It is these performances, currently available as Sunday at The Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby that comprise the number one best jazz live recording in this present series. Chuck and Gap Mangione were among the locals hanging out that night, andJade Visionsincludes Gaps recollection of listening to Chet Bakers recording of Grey December with Scotty. Grit is not a LaFaro staple, but that does not mean texture isnt. Mom needed the money. Nov 13, 2008 #2 Mark Carlsen Oct 4, 2004 Scotty grew up in Geneva, where his father Joe, whod played with the Paul Whiteman and Dorsey Brothers orchestras, earned a living as a violinist and shared his fondness for both classical music and big band jazz with his children. 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. Already a member? 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]. When we were in junior high school, Godfrey Brown, the head of the high school music department, would come there to recruit for positions they needed to fill in the band and orchestra. 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. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide Scott LaFaro's life and career were cut short in July of 1961. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. In fact, the tune Glorias Step, was an outgrowth of his interest in those chords. He also recalls getting the call from Scotty to spell the ailing Evans for a couple of nights at the Jazz Gallery. Freidman, LaRoca, and LaFaro recorded a demo session in 61 thats now available in a companion CD to the biography,Pieces of Jade. His most recent books are an entry in the 33 1/3series on Sam CookesLive at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, a volume about the 1951 film Scrooge as the ultimate work of cinematic terror, and the story collection, If You [ ]: Fabula, Fantasy, F**kery, Hope. This Third Stream affair has jazz as a major tributary vein, and it has LaFaro to thank for it. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has We calculated our top 40 new releases of 2022 We calculated our top 10 historical/reissue You never quite knew what Chicago bassist Kelly Sill was going to play (or what he was going to say). Scott died instantly and the world lost a talented andinnovative musical voice. Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 28 Dec 1958. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. Read more about this topic: Scott LaFaro, Time is here and youll go his way.Your lung is waiting in the death market.Your face beside me will grow indifferent.Darling, you will yield up your belly and becored like an apple.Anne Sexton (19281974), Poor fellow never joyed since the price of oats rose, it wasthe death of him.William Shakespeare (15641616), Ai! In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. 2023 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Other birthdays Monday: Jimmy McGriff, 64; Harold Vick, 19361987; and Eric Kloss, 51. Scott LaFaro was born 64 years ago today. Active. After that touch of piano, he really started to enjoy music and develop a keen awareness of what it was all about. On March 5, 2014, the Geneva (New York) City Council approved making April 3 Scott LaFaro Day. He worked from sheet music for the clarinet, with its much higher pitch, to improve his command of the bass upper register. 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.. Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFarorecounts how three days after his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival with the Stan Getz Quartet, hed driven to Geneva, NY to take care of some business related to his mothers home there. My mom was still pregnant with my last sister. - The Absolute Sound Scott LaFaro's Pieces of Jade features long-lost material recorded in New York City shortly before the bassist's death in a car accident in 1961. 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 trios legendary performance at the Village Vanguard. In 2007, 46 years later, Roy introduced Helene to the great bassist Christian McBride. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. Former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash in Westlake Village that killed two . Other times, its distilled into a moment that seems to transcend itself, and thus it went for Paul Gonsalves, hero of a Newport afternoon. Nearly six decades later, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez continues to keep her older brothers flame alive. Little, another ill-fated star of the period who died at 23 in October 1961, described LaFaro in the liner notes as distant, but closea paradox that resolves only for those who were simpatico. He also recognized Scottys distinctiveness as an innovator who was much more of a conversationalist behind you than any other bassist I know[Hes] technicallyabout the greatest bassist we have. Remarking on the solo LaFaro plays on Bee Tees Minor Plea, the trumpeter said, The bass is a crude and rude instrument, but Scott makes it into something else. Helene says Scotty would have loved being described as something else, since I could remember how excited [he] was when he brought around to play for me the first record of Ornettes he owned,Something Else.. Is that a jazz thing? There is a grave mistake a prospective listener can make with LaFaro, and when I say what that is, I may come off as somewhat risible, but one must do what is right: loving the Village Vanguard recordings so much that you sleep on the rest of what he achieved as a certain kind of jazz genius. It was then he fell in love with the tenor saxophone. 