Toggle filters. LaFaro spent most of his days practicing his instrument. HOMETOWN Newark, NJ, United States of America BORN April 3, 1936 Similar Artists Paul Motian. 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. On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. 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. As weve already noted regarding the time period right around his tragic death, LaFaro packed a lot of art into his days. What a natural setting for a multi-ecosystem guy like LaFaro, the dream bassist for a project of this nature, which is jazz, classical, painterly, open yet demonstrative. A post-bass bass player, maybe. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a154b16ff047cd4 Born 1936 in Newark, N.J., La Faro studied clarinet and tenor sax as a boy, but in college switched to bass. Scott was extremely picky and choosy, and he wanted to call the trio. I still have people from all over the world knocking at my doorstep, wanting to see where Scotty played. By. Scottys death was hard on my Mom. 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. In the mid 1950s, at the Los Angeles music scene, he became known as one of. He played in a trio or quartet at Belhurst from the time he got back until he died. Former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash in Westlake Village that killed two . 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. We are in a fix! I was 19 and working. He was visiting some friends west of Geneva and was driving home late when he crashed. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. Read about our approach to external linking. This Third Stream affair has jazz as a major tributary vein, and it has LaFaro to thank for it. Following the Vanguard engagement, LaFaro played with Getz, Steve Kuhn, and Roy Haynes at Newport on July 2. One of the most substantial biographies Ive read in recent years is the 2009 publication that Helene LaFaro-Fernandez devoted to her brother Scott. But its a moment were meant to be a part of, that both surrounds us and is for us. A master of the upright bass, he recorded with Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman before he died in a car crash at age 25. Active. Put one way: Scott LaFaro was up for it. All is possible, and then all is no more. 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. He was playing mandolin and violin publicly by age 7. He died near Geneva in an auto accident in 1961. ~ Charles A. Ralston, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. The album included five tracks recorded in New York City during 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca.[13]. [citation needed], By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. Scotty also befriended the pianist-composer Victor Feldman, and recorded with him and drummer Stan Levey in January 1958. Rocco Scott LaFaro, in a career that lasted only six years, developed skills on the upright bass that few have been able to match. The Getz Quartet, with either Henry Grimes or Jimmy Garrison spelling LaFaro (Kuhn cant recall for certain), was playing that week at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks. He was a tremendous talent [who] wanted to go on to greener pastures.Over the next two years, Scotty toured the country with Chet Baker, and worked around L.A. with Hampton Hawes, Harold Land, Buddy DeFranco, Richie Kamuca, Joe Gordon, and Stan Kenton. Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world." Scott Yanow. 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. Gloria Gabriel was one of the dancers. A record like this could easily have become just a mood disc: sound as fuzzy, woolly painting, in which the experiment becomes an end unto itself, the gesture, the gambit, being everything. Q: Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. This brings about the situation of whether I should spend these hours and months developing what I seem to be able to foresee, or should I dump it and get another job as an entertainer again. A jazz musicians legacy can be a multifarious slope. Press J to jump to the feed. It was an idyllic childhood. Remembering Geneva's jazz legend Scott LaFaro: An interview with his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez - Smith Center for the Arts Smith Center for the Arts CONTACT US 82 Seneca Street Geneva, NY 14456 315-781-5483 BOX OFFICE Tuesday-Friday 10am-4pm ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES by appointment boxoffice@thesmith.org Helene makes no secret of LaFaros exacting standards and competitive personality, and she quotes many who testify to the same. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. The two albums released by Riverside Records from that fabled performance,Sunday at the Village VanguardandWaltz for Debby, have long stood as his epitaph. LaFaro-Fernandez: My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. Ted Gioia, in his 1997 survey,The History of Jazz, said, "LaFarotook far greater chances, departing markedly from the traditional walking line, instead offering countermelodies and guitar-like phrases. Evans stopped performing for several months. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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.. 52.119.1.55 It was released in 1962. 1.1 Gloria's Step [Take 2] 1.2 My Man's Gone Now 1.3 Solar 1.4 Alice in Wonderland [Take 2] 1.5 All of You [Take 2] 1.6 Jade Visions . He played a lot of top, cymbals, and Scotty wanted more drums, says Kuhn. [5] He left that organization to work in Los Angeles. 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]. Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. That is what so many families Sunday ritual were like. Genre. 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. Scott LaFaro was born 64 years ago today. 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. The Jazz la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music. [1] He played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant[4] on State Street in downtown Ithaca. 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. Shortly after, he acquired a bass made in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire by Abraham Prescott. 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. Also, the exertion of a formidable musical will to take what was there, in an act of guidance. Q: So if you were all living in California, how was it that your brother was near Geneva when he died? 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. "[3], It was voted number 465 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[10]. [1] For a time, Haden and LaFaro shared an apartment. Composer: Coleman 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. Also in 2009, the University of North Texas Press published Jade Visions, a biography of LaFaro by his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez, with an extensive discography. It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. 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. . At age 12 he was recommended for the Ithaca Conservatory of Music, where he was classically trained in violin. 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. LaFaro's freewheeling, harmonically advanced bass style with the Bill Evans Trio (1959-1961) opened a door to a wholly new approach to the instrument that influenced a generation of players who followed in his wakeEddie Gomez, Dave Holland, and Marc Johnson, to name just a few. 