LaFaro achieved fame in the Bill Evans Trio, which he joined in 1959 and which featured Paul Motian on drums. Its the top of the sheet, instead of the coarseness of the winter blanket. Composer: Gillespie 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. DSD 128 fs (2) DSD 64 fs (2) . Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. But he was best known for his collaborations and recordings with the Bill Evans Trio. For much of 1958, LaFaro was with pianist/vibraphonist Victor Feldman's band. The last day was recorded for two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.[8]. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. 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! Search Music. He was excited. New England Public Media | LaFaro left Morrow and settled in Los Angeles in 1957. Taking a tip from Red Mitchell, he trained himself to pluck the strings of his bass with his index and middle finger independently. "[12], In 1988, Insights label of RVC Corporation in Japan released Memories for Scotty. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he was an influential jazz bassist best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. LaFaro died in an automobile accident on July 6, 1961 in Flint, New York on U.S. Route 20 between Geneva and Canandaigua, four days after accompanying Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival. Pianist Pat Moran, who led a trio that Scott toured and recorded with in 1958, says he was was very aware of his genius and used to love to go into clubs and intimidate bass playersHe was quite a character, lots of fun. Moran is little known today as Patti Moran McCoy, butin 1960 LaFaro was quoted ina profile written by Martin Williams forJazz Review, I dont even like any of my records except maybe the first one I did with Pat Moran., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HAbUcKTdcI. More on his story here. Mom needed the money. The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961, "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time - BassPlayer.com", "It was just one afternoon in a jazz club forty years ago", "It's official: April 3 will be Scott LaFaro Day in Geneva", "Innovation and Inspiration: Geneva celebrates the life and legacy of renowned jazz musician Scott LaFaro", "Honoring Scott LaFaro in Geneva, NY: Scott LaFaro Day, street re-naming, and a special Geneva Night Out on April 4th", NAMM Oral History Interview with Helene La Faro, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scott_LaFaro&oldid=1141284283, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Articles with dead external links from July 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. 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. So even a low speed accident which would be survivable in today's cars, would be a mess in an older car. 2023 Smith Center for the Arts, All rights reserved. He would practice for hours: he had all these Sonny Rollins solos he had written out in bass clef! 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 Yanow. Often controversial, always entertaining, JazzTimes is a favorite of musicians and fans alike. LaFaro and his stellar bandmates pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca run through four jazz standards, including two takes of Sacre Blu. Lets call it the chimerical voice of the rhythm sectionas well as what could often be the lead instrument when LaFaro was in your band. 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.. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. ", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzbINNrqcQ. Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. Other birthdays Monday: Jimmy McGriff, 64; Harold Vick, 19361987; and Eric Kloss, 51. It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. 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. Member Of . 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. RE: Person I Knew is a tribute to bass legend Scott LaFaro, who died tragically in a car accident 50 years ago this year at the age of 25.Phil Palombi plays the EXACT bass that made Scotty a legend on the Bill Evans Trio, Live at the Village Vanguard Sessions!. Performers: Victor Feldman, p, vib; Scott LaFaro, b; Stan Levey, d. 22 Jan 1958. In high school Scotty played clarinet and tenor saxophone, in spite of not being happy about a lip injury he got playing basketball at the Y. Tracks such as "Solar" (RealAudio excerpt), from the Village Vanguard sessions, highlight his ability to play high notes with surprising speed. The album included five tracks recorded in New York City during 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca.[13]. 2023 Madavor Media, LLC. Active. Composer: LaFaro Genres. 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. After that touch of piano, he really started to enjoy music and develop a keen awareness of what it was all about. 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]. Sometimes its defined by contrasting stylistic paths that amalgamate into a career, as with Miles Davis. "Route 66" songwriter Bobby Troup was the show's host. The important thing is his art while he lived. Composer: Mercer / Kosma / Prevert Chicago, 1956. Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the Buddy Morrow big band. [1] He played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant[4] on State Street in downtown Ithaca. 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. . 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. He had an incredible ear. Born 1936 in Newark, N.J., La Faro studied clarinet and tenor sax as a boy, but in college switched to bass. LaFaro-Fernandez, Helen; Ralston, Chuck; Campbell, Jeffrey R.; Palombi, Phil (2009). How did that happen? 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. Composers. Not long after he arrived on campus, he gave his clarinet away to a classmate. We never got to enjoy it as a concert venue in our day, unfortunately. When Scotty was in sixth grade we took our first piano lessons. Everyone heard 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. 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. - 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. 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. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. Includes Obituary, Biography, Discography, Photo, and Links. He stuck with his new hire, offered Scotty the option of plane fare to New York or L.A., and showed him the door. Friedman relates inJade Visions,He used to play my piano, and was very interested in minor 7thchords with the flat 5th. Find him on the web at colinfleminglit.com (where he maintains the unique online journal, the Many Moments Moreblog) and on Twitter @colinfleminglit. 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. In addition to hosting Jazz la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. LaFaro-Fernandez: My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. Security video shows a crash in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles which left a driver dead. 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. 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. Q: What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 28 Dec 1958. The CD reissue of the album contains several outtakes. Today would be the 78th birthday of the great Scott LaFaro, who died in a car accident in 1961. 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. Thats his brand of intimacy: the sensation of the stolen moment. Orrin Keepnews told Helene that when the trio recorded its second session,Explorations,on February 2, 1961, Scott was being very explicit about his problem; he was very reluctant to go back on the road unless it was for a lot more money. Jazz. Scott LaFaro - Death. There is also a street off of Seneca Street, just across from the Smith Opera House, that has been renamed Scott LaFaro Way. Paul Motian was on drums, Nobby Totah on bass. It was an idyllic childhood. LaFaro-Fernandez: Scotty and I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942. Its no knock on Charlie Hadena formidable pioneer himselfto say that if hes a bass player, LaFaro is something else, to use the Coleman argot. LaFaro-Fernandez: On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. [citation needed], By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. 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. The music of Jazz Abstractions proceeds as a series of shadings, which tend to be called variants on the finished LP. Born . 1998 Kevin Crosby. Composer: Porter: 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. Fraternal guidance, in that this endeavor allowed fellow band members to do what they best did. A post-bass bass player, maybe. In 2007, 46 years later, Roy introduced Helene to the great bassist Christian McBride. For many, that Evans association, with drummer Paul Motian, is the LaFaro legacy. In his playing you can hear how happy Evans is to have this helmsman at the back of the boatI think it helped him see better at the front. Tonight Show, 14 Feb 1957. John Tynan wrote inDownbeatthat the rhythm duo [LaFaro and Billy Higgins] were the baddest cats on the date. When Scotty was killed at age 25 (I was 24), I was devastated I couldn't play for months. Genre. LaFaro is a potent cup of teaa brilliant future is in store for this youthful bassist from Geneva, N.Y., (Film footage ofLaFarois extremely rare. The 25-year old Scott LaFaros death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. He recorded with pianist Don Friedman as well. California had affordable education, and we could all go to college. It will be observed on his birthday anniversary, April 3. The car, tree and garage all caught fire. He says they formed an immediate friendship, and that musically, Id never felt such an instant connection. 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. We also spent time at the First Presbyterian Church choir. Also included is "Porgy", originally omitted for lack of space.[]" 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. we do worse! You may additional context in comments. 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