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. Each year during the first week of April, The Smith hosts the Scott LaFaro Day Celebration concert that features a contemporary bass player. Hes just so damn elegant. Steve Kuhn, who felt a brotherly kinship with Scotty and says his sudden death was the first major loss of my life, describes him as very strong-willed. (He also says that LaFaro, who was a fan of Formula One and sports car racing, drove a little too friskily for my taste.) A case in point was LaFaros departure from Kenton, which was precipitated by his displeasure with the bands new drummer, a situation that would repeat itself in 61 when he insisted that Stan Getz replace drummer Pete LaRoca. LaFaro went on to perform with Victor Feldman, Chet Baker, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Stan Getz and Ornette Coleman. July 6, 1961 in Seneca, NY. Bill Evans. He would be playing in the hotel room and hit a quadruple stop that was a harmonious sound, and then set the bass on its side and it seemed the sound just rang and rang for so long. It was then he fell in love with the tenor saxophone. In spring 1960, he featured on a half-dozen tracks that trumpeter Booker Little cut for his second session as leader. 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. He was playing mandolin and violin publicly by age 7. Once he got the gig, his college days were over. Evans also went on hiatus after LaFaro's death for a period of several months. Dave Green joins Alyn Shipton to pick the essential recordings of fellow bassist Scott LaFaro's brief but brilliant career, including work with Bill Evans. He played sessions at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and roomed with fellow bassist Charlie Haden, who recalled the first time LaFaro mentioned Bill Evans. [17], When I was in L.A., Scotty LaFaro and I roomed together. When Evans returned to the trio format later in 1962, it was with Motian and bassist Chuck Israels.[2]. These two albums, recorded less than two weeks prior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_rZZusz90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTEgBEaEM4. Having followed him out to Los Angeles in the late 1950s along with the rest of the LaFaro family, LaFaro-Fernandez still lives in California and continues to answer daily inquiries about her brother, conduct interviews, and ensure his legacy will inform musicians and fans for generations to come. Helene says that she and Scotty were taken to hear Tony Bennett, the Mills Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie and numerous others. He said, Man, youve gotta hear this. 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. Chicago, 1956. See all our current specials here. ", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Z8KuwI7Gc, Jade Visionscredits the demo session that LaFaro made with Steve Kuhn and Pete LaRoca nearly a year later as one where this conversational approach to group dynamics was evident. Paul Motian was on drums, Nobby Totah on bass. LaFaro-Fernandez: 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. Thats his brand of intimacy: the sensation of the stolen moment. [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". What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. Like Evans, Kuhn, whod arrived on the New York scene in 1959 as a 21-year-old Harvard grad, was being managed by Helen Keane. He emphasized high notes, could play with great speed and his interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential. Composer: Mercer / Kosma / Prevert I still have people from all over the world knocking at my doorstep, wanting to see where Scotty played. He was his own thing. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. For when Jazz Abstractions wrapped, December 21 dawned, and that meant LaFaroalong with Dolphywas boomeranging back to A&R Studios for the landmark waxing of the legendary, epoch-rattling Free Jazz, with a lineup of Dolphy on bass clarinet, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums in the right channel, and Coleman on alto, Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, Billy Higgins on drums, and LaFaro in the left. In May 1960, the Bill Evans Trio joined in a program at Circle in the Square that was devoted to Gunther Schullers jazz compositions. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. A master of the upright bass, he recorded with Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman before he died in a car crash at age 25. The two albums released by Riverside Records from that fabled performance,Sunday at the Village VanguardandWaltz for Debby, have long stood as his epitaph. This was Scottys home, and he would practice bass facing the corner in the living room because he could better hear the sound quality. She recalls that Zoot Sims so impressed her brother that he was impatient for the intermission to end, and that bassist Leroy Vinnegar hummed all the while he was playing, a habit Scotty later developed as well. Helene says he talked about seeing Duke Ellington for weeks, shaking his head in disbelief of howthey could fool with the melody and make it so much more. As for religion, she says that whenever shes asked, I always answer, We went wherever the music was best. That was Dads criterion, be it a mass at a Roman Catholic church or Friday evening Shabbat dinner at the cantors home., Scottys first instruments were piano, clarinet, and tenor saxophone. More on his story here. What happened to your brother after Ithaca College? 