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. Does anyone have pictures of this bass, or have you seen it in person? A master of the upright bass, he recorded with Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman before he died in a car crash at age 25. Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 28 Dec 1958. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. "[12], In 1988, Insights label of RVC Corporation in Japan released Memories for Scotty. We decided to move the family to California. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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.[] It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. ~ Scott Yanow. In May 1960, the Bill Evans Trio joined in a program at Circle in the Square that was devoted to Gunther Schullers jazz compositions. 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.. She proposed the demo as something to shop around to record labels; alas, nothing came of it. LaFaro achieved fame in the Bill Evans Trio, which he joined in 1959 and which featured Paul Motian on drums. What kind of influence did your father have on your brothers music? Elsewhere, a legacy is a reflection on what might have been, based on a limited amount of what was. He was a musician from age 4. Brother man, I can all but hear Ornette saying, we are going to blow some minds tomorrow.. ", 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. Evans and Dolphy dont feature on a couple tunes, while LaFaro is the constant. We would explore all around our neighborhood on West Street our house was where the elementary school is. 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. Scott LaFaro was born 64 years ago today. Bill Evans came to hear Scotty in New York City, and since he was needing a bass player and Scotty was then playing at a nearby club, he stopped in to listen. How did that happen? Showing all 2 results. Scotty also befriended the pianist-composer Victor Feldman, and recorded with him and drummer Stan Levey in January 1958. He was playing mandolin and violin publicly by age 7. 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. HOMETOWN Newark, NJ, United States of America BORN April 3, 1936 Similar Artists Paul Motian. He emphasized high notes, could play with great speed and his interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential. But we LaFaros have staying quality, and my husband and I just celebrated our 60th year in this house. Hes just so damn elegant. Both Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason took note. But he was best known for his collaborations and recordings with the Bill Evans Trio. This album is widely considered to be one of the best in the Evans canon, and the type of emotive interplay between the musicians that at some points seemed almost deconstructed has served as a model for piano trio play. Styles. Everything. He took up bass because he was required to play a stringed instrument at Ithaca College. 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. 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. ", 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. I was 19 and working. 52.119.1.55 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. Stan said fine. Kuhn and drummer Pete LaRoca were Scottys choices, but in the midst of a two-week engagement at the Sutherland Hotel on Chicagos Southside, LaFaro had got tired of LaRocas playing. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. Security video shows a crash in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles which left a driver dead. 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. So help yourself to his more, if you will. It remains what is likely Evans' most well-known song,[citation needed] one that he would play throughout his career. 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. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". Born 1936 in Newark, N.J., La Faro studied clarinet and tenor sax as a boy, but in college switched to bass. Also, Club 86 was bringing in major stars as well. 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. [1] With Evans and drummer Paul Motian he developed the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. I would love to see it. Hentoff heard LaFaro as the most important new bassist since Paul Chambers and Wilbur Ware, and added, It may be necessary to add for those hearing LaFaro for the first time that his bass is not electronically amplified. 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. Jim Hall. It is LaFaros bass that makes this thing go, such as it does go. 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. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world." Scott Yanow. The Jazz la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music. AllMusic Quiz. [citation needed], By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. While driving home late one nighthis car went off the road and struck a tree. 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. Youll have to adjust your ears, but theyll fall into line quickly. May 23, 2021. Taking a tip from Red Mitchell, he trained himself to pluck the strings of his bass with his index and middle finger independently. Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. Later in high school, kids would go to the movies with their friends, or boyfriends, or girlfriends. 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.. Nearly six decades later, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez continues to keep her older brothers flame alive. [5] He left that organization to work in Los Angeles. Free Jazz did that kind of splicing and segmenting for you, as part of, neatly enough, its original integrated sonic package. LaFaro completed his first year at Ithaca, but not his second. On date night, people would end up at The Smith. That left air and spaceand timewhich could do with some filling, some shaping. He says that word of the accident reached Getz over the wire through his manager Jack Whittemore, and that all were incredulous at the news. All that listening to the trio had another effect on me. 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. Evans stopped performing for several months. Click to reveal Tracks. Smith Opera House is owned and operated by the Smith Center for the Arts, a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. He had an incredible ear. 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.. DSD 128 fs (2) DSD 64 fs (2) . 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? Scotty and I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942. 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. Well, Michael Cera did play a bassist in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. A stacked bass makes for a stacked musical deck. Press J to jump to the feed. 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. Available Qualities. She had lost her husband, then four years later lost her son, and she still had young kids to raise. Performers: Victor Feldman, p, vib; Scott LaFaro, b; Stan Levey, d. 22 Jan 1958. He's seen here playing "Cherry" and "Chart of My Heart" with saxophonist Richie Kamuca's Quintet on a Stars of Jazz television broadcast on April 7, 1958. 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. Tom Reneys writings delve into the history and mystery of jazz, blues, and beyond. He waited until we got interested, and then he was totally supportive. He died near Geneva in an auto accident in 1961. Performers: Stan Getz, ts; Steve Kuhn, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Roy Haynes d. Newport, 2 July 1961. 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. Q: Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. 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. He said, Man, youve gotta hear this. Jazz. But you always knew that Read More Kelly Sill, Several years ago, one of Danilo Prezs students was suffering from tendinitis. 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