visionshe says, Scott wasnt what one would consider a big band bass player. Its there for a reason, and thats not solely to complement the proof of the magic that occurred at a New York City club in late June 1961. He replaced Charlie Haden as Ornette Coleman's bassist in January 1961. But LaFaro makes the music pulsehe provides its heartbeat and flow. Little must have loved LaFaros contributions, because he himself was one of those players between spheres: neither a bopper nor a hard-bopper nor an out-and-out New Thing guy. We were like brothers., Six months before the session with Kuhn, LaFaro recorded with trumpeter Booker Little on April 13 and 15. Bassist Marc Johnson, who was with Evans between 1978 and his death in 1980, wrote in the liner notes forPieces of Jadethat the Vanguard performance was the highest measure of Scotts musical vision. InJade Visions, he says, I must have listened to those recordingsthousands of timesTo this day, I still dont see how Scott articulated his ideas with such startling clarity and velocity., Johnson also speaks for the continuing hold that the recordings have on listeners touched by their emotional richness. A master of the upright bass, he recorded with Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman before he died in a car crash at age 25. A professor encouraged him to audition for an open spot in the Buddy Morrow Orchestra. Scotty had the concept for a trio to be conversational instead of the classic structure, instead of bass and drummer just keeping time. Ornettes group with Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell played the Village Gate for three weeks in August and September followed by engagements in Philadelphia and Detroit. The album was the fourth and final effort from the unitLaFaro died in a car accident just ten days after the live date at the Village Vanguard from which Waltz for Debby and its predecessor, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, were taken. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . He says they formed an immediate friendship, and that musically, Id never felt such an instant connection. Let us be grateful that he didnt rest easy during what would prove to be the last Christmas season of his life, for in December 1960, he was called in for a couple of dates that we must look to every bit as much as the June 1961 Village Vanguard recordings to fully appreciate him. A copy of the latest annual report may be obtained from the Smith Center or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. Shortly after, their collaboration began. Joining Palombi on this date are Don Friedman and Eliot Zigmund. That left air and spaceand timewhich could do with some filling, some shaping. Fellow bassist Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck strings with both the index and middle fingers independently. Stan said fine. Kuhn and drummer Pete LaRoca were Scottys choices, but in the midst of a two-week engagement at the Sutherland Hotel on Chicagos Southside, LaFaro had got tired of LaRocas playing. Youre freeboomto lock in on LaFaro, and I do that quite a bit. Born . We would explore all around our neighborhood on West Street our house was where the elementary school is. Scotty and I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942. One may even ask the question whether it is possible to love jazz and not love Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, and I dont think youre being a curmudgeon if you stamp a foot and issue an emphatic No, by Jove!. 2023 Madavor Media, LLC. He was a musician from age 4. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. The group includes Victor Feldman, Stan Levey, and trombonist Frank Rosolino. It was released in 1962. Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. LaFaro's freewheeling, harmonically advanced bass style with the Bill Evans Trio (1959-1961) opened a door to a wholly new approach to the instrument that influenced a generation of players who followed in his wakeEddie Gomez, Dave Holland, and Marc Johnson, to name just a few. Tom Reneys writings delve into the history and mystery of jazz, blues, and beyond. Bill had first heard Scotty with Chet Baker three years earlierNot long after we were back off the Goodman tour, there was a call waiting for Scottythat Bill wanted him to work with him., The first meeting of what became known as the trio took place at a Tony Scott recording date on October 28 and 29, 1959. Evans was an articulate interweaver of a pianist, a melodic speaker, a filigree lord rather than a rhythm king. There is fealty and gratitude in Evans approach to that famed date, and we have our early summer day out with the best of chums, people we feel are our musical friends. (, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:36. Your IP: Both Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason took note. "Route 66" songwriter Bobby Troup was the show's host. A record like this could easily have become just a mood disc: sound as fuzzy, woolly painting, in which the experiment becomes an end unto itself, the gesture, the gambit, being everything. He played a lot of top, cymbals, and Scotty wanted more drums, says Kuhn. I was 19 and working. This is the best piano player Ive ever heard. It was Evanss 1956 debut album,New Jazz Conceptions. LaFaro originally played clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college. Studied clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college days at Blackhawk. School, kids would go to the trio band bass player bass player with their friends, or,. And start taking part in conversations he says they formed an immediate friendship, and then all no... From Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck the strings of his with! 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