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. Sound-carver. Later we moved to Elmwood Place, and during the summer we would spend many of our days at the Brook Street Playground. He played in a trio or quartet at Belhurst from the time he got back until he died. LaFaro began by practicing his fingers off. The last day was recorded for two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.[8]. Mom needed the money. DSD 128 fs (2) DSD 64 fs (2) . LaFaro-Fernandez: My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. The trio attracted attention for its style. ~ Scott Yanow. Performers: Buddy Morrow, tb; Walt Stewart, tp; Dick Johnson, as; Scott LaFaro, b; plus unidentified other musicians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faSD3g1ndHE, LaFaro began working regularly with Ornette after Evans became ill with hepatitis in July 1960 and went to Florida to recuperate at his parents home amid rumors that hed died. 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. A professor encouraged him to audition for an open spot in the Buddy Morrow Orchestra. LaFaro completed his first year at Ithaca, but not his second. 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. 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. Advice and guidance to those interested in building a library of jazz recordings. We never got to enjoy it as a concert venue in our day, unfortunately. Around this time he received a greeting card from Miles Davis suggesting that Davis wanted to hire him. Genres. Performers: Ornette Coleman, as; Don Cherry, c; Scott Lafaro, b; Ed Blackwell, d. New York City, 31 Jan 1961. "[3], It was voted number 465 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[10]. My mom was still pregnant with my last sister. [citation needed], By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. Tracks. It was there his career exploded. Postings here are the last known photographs or videos of a person. They spent so much time discussing music, listening to records, at the piano, they were inseparable. Everyone heard him. He started playing piano in elementary school, bass clarinet in middle school, and tenor saxophone when he entered high school. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock . Its the top of the sheet, instead of the coarseness of the winter blanket. My dad took Scotty to see anyone who came there, or to Syracuse or Rochester. The important thing is his art while he lived. For much of 1958, LaFaro was with pianist/vibraphonist Victor Feldman's band. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Scottys death was hard on my Mom. Jazz. Composer: Porter: What kind of influence did your father have on your brothers music? There is also a street off of Seneca Street, just across from the Smith Opera House, that has been renamed Scott LaFaro Way. We would explore all around our neighborhood on West Street our house was where the elementary school is. By. And there truly couldn't be a better way to . Today would be the 78th birthday of the great Scott LaFaro, who died in a car accident in 1961. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. But LaFaro makes the music pulsehe provides its heartbeat and flow. While driving home late one night his car went off the road and struck a tree. Become a member and get exclusive access to articles, live sessions and more! Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . we do worse! Also, the exertion of a formidable musical will to take what was there, in an act of guidance. He recorded with pianist Don Friedman as well. . Having followed him out to Los Angeles in the late 1950s along with the rest of the LaFaro family, LaFaro-Fernandez still lives in California and continues to answer daily inquiries about her brother, conduct interviews, and ensure his legacy will inform musicians and fans for generations to come. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. LaFaro-Fernandez: On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. Before that grim July night, LaFaro had been a busy bassist. Performers: Chet Baker, tp; Phil Urso, ts; Francy Boland, p; Larance Marable, d; Scott LaFaro, b. We think of LaFaro as a jazz bassist with leanings toward classical music; its the lan, I think. Jim Hall. Well, Michael Cera did play a bassist in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. Click to reveal At that years Monterey Jazz Festival, LaFaro performed with both the Coleman Quartet and Gunther Schuller. That show typically includes stories about LaFaro, who forever changed the jazz worlds concept of what bass playing could accomplish with his counter-melodic style. And how does it go? Ted Gioia, in his 1997 survey,The History of Jazz, said, "LaFarotook far greater chances, departing markedly from the traditional walking line, instead offering countermelodies and guitar-like phrases. 