In Jade Visionshe says, Scott wasnt what one would consider a big band bass player. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world." Scott Yanow. (, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:36. Postings here are the last known photographs or videos of a person. When Scotty was killed at age 25 (I was 24), I was devastated I couldn't play for months. Toggle filters. This was Scottys home, and he would practice bass facing the corner in the living room because he could better hear the sound quality. In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. But its a moment were meant to be a part of, that both surrounds us and is for us. In LaFaros short yet meteoric career, he accomplished more than most musicians do over decades. 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. 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!. Scott LaFaro - Death. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". You can read our interview with Holland here. In the latter case, Getz fired LaRoca and hired Roy Haynes, but Kenton wasn't about to be second-guessed. His records with Bill Evans are among the finest jazz trio discs ever made. ", 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. 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. That left air and spaceand timewhich could do with some filling, some shaping. When Scotty came east to play with Goodman, he shared a cold-water flat in the East 70s with Freidman that went for $18 a month. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. 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. 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. Celebrating the life of Genevas legendary jazz bass hero Scott LaFaro has become an annual event at the Smith Opera House, ever since the City of Geneva declared April 3, his birthday, as Scott LaFaro Day in 2014. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Composer: Hammerstein II / Kern You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. More on his story here. The portion of Linden Street that runs from Seneca Street to South Exchange. 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. 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 Jazz la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music. Scotty was on the road at the time, in California. 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. Performers: Bill Evans, p; Scott LaFaro, b; Paul Motian, d. 28 Dec 1958. 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. Both Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason took note. He got his first professional experience playing bass at Belhurst (with my fathers group). Member Of . 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. LaFaro continued to divide his time between Getz, Ornette, and Evans in 1961. 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. Scotty also befriended the pianist-composer Victor Feldman, and recorded with him and drummer Stan Levey in January 1958. We decided to move the family to California. It was an idyllic childhood. 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. I quit very fast, but he was a natural. Three of the tunes from their setBaubles, Bangles and Beads; Where Do You Go; and Airegin were released on CD in 1994. The great bassist is best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio between 1959 and '61, and for the tragic car accident that claimed his life on July 6, 1961, two weeks after the trio's legendary performance at the Village Vanguard. [10] Obsessively he played "I Loves You Porgy", a song that had become synonymous with him and LaFaro. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. We never got to enjoy it as a concert venue in our day, unfortunately. Tom Reneys writings delve into the history and mystery of jazz, blues, and beyond. Tom holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies. [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. My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. 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. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . Later in high school, kids would go to the movies with their friends, or boyfriends, or girlfriends. The group attended the funeral in Geneva, which Kuhn adds was closed casket., LaFaro's death was devastating to Bill Evans. At the time it was such a revolutionary idea, and it ushered in a sea change for jazz. They worked together with vocalist Dick Haymes, whose road show included dancers and a comic. He heard what I was doing at the piano, and I heard what he was doing. LaFaro-Fernandez, Helen; Ralston, Chuck; Campbell, Jeffrey R.; Palombi, Phil (2009). Well, Michael Cera did play a bassist in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. You may additional context in comments. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. I was 19 and working. The CD reissue of the album contains several outtakes. So if you were all living in California, how was it that your brother was near Geneva when he died? In the mid 1950s, at the Los Angeles music scene, he became known as one of. Your family ended up following Scotty out to California. 52.119.1.55 The last day was recorded for two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.[8]. Scotty sort of led the way on the bass becoming a solo instrument in its own right. May 23, 2021. The album included five tracks recorded in New York City during 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca.[13]. Jan. 30, 2021 1:47 PM PT. Pictures of people only please! Ornette Coleman was another musician who appeared on the Jazz Abstractions datebut as with Dolphy and Evans, on just half the recordand I often imagine the conversations he might have had with LaFaro during breaks and between takes about what Coleman had in mind for the next day. 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. Includes Obituary, Biography, Discography, Photo, and Links. 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. Free Jazz did that kind of splicing and segmenting for you, as part of, neatly enough, its original integrated sonic package. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. 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. Thanks to Rifftides readers Frank Roellinger and Svetlana Ilyicheva for alerting us that last Thursday, Geneva honored LaFaro on his 78th birthday by proclaiming April 3rd its first annual Scott LaFaro Day. Friedman first heard LaFaro with Buddy Morrow, and then they worked together with Chet Baker. [11], Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. Composers. We never got to enjoy it as a concert venue in our day, unfortunately. Following the Vanguard engagement, LaFaro played with Getz, Steve Kuhn, and Roy Haynes at Newport on July 2. 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. LaFaro was killed in a car accident near his hometown of Geneva, N.Y., at age 25. LaFaro-Fernandez: On Sundays our family would go to church, then go to the movies in the afternoon. 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.. 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. Composer: Mercer / Kosma / Prevert Showing all 2 results. The Sampson Air Force Base was so big that it brought in big names like Duke Ellington. My mom was still pregnant with my last sister. Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. 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. 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. Also included is "Porgy", originally omitted for lack of space.[]" Your IP: LaFaro-Fernandez: My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. A Dead Musician Directory Celebrity Page. [citation needed], By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. Brockton-born alto player and clarinetist Dick Johnson was also on the band. 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