He felt such a strong passion for the bass that he became obsessed with practicing, spending countless hours in the rehearsal rooms at Ithaca College. For many, that Evans association, with drummer Paul Motian, is the LaFaro legacy. There is also a street off of Seneca Street, just across from the Smith Opera House, that has been renamed Scott LaFaro Way. - 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. LaFaro-Fernandez: Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. 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. John Tynan wrote inDownbeatthat the rhythm duo [LaFaro and Billy Higgins] were the baddest cats on the date. Security video shows a crash in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles which left a driver dead. ", 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. In the mid 1950s, at the Los Angeles music scene, he became known as one of. He was visiting some friends west of Geneva and was driving home late when he crashed. 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. Q: What happened to your brother after Ithaca College? Geller said Goodman was unhappy with his current bassist, and offered to recommend Scotty but cautioned, Bennys very conservative, dont do any of those fast things you can do. "[3], It was voted number 465 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[10]. Three of the tunes from their setBaubles, Bangles and Beads; Where Do You Go; and Airegin were released on CD in 1994. Jazz. Sound-carver. Composer: Hawes 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. Pianist Prez was then a professor at the New England Conservatory; his student, Read More Explaining the Taubman Approach, Everyone knows that Joe Williams sang the hell out of the blues, but do you know what else he sang the hell out of? So help yourself to his more, if you will. Read More Joe Williams: Beyond the Blues, As a JazzTimes writer, I can talk about the powers of a dynamic drummer until Im blue in the face: the weight of each tom-toms Read More Chops: What Bassists Listen for in Drummers, America's jazz resource, delivered to your inbox. It is well remembered as the final performance by the Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Helene notes that the gig was tremendously exciting for him, since to play with Kenton had been one of his dreams as a kid in Geneva. In the liner notes toThe Stan Kenton Orchestra in Concert, saxophonist Lennie Niehaus lauded LaFaros wild sound, but Kenton bandmate Steven Harris understood that a big band was hardly the ideal for him. That is what so many families Sunday ritual were like. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. 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. But LaFaro makes the music pulsehe provides its heartbeat and flow. ", In 1966, Evans spoke with George Clabinabout what he called his "complexand quick relationship" with Scotty, and said his technique was "built throughintuitive insightand fire, as some kind of a spark in him which took over and he would just grab the bass and he would work and work and work and work and he would just lay it down. Im in the position of having nothing you can put your finger on for sale., Evanss drug addiction was also a matter of concern for LaFaro. The group includes Victor Feldman, Stan Levey, and trombonist Frank Rosolino. 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. The three not duplicated here were played only once that day. Composer: Hammerstein II / Kern Evans was an articulate interweaver of a pianist, a melodic speaker, a filigree lord rather than a rhythm king. I would love to see it. Performers: Hampton Hawes, p; Harold Land, ts; Scott Lafaro, b; Frank Butler, d. 14 Mar 1958. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 08:03. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. We were the kind that played a fraction, a millimeter behind. 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. It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. Jan. 30, 2021 1:47 PM PT. After Scotty played at the Newport Jazz Festival with Stan Getz (July 1961), he went to Geneva to try to convince the people who had been renting our house to buy it. After that touch of piano, he really started to enjoy music and develop a keen awareness of what it was all about. At that years Monterey Jazz Festival, LaFaro performed with both the Coleman Quartet and Gunther Schuller. She proposed the demo as something to shop around to record labels; alas, nothing came of it. ~ Charles A. Ralston, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. Haynes shared with Scotty a fastidiousness about clothing, and hed just been named toEsquiresBest-Dressed list. What were Scotts childhood and teen years like here in Geneva? We never got to enjoy it as a concert venue in our day, unfortunately. Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. 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!. This was Scottys home, and he would practice bass facing the corner in the living room because he could better hear the sound quality. Later in high school, kids would go to the movies with their friends, or boyfriends, or girlfriends. Paul Motian was on drums, Nobby Totah on bass. 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. Composer: Gillespie Here is a verbal snapshot of that conversation, edited for clarity. 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. He got his first professional experience playing bass at Belhurst (with my fathers group). While his music education began in grade school with piano and then clarinet and tenor saxophone in junior high and high school, he didnt start playing bass until his senior year, and only because a string instrument was required for his enrollment at Ithaca College, where his intent was to major in clarinet and tenor saxophone. 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. Just about any jazz fan knows that on June 25, the 25-year-old had been in NYC as part of Bill Evans trio at the Village Vanguard, cutting the Sunday live date that will be reissued and repackaged so long as the earth continues to spin. In Jade Visionshe says, Scott wasnt what one would consider a big band bass player. The young bassist was friends to other artists and art during his all-too brief sojourn upon the mortal coil. Member Of . It was an idyllic childhood. "Route 66" songwriter Bobby Troup was the show's host. 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 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. Nearly six decades later, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez continues to keep her older brothers flame alive. The Jazz la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. Labels. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world." Scott Yanow. Upon returning to L.A., LaFaro phoned his friend Herb Geller, who was then playing alto with Benny Goodman in New York. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Man, woman decapitated after car slams into big rig on 5 Freeway in San Fernando Valley. Everyone would say Dont go to the creek! but we did anyway, and would come home with red shoes. 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. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. When Scotty was killed at age 25 (I was 24), I was devastated I couldn't play for months. It was there his career exploded. 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. Available Qualities. [14] On April 4, 2014 a ceremony to rename a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive took place. LaFaro-Fernandez: On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. Composer: Mercer / Kosma / Prevert Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide Scott LaFaro's life and career were cut short in July of 1961. A driver was killed when a car crashed into a home in the Hancock Park . I was 19 and working. He became a professional musician in New York City during the Roaring 20s. This is the best piano player Ive ever heard. It was Evanss 1956 debut album,New Jazz Conceptions. The bass was badly damaged in the automobile accident that killed him, but was eventually restored and is sporadically used in performance to honor LaFaro. Performers: Pat Moran, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Gene Gammage, d. 1958. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. 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. My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. Mom needed the money. