All is possible, and then all is no more. Joining Palombi on this date are Don Friedman and Eliot Zigmund. 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.. 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. She had lost her husband, then four years later lost her son, and she still had young kids to raise. 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. 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. Bassist Scott LaFaro would die in a car accident just ten days after this album's recording, at the age of 25. He quoted Evans, who said, Im hoping the trio will grow in the direction of simultaneous improvisationIf the bass player, for example, hears an idea that he wants to answer, why should he just keep playing a background?, Scotty, of course, heard and answered plenty of ideas. Evans also went on hiatus after LaFaro's death for a period of several months. He replaced Charlie Haden as Ornette Coleman's bassist in January 1961. 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. 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. She writes, What he said not only had an impact on me, but seemed to sum up much of what I had been hearing as I talked to musicians. My dad loved the director, so we had to go and have that experience as well. Is that a jazz thing? I dont blame him, said Morrow. Man, woman decapitated after car slams into big rig on 5 Freeway in San Fernando Valley. The rest is told in his gripping visuals, The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist. [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. (, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:36. On March 5, 2014, the Geneva (New York) City Council approved making April 3 Scott LaFaro Day. 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. Your IP: 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.[] LaFaro-Fernandez, Helen; Ralston, Chuck; Campbell, Jeffrey R.; Palombi, Phil (2009). - 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. 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 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. 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). Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. 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. 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. AllMusic Quiz. When Evans returned to the trio format later in 1962, it was with Motian and bassist Chuck Israels.[2]. 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. Rocco Scott LaFaro, in a career that lasted only six years, developed skills on the upright bass that few have been able to match. ", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzbINNrqcQ. 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. 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. Chicago, 1956. In Jade Visionshe says, Scott wasnt what one would consider a big band bass player. Tonight Show, 14 Feb 1957. Hes just so damn elegant. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. 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. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. 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. On date night, people would end up at The Smith. 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. 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. ~ Charles A. Ralston, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. 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. Our Dad was from here. You may additional context in comments. 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. Not long after he arrived on campus, he gave his clarinet away to a classmate. In a December 29, 1960 letter addressed to his lover Gloria Gabriel, the dancer to whom he dedicated Glorias Step, he wrote, One important thing is that I realize day by day the true artist and musician is becoming more and more meaningless in terms of public comprehension. The entire day's recordings were released in 2005 as The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. In May 1960, the Bill Evans Trio joined in a program at Circle in the Square that was devoted to Gunther Schullers jazz compositions. Places to dine, drink, stay near the Smith Opera House, A word of caution about buying tickets on the secondary ticket market. Performers: Hampton Hawes, p; Harold Land, ts; Scott Lafaro, b; Frank Butler, d. 14 Mar 1958. Q: Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. LaFaro started his professional career playing a German-made Mittenwald double bass but it was stolen in the Spring of 1958. Scotty and I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942. He remembered that Scotty was dressed up for the Newport appearance. 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. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Performers: Pat Moran, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Gene Gammage, d. 1958. 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. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. 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! He was visiting some friends west of Geneva and was driving home late when he crashed. The music of Jazz Abstractions proceeds as a series of shadings, which tend to be called variants on the finished LP. But he was best known for his collaborations and recordings with the Bill Evans Trio. 1998 Kevin Crosby. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Well, Michael Cera did play a bassist in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. I adored him, and I was thrilled to be able to work with him. 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. Fellow bassist Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck strings with both the index and middle fingers independently. 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. [14] On April 4, 2014 a ceremony to rename a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive took place. He insisted that Stan fire LaRoca and hire Roy Haynes, and Stan was so impressed with how strong and unique he was that he acceded to his wishes.. 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. Brockton-born alto player and clarinetist Dick Johnson was also on the band. I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942 About Dead Musicians and how got... 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