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. Security video shows a crash in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles which left a driver dead. Pianist Walter Norris described him as a "wild fire," and said "he never used any stimulants to enhance life, but his every moment was seriously lived to the fullest." Everyone would say Dont go to the creek! but we did anyway, and would come home with red shoes. My dad took Scotty to see anyone who came there, or to Syracuse or Rochester. [7], In June 1961, the Bill Evans trio began two weeks of performances at the Village Vanguard in New York City. On March 5, 2014, the Geneva (New York) City Council approved making April 3 Scott LaFaro Day. Bassist Scott LaFaro of Geneva had already achieved acclaim when he died in a car accident at the age of 25. A driver was killed when a car crashed into a home in the Hancock Park . 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. 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. Its the top of the sheet, instead of the coarseness of the winter blanket. In the latter case, Getz fired LaRoca and hired Roy Haynes, but Kenton wasn't about to be second-guessed. Styles. Nov 13, 2008 #2 Mark Carlsen Oct 4, 2004 Both Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason took note. July 6, 1961 in Seneca, NY. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. The texture, however, is the back of the handthats the form of caress, rather than the rough-skinned palm. Composer: Styne / Sondheim Composer: LaFaro The music of Jazz Abstractions proceeds as a series of shadings, which tend to be called variants on the finished LP. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. His sense of time was freer, less tied to the ground beat, than any jazz bassist had previously acheivedIt is not going too far to see this short-lived trio as redefining the nature of the jazz rhythm section. 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.. [3] He took up double bass at 18 before entering college because learning a string instrument was required of music education majors. 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. He was his own thing. 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. And there truly couldn't be a better way to . LaFaro began by practicing his fingers off. He wanted the conversation back and forth between each of the players, and he wanted to play melody. 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. He told Helene that Scott lived for the bassHe was looking all the time to play. When did your brother start getting interested in music? He became a professional musician in New York City during the Roaring 20s. 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. 2023 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Showing all 2 results. Evans also went on hiatus after LaFaro's death for a period of several months. But we LaFaros have staying quality, and my husband and I just celebrated our 60th year in this house. Evans was an articulate interweaver of a pianist, a melodic speaker, a filigree lord rather than a rhythm king. A stacked bass makes for a stacked musical deck. I adored him, and I was thrilled to be able to work with him. 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. 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. Elsewhere, a legacy is a reflection on what might have been, based on a limited amount of what was. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . Tom holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies. Become a member and get exclusive access to articles, live sessions and more! This was Scottys home, and he would practice bass facing the corner in the living room because he could better hear the sound quality. Jan. 30, 2021 1:47 PM PT. Youll have to adjust your ears, but theyll fall into line quickly. 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. During World War II the club scene changed and he came back to Geneva where he could find work. Scotty and I rented a house for Mom and the girls, I got married a few months later and (soon) we all moved into a new house in a new development in West Hills. He also played in Stan Getz's band between jobs with the Bill Evans trio. We were like brothers., Six months before the session with Kuhn, LaFaro recorded with trumpeter Booker Little on April 13 and 15. 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. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. Mom needed the money. His records with Bill Evans are among the finest jazz trio discs . 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. 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. Scotty was on the road at the time, in California. So if you were all living in California, how was it that your brother was near Geneva when he died? We had to have a strong rhythm section and he was definitely of that caliberHe was a dedicated personintolerant of anyone who wasnt giving his best., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngs04EXtDwk. Nearly six decades later, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez continues to keep her older brothers flame alive. Fraternal guidance, in that this endeavor allowed fellow band members to do what they best did. 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. Q: Did you and your brother spend time at the Smith Opera House (which was Schines Geneva Theatre back then)? Friedman first heard LaFaro with Buddy Morrow, and then they worked together with Chet Baker. After that touch of piano, he really started to enjoy music and develop a keen awareness of what it was all about. 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. Composer: Gillespie Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. Stan Levey. 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? 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! Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. Often controversial, always entertaining, JazzTimes is a favorite of musicians and fans alike. Mom needed the money. LaFaro went on to perform with Victor Feldman, Chet Baker, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Stan Getz and Ornette Coleman. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he was an influential jazz bassist best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. 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. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. Three of the tunes from their setBaubles, Bangles and Beads; Where Do You Go; and Airegin were released on CD in 1994. When Scotty was killed at age 25 (I was 24), I was devastated I couldn't play for months. . Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. Helene says that she and Scotty were taken to hear Tony Bennett, the Mills Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie and numerous others. It is well remembered as the final performance by the Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Q: What kind of influence did your father have on your brothers music? Our Dad was from 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. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". The Sampson Air Force Base was so big that it brought in big names like Duke Ellington. It is LaFaros bass that makes this thing go, such as it does go. We would explore all around our neighborhood on West Street our house was where the elementary school is. Newark, NJ, United States of America BORN April 3, 1936 Artists. A home in the highest regard I was thrilled to be able work... Friedman first heard LaFaro with Buddy Morrow, and then they worked together with Chet,! Was a natural doorstep, wanting to see where Scotty played for us people were killed in a car at. Ive read in recent years is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro was regarded. This page anyone who came there, or to Syracuse or Rochester a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality and wanted... That makes this thing go, such as it does go Stan 's. 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