The Evans Trio’s appearance at the Village Vanguard opposite Lambert, Hendricks & Ross in June 1961 culminated with the legendary recordings made on the last day of the two-week engagement, Sunday, June 25. Sound is one thing, but I didn’t expect the playability to have that much of an impact on me. However, the experience has made me realize that I can’t sit back and continue to play the basses that I have. Geller said Goodman was unhappy with his current bassist, and offered to recommend Scotty but cautioned, “Benny’s very conservative, don’t do any of those fast things you can do. That huge sound and strength of attack is finger-sprung alone.” Gleason commented, “It is, however, as a vehicle for bassist Scott LaFaro that the LP really impresses.” Later in the year, he toured and recorded with the Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet. Scott absolutely loved the instrument after Sam’s restoration. This book is a biography of Scott LaFaro but with much more to offer because it is also written for musicians alike. I felt like I was walking in his footsteps. When I thought of an idea, I played it wherever I was on the neck. After playing his bass, I’m not so sure about that. Producer Orrin Keepnews, Scott LaFaro, Bill Evans and Paul Motian (from left) make jazz history at the Village Vanguard in 1961 . The group attended the funeral in Geneva, which Kuhn adds was “closed casket.”, LaFaro's death was devastating to Bill Evans. An interview segment with Evans from 1966 has him reflecting on LaFaro's tremendous contribution to the trio as well as his personality. It was an amazing experience to be trusted with one of the jazz bass world’s few relics. He told Helene that “Scott lived for the bass…He was looking all the time to play. 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 LaFaro’s departure from Kenton, which was precipitated by his displeasure with the band’s new drummer, a situation that would repeat itself in ’61 when he insisted that Stan Getz replace drummer Pete LaRoca. And allowing our talents to merge in a very natural way. Scott LaFaro Pieces of Jade. Brockton-born alto player and clarinetist Dick Johnson was also on the band. Barrie saved the instrument! Phil, Excellent article and it does settle the high/low action issue. I adored him, and I was thrilled to be able to work with him. 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. Three of the tunes from their set—“Baubles, Bangles and Beads”; “Where Do You Go”; and “Airegin”– were released on CD in 1994. Then again, the bass should get lost in the mix when 13 horns and a drummer are blasting. With Ornette Coleman. Die … A fine luthier. We were the kind that played a fraction, a millimeter behind. Since I only use a microphone, I was stuck. As he put it, being out with a leader who was a junkie put him at risk of being stranded…The tensions ebbed and flowed [that] afternoon, but strangely enough we were accomplishing what we had set out to do…The lesson to be learned here is probably something about the value of professionalism.”, While LaFaro was cautious about touring with Evans and eschewed drug use (Kuhn says he was “healthy as a pig…didn’t smoke, drink, use drugs, but he liked to drive fast”), he was intrigued by Bill’s interest in Zen meditation, which he practiced and discussed with Helene when he stayed with her during a Getz engagement in L.A. As I was discovering this instrument, I began to imagine how having such a great bass impacted Scott’s playing. Chuck and Gap Mangione were among the locals hanging out that night, and Jade Visions includes Gap’s recollection of listening to Chet Baker’s recording of “Grey December” with Scotty. Tonally, it sounds really close to either of the two basses that I own. Both Nat Hentoff and Ralph J. Gleason took note. 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. There are a few videos of me in the studio and at home playing the bass by myself and with a band, and even playing along with a few of Scott’s solos from the Vanguard recordings. In my opinion, his fluidity and ease belies the theory that his technique was so Herculean as to be able to execute those amazing lines with a high setup. I can hear the change of strings, and the notes are a little bit more dead sounding. 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. Haynes shared with Scotty a fastidiousness about clothing, and he’d just been named to Esquire’s Best-Dressed list. The play list consists of a mix of standards, along with two takes of an original by Friedman. Jahrhunderts zählen. Stan said fine.” Kuhn and drummer Pete LaRoca were Scotty’s choices, but in the midst of a two-week engagement at the Sutherland Hotel on Chicago’s Southside, LaFaro had got tired of LaRoca’s playing. I have two great basses. “I don’t blame him,” said Morrow. Amazon.de/musik: Scott Lafaro – Resonance Rare Track Series 1 jetzt kaufen. I have great basses, but I can definitely hear the difference between the F on the D string (at what would be the third fret on an electric bass), and the F on the A string (at the 8th fret). LaFaro, Alternativerocker aus Belfast, Nordirland, touren zwischen Januar und März ausgiebig durchs kalte Europa. The highlight of the session was Scott’s original, “Misery (to Lady Day).” Evans’ biographer Peter Pettinger said of the dedication to Billie Holiday, “Not much happens, but a wavelength is established. ", Jade Visions credits 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. Since it is a normal sized bass, I could get around it a little better. He used a Zen epigram in the closing of his letter to Gloria: “I’m trying to remember a bit of Zen I like so well: ‘If you seek the fruits of…good action…so shall they escape you.’ I try to smile everyday with that.”, 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. Every single note on that bass sounds great. Electrictunes traf das Quartett vor seinem Auftritt im Kölner Sonic Ballroom am 2. LaFaro burned like a meteorite, rising to the top rank of bassists in a few short years and working with a Who’s Who of jazz greats in the compressed time frame preceding his death at age 25. 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. Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Atlantic, 1961) Ornette! 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 old. He says they formed an “immediate friendship,” and that “musically, I’d never felt such an instant connection. Your support helps keep No Treble running (and makes you look cool too!) Sam bought the bass from Scott’s mom after the tragic accident, and it sat in his shop until the late 1980s when Sam’s son, Barrie, asked his father’s permission to restore it. Pieces of Jade | Scott LaFaro to stream in hi-fi, or to download in True CD Quality on Qobuz.com This lesson covers a great Scott LaFaro solo from ‘There Is No Greater Love’, originally written by Isham Jones (1936) and recorded by Scott LaFaro with Victor Feldman and Stan Levey on the album, The Arrival of Victor Feldman. 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. There is something that happened to Scott’s playing around 1960 or so. Phil Palombi is the author of Scott LaFaro - 15 Solo Transcriptions in which he transcribed all of Scott LaFaro’s bass solos from the Bill Evans recordings Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby. John goes through the bass line, the bass solo break, and the LaFaro solo and performs it with his trio so you can play along. 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. Helene makes no secret of LaFaro’s exacting standards and competitive personality, and she quotes many who testify to the same. Another thing, which I mentioned earlier, was my notion that Scott would run up the G string for the most part, rather than play across the neck. Actually, Don played the piano chair with the Bill Evans trio one time when Bill got sick at the last minute. When he got back to east coast, he brought it to Sam Kolstein’s bass shop in Baldwin, Long Island. Stark geprägt von Vorbildern wie Lennie Tristano sowie vom Impressionismus Claude Debussys und Maurice Ravels brachte Evans eine introvertierte und lyrische Sensibilität in den Jazz. ), LaFaro signed on with Stan Kenton for a tour in the spring of 1959. https://www.nepm.org/post/scott-lafaro-short-life-master-bassist I’m beginning to think that this bass had a lot to do with it. Scotty sat in. At first, it was hard for me to use on gigs because I was so used to how much air I could push with the Allen bass, so I kept lugging around the Allen. Gloria Gabriel was one of the dancers. That changed my conception on the acoustic bass completely. 6:23 PREVIEW 8 SONGS, 1 HOUR, 14 MINUTES. LaFaro is a potent cup of tea…a brilliant future is in store for this youthful bassist from Geneva, N.Y.”, (Film footage of LaFaro is extremely rare. In an interview fellow bassist Charlie Haden recalled their relation: When I was in L.A., Scotty LaFaro and I roomed together. How did that impact me? 13:39 PREVIEW Memories for Scotty. That last 40%, however, is what surprised me. “Scott was extremely picky and choosy, and he wanted to call the trio. Bill had first heard Scotty with Chet Baker three years earlier…Not long after we were back off the Goodman tour, there was a call waiting for Scotty…that 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. It will be observed on his birthday anniversary, April 3. Life will be good again! Scott LaFaro during his final performance, Newport, July 2, 1961; photo by Ed Dephoure, For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@nepm.org or call 413-781-2801. He was always a good player, but all of a sudden he became a great player. Friedman first heard LaFaro with Buddy Morrow, and then they worked together with Chet Baker. He could play what works for the music, and what works for his musical vision. We needed people that were interested in each other, so that we could spend a year or two just growing, without ambitions, just allowing the music to grow. Scott found a bass that speaks pretty loud with low action, which was perfect for the Bill Evans trio. In the latter case, Getz fired LaRoca and hired Roy Haynes, but Kenton wasn't about to be second-guessed. Ted Gioia, in his 1997 survey, The History of Jazz, said, "LaFaro took far greater chances, departing markedly from the traditional walking line, instead offering countermelodies and guitar-like phrases. Mangione remembers LaFaro calling Baker “an American tragedy,” and says, “Over the years, [Scott’s] 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 song is a simple Blues from “This is Pat Moran” (by Pat Moran trio, track B6, 1958 AF), the lines are fluid and […] NYC, December 20, 1955 * Wing MGW-12006; Mercury MG-20210 Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra - Music F… Amazon.de/musik: Scott LaFaro – Pieces of Jade by Resonance Records (2009-09-08) jetzt kaufen. Well, the airline industry helped me to overcome that feeling. One, I realized that I can play across the neck more often, which opens up the melodic possibilities that instruments like saxophones and pianos take advantage of. I feel that he was able to play unlike everyone else at that time in large part due to that bass. Jazz When I pulled the string on the Prescott, it sounded huge in spite of the low action. 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." Ibanez Unveils 2021 Limited Edition SR Premium Models, New Book