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Nov 13, 2008 #2 Mark Carlsen Oct 4, 2004 Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. 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? 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 . The car, tree and garage all caught fire. It was an idyllic childhood. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . On date night, people would end up at The Smith. This Third Stream affair has jazz as a major tributary vein, and it has LaFaro to thank for it. Tonight Show, 14 Feb 1957. Showing all 2 results. 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. Fraternal guidance, in that this endeavor allowed fellow band members to do what they best did. 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. 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. Helene makes no secret of LaFaros exacting standards and competitive personality, and she quotes many who testify to the same. 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. In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. [1] With Evans and drummer Paul Motian he developed the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. 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. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. 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 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. He waited until we got interested, and then he was totally supportive. 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. 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.. Click to reveal LaFaro achieved fame in the Bill Evans Trio, which he joined in 1959 and which featured Paul Motian on drums. 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. Sign in to continue reading, Sixty years after the bass greats untimely death, a look at his musical legacy beyond the Bill Evans Trio. . Mom needed the money. Scott LaFaro - Artist Details. But we LaFaros have staying quality, and my husband and I just celebrated our 60th year in this house. Scotty was on the road at the time, in California. Yes, the Evans dynamic provided him with a perfect setting. 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. LaFaro was honored in 2012 in Geneva, where a street was renamed Scott LaFaro Drive and an annual Scott LaFaroDay was inaugurated. 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. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. Mangione remembersLaFaro calling Baker an American tragedy, and says, Over the years, [Scotts] using the term an American tragedy still strikes me as incredibly ironic and portentous [given what happened] that night., At about 1:45 on the morning of July 6, LaFaro apparently fell asleep at the wheel and veered off Route 5-20, hitting a tree and killing himself and Ottley instantly. Composers. 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. The 25-year old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. Our Dad was from here. By City News Service. Bill Evans Trio. ), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gzwXQGvXgc, LaFaro signed on with Stan Kenton for a tour in the spring of 1959. 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. 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. We were like brothers., Six months before the session with Kuhn, LaFaro recorded with trumpeter Booker Little on April 13 and 15. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". Each year during the first week of April, The Smith hosts the Scott LaFaro Day Celebration concert that features a contemporary bass player. Following the Vanguard engagement, LaFaro played with Getz, Steve Kuhn, and Roy Haynes at Newport on July 2. LaFaro-Fernandez: After Scotty played at the Newport Jazz Festival with Stan Getz (July 1961), he went to Geneva to try to convince the people who had been renting our house to buy it. 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. In 1959, after working with trumpeter Chet Baker, bandleader Stan Kenton, vibraphonist Cal Tjader,[6] and clarinetist Benny Goodman, LaFaro returned east and joined Bill Evans, who had recently left the Miles Davis Sextet. Geller recalls that at the end of Scottys first night with the clarinetist, the two went around to hear Bill Evans. The entire day's recordings were released in 2005 as The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. We would explore all around our neighborhood on West Street our house was where the elementary school is. Also included is "Porgy", originally omitted for lack of space.[]" Tracks. In LaFaros short yet meteoric career, he accomplished more than most musicians do over decades. DSD 128 fs (2) DSD 64 fs (2) . He waited until we got interested, and then he was totally supportive. Places to dine, drink, stay near the Smith Opera House, A word of caution about buying tickets on the secondary ticket market. 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. All is possible, and then all is no more. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. Evans, LaFaro, and Motian were committed to the idea of three equal voices in the trio, working together for a singular musical idea and often without any musician explicitly keeping time. I get 10 to 12 emails a day asking about Scotty. Evans stopped performing for several months. It was then he fell in love with the tenor saxophone. 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. It was there his career exploded. Chicago, 1956. 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. 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. How did that happen? 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. Our Dad was from here. As weve already noted regarding the time period right around his tragic death, LaFaro packed a lot of art into his days. Did you and your brother spend time at the Smith Opera House (which was Schines Geneva Theatre back then)? I quit very fast, but he was a natural. [3] He took up double bass at 18 before entering college because learning a string instrument was required of music education majors. California had affordable education, and we could all go to college. I remember one time Scotty came home with an LP under his arm. Perhaps one thinks of the contrast, as I do: the balmy New England coast, sailboats alongside the bandstand, and then the hard, unforgiving asphalt of the interstate. Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the Buddy Morrow big band. Read about our approach to external linking. Sometimes its defined by contrasting stylistic paths that amalgamate into a career, as with Miles Davis. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. I return to the idea of the helmsman, because LaFaro always plays as if hes en route to some vital destination, and hes helping to take other musicians there, and, of course, those of us who are listening in. 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. His records with Bill Evans are among the finest jazz trio discs . [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". 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. 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. 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. 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. During World War II the club scene changed and he came back to Geneva where he could find work. That is what so many families Sunday ritual were like. 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. In addition to hosting Jazz la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. Today would be the 78th birthday of the great Scott LaFaro, who died in a car accident in 1961. That Evans association, with drummer Paul Motian he developed the counter-melodic style that would come home red! Woman decapitated after car slams into big rig along the d. 1958 LaFaro to thank for.! Neighborhood on west Street our house was where the elementary school is Opera house ( which was Schines Geneva back. A day asking about Scotty A. Ralston, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts our,! [ 11 ], Bill Evans Miles Davis music of Scott LaFaro Drive and an annual Scott was... 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The Roaring 20s Tom writes the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM and annual. ] with Evans and drummer Paul Motian was on the date downtown Street Scott LaFaro day concert!