Later we moved to Elmwood Place, and during the summer we would spend many of our days at the Brook Street Playground. 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. He worked from sheet music for the clarinet, with its much higher pitch, to improve his command of the bass upper register. Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. Providing entertainment, education, and the energizing force that pulls us all together in celebration of great work. Scott LaFaro was born 64 years ago today. He was in his second year at college to study music when he joined Buddy Morrow's band and went on a cross country tour. On December 19 and 20, he took part in John Lewis, Gunther Schuller, and Jim Halls Jazz Abstractions sessions, with buddy Bill Evans and Eric Dolphy. Right there on stage, Stan stopped playing and yelled, MF, Ive got the melody! Notwithstanding flair-ups of this kind, Kuhn says that Getz held LaFaro in the highest regard. He took up bass because he was required to play a stringed instrument at Ithaca College. Jim Hall. I get 10 to 12 emails a day asking about Scotty. The important thing is his art while he lived. And there truly couldn't be a better way to . 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. Also, the last picture taken by a person just before their death is acceptable. [14] On April 4, 2014 a ceremony to rename a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive took place. LaFaro-Fernandez, Helen; Ralston, Chuck; Campbell, Jeffrey R.; Palombi, Phil (2009). It was there his career exploded. By. A jazz musicians legacy can be a multifarious slope. 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. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. Helene says that she and Scotty were taken to hear Tony Bennett, the Mills Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie and numerous others. Find him on the web at colinfleminglit.com (where he maintains the unique online journal, the Many Moments Moreblog) and on Twitter @colinfleminglit. There was great rapport. 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. Three of the tunes from their setBaubles, Bangles and Beads; Where Do You Go; and Airegin were released on CD in 1994. 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. Stan was playing a melody, and Scott began doubling it. But we LaFaros have staying quality, and my husband and I just celebrated our 60th year in this house. 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. 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. - 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. 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. It has rolled corners on the bottom and very sloped shoulders on the top, making it easier to get in and out of thumb position. 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.. 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. Composer: Urso He said, Man, youve gotta hear this. More on his story here. we do worse! Scott Yanow, All-Music GuideScott LaFaros life and career were cut short in July of 1961. In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. 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 day consists of such a singular preoccupationthe physicology of music. A post-bass bass player, maybe. ai! Not long after he arrived on campus, he gave his clarinet away to a classmate. 2023 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and others were also featured, and LaFaro drew notice from Dan Morgenstern inMetronomefor a solo remarkable for its technical skill and musical weight. The piece was Schullers Variants on a Theme by John Lewis (Django), which he would also appear on in December when Schullers work was recorded for the Atlantic Records release,Jazz Abstractions. Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 July 6, 1961)[1] was an American jazz double bassist known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. Bud Powell. They spent so much time discussing music, listening to records, at the piano, they were inseparable. It was then he fell in love with the tenor saxophone. "[3], It was voted number 465 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[10]. When Scotty came east to play with Goodman, he shared a cold-water flat in the East 70s with Freidman that went for $18 a month. While driving home late one night his car went off the road and struck a tree. He wanted the conversation back and forth between each of the players, and he wanted to play melody. 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. Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. Colin Fleming writes fiction and nonfiction on myriad topicsart, film, music, sports, literature, current eventsfor a wide range of publications, and talks regularly on radio and podcasts. Death. 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. 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. Man, woman decapitated after car slams into big rig on 5 Freeway in San Fernando Valley. Ornette drew mixed reviews everywhere including Monterey, where his performance of Youll Never Know elicited a scathing review from John Tynan, who said it was patently bad, disturbed, and utterly unhappy. Still, he singled out LaFaro for his brilliant technique and ideas [that] were remarked on by all., Scotty was given to introspective thoughts about where the music was going and what he recognized as the increasing distance between jazzs new direction and the public. LaFaro continued to divide his time between Getz, Ornette, and Evans in 1961. Other times, its distilled into a moment that seems to transcend itself, and thus it went for Paul Gonsalves, hero of a Newport afternoon. So help yourself to his more, if you will. Genre. Youre freeboomto lock in on LaFaro, and I do that quite a bit. It originally appeared as a solo piano piece on Evans' debut album, New Jazz Conceptions. Postings here are the last known photographs or videos of a person. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Q: Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. 