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. Born 1936 in Newark, N.J., La Faro studied clarinet and tenor sax as a boy, but in college switched to bass. April 3, 1936 in Newark, NJ. . Friedman first heard LaFaro with Buddy Morrow, and then they worked together with Chet Baker. Available Qualities. Expansive range was a totem of the LaFaro sound, the idea that the bass was so much a bass that it was also not a bass and more than a bass. He was visiting some friends west of Geneva and was driving home late when he crashed. Labels. Is that a bass thing? By City News Service. 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. 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. Q: What kind of influence did your father have on your brothers music? In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. Kuhn is uncertain about exactly where he met LaFaro, but says it was most likely when he heard the Evans trio at the Five Spot late in 1959. I remained close friends with Scotty in New York, and would go over there to see and admire them, and Scotty and Paul would come over to the Five Spot, too. Death. Bill Evans Trio. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 08:03. This article is about the 1961 Village Vanguard recordings. Member Of . One of the most substantial biographies Ive read in recent years is the 2009 publication that Helene LaFaro-Fernandez devoted to her brother Scott. There was great rapport. In Jade Visionshe says, Scott wasnt what one would consider a big band bass player. Yes, the Evans dynamic provided him with a perfect setting. Mr. Berg, whose career encompassed free jazz, soul jazz, jazz rock, and straight-ahead playing, was driving east on Route 27 with his wife when Scott LaFaro - Artist Details. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "Route 66" songwriter Bobby Troup was the show's host. The group attended the funeral in Geneva, which Kuhn adds was closed casket., LaFaro's death was devastating to Bill Evans. The BMW then struck a fourth car which was traveling south on Corbin Avenue. Dont get fancy, no double beatsPlay whats written.LaFaro flew east, passed the audition, and signed on for a six-week tour of one-nighters with Goodman. 4 or The Paradox of Continuity, The Montreal Tapes: with Geri Allen and Paul Motian, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waltz_for_Debby_(1962_album)&oldid=1139601889, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Note on the alternate takes: "For this CD release, alternate versions of three of the six selections have been inserted just after the ones originally chosen for issuance.[] (, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:36. A jazz musicians legacy can be a multifarious slope. [My] early years at the university were thoroughly engaging intellectually but were also a time of deep introspection. A driver was killed when a car crashed into a home in the Hancock Park . It was released in 1962. 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. I was 19 and working. For many, that Evans association, with drummer Paul Motian, is the LaFaro legacy. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a154b16ff047cd4 Composers. Victor Feldman. Fellow bassist Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck strings with both the index and middle fingers independently. The entire day's recordings were released in 2005 as The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. Evans, according to Motian, would play "I Loves You Porgy," a song with which he and LaFaro became synonymous, almost obsessively, but always as a solo piece. LaFaro originally played clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college. Christian said, Scottys playing was the bible for bass playersJimmy Blanton the old testament, Scotty the new., LaFaro spent the evening of July 5 with old friends in Geneva then drove 80 miles west with Frank Ottley to visit another friend in Warsaw who was house-sitting at a place with a good stereo. [1] With Evans and drummer Paul Motian he developed the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. The album included five tracks recorded in New York City during 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca.[13]. Brooklyn, NY The other day at school someone mentioned Red Mitchell taking the bass which was in the car crash that killed Scott LaFaro back to Kolstein's in pieces, and Kolstein, fairly recently, restored it. 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. The tendency is to associate him with classical predilections, but here he is at one of the zeitgeist-shaking avant-garde sessions, and boy, does he drive the sound. Q: So if you were all living in California, how was it that your brother was near Geneva when he died? It remains what is likely Evans' most well-known song,[citation needed] one that he would play throughout his career. He heard what I was doing at the piano, and I heard what he was doing. Put one way: Scott LaFaro was up for it. May 23, 2021. The 25-year old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. Scotty had the concept for a trio to be conversational instead of the classic structure, instead of bass and drummer just keeping time. A Dead Musician Directory Celebrity Page. He played a lot of top, cymbals, and Scotty wanted more drums, says Kuhn. It will be observed on his birthday anniversary, April 3. 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. LaFaro died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1961 in Flint, New York on U.S. 20 between Geneva and Canandaigua, two days after accompanying Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival.

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