52.119.1.55 In 2009, Resonance Records reissued five tracks from Memories for Scotty on Pieces of Jade, together with twenty-two minutes of LaFaro and Bill Evans practising "My Foolish Heart" during a rehearsal in 1960. All is possible, and then all is no more. Q: What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? I adored him, and I was thrilled to be able to work with him. Click to reveal Scotty sat in. In the mid 1950s, at the Los Angeles music scene, he became known as one of. Everyone heard him. He heard what I was doing at the piano, and I heard what he was doing. Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 08:03. 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. Our Dad was from here. April 3, 1936 in Newark, NJ. But you always knew that Read More Kelly Sill, Several years ago, one of Danilo Prezs students was suffering from tendinitis. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". After that touch of piano, he really started to enjoy music and develop a keen awareness of what it was all about. Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the Buddy Morrow big band. 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. The last day was recorded for two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.[8]. Search for: Search. LaFaro broke new ground on the instrument, developing a countermelodic style of accompaniment rather than playing traditional walking basslines, as well as virtuosity that was practically unmatched by any of his contemporaries. Around this time he received a greeting card from Miles Davis suggesting that Davis wanted to hire him. 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. Helene makes no secret of LaFaros exacting standards and competitive personality, and she quotes many who testify to the same. Evans and Dolphy dont feature on a couple tunes, while LaFaro is the constant. Put one way: Scott LaFaro was up for it. On date night, people would end up at The Smith. 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. 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. She had lost her husband, then four years later lost her son, and she still had young kids to raise. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. He would have played twenty-four hours a day if he couldHe was learning a mile a minute., Morrows outfit had a big hit with Night Train. The bandleader told Helene, We were a band which was dedicated at the time to mainly rhythm and blues. This was Scottys home, and he would practice bass facing the corner in the living room because he could better hear the sound quality. [17], When I was in L.A., Scotty LaFaro and I roomed together. Scotty was on the road at the time, in California. LaFaro completed his first year at Ithaca, but not his second. LaFaro continued to play this bass until his death. 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. Styles. 2023 Madavor Media, LLC. Showing all 2 results. The top of the instrument is a three-piece plate of slab-cut fir; the back is a two-piece plate of moderately flamed maple with an ebony inlay at the center joint; the sides are made of matching maple. Everyone would say Dont go to the creek! but we did anyway, and would come home with red shoes. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. Paul Motian was on drums, Nobby Totah on bass. Nov 13, 2008 #2 Mark Carlsen Oct 4, 2004 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. What happened to your brother after Ithaca College? The Sampson Air Force Base was so big that it brought in big names like Duke Ellington. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Before long he mastered the instrument, and he toured with trombonist Buddy Morrow and trumpeter Chet Baker. Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 7 May 1960. But its a moment were meant to be a part of, that both surrounds us and is for us. Each year during the first week of April, The Smith hosts the Scott LaFaro Day Celebration concert that features a contemporary bass player. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He became a professional musician in New York City during the Roaring 20s. 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. Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. Rocco Scott LaFaro, in a career that lasted only six years, developed skills on the upright bass that few have been able to match. Smith Opera House is owned and operated by the Smith Center for the Arts, a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. LaFaro's death took an enormous emotional toll on Bill Evans, who was, according to drummer Paul Motian, "numb with grief," "in a state of shock," and "like a ghost" after LaFaro's death. Become a member and get exclusive access to articles, live sessions and more! [3] He took up double bass at 18 before entering college because learning a string instrument was required of music education majors. A driver was killed when a car crashed into a home in the Hancock Park . Performers: Thad Jones, tp; Herb Geller, as; Billy Taylor, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Elvin Jones, d. June 1959. After three months at Ithaca College, he concentrated on bass. LaFaro burned like a meteorite, rising to the top rank of bassists in a few short years and working with a Whos Who ofjazzgreats in the compressed time frame preceding his death at age 25. Your IP: He was playing mandolin and violin publicly by age 7. Composer: Rosolino Free Jazz did that kind of splicing and segmenting for you, as part of, neatly enough, its original integrated sonic package. The three not duplicated here were played only once that day. See all our current specials 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. LaFaro also played opposite bassist Charlie Haden in alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman's experimental double quartet on Free Jazz. Then all is possible, and he toured with trombonist Buddy Morrow and trumpeter Baker. 17 ], when I was thrilled to be a multifarious slope Jade Visions: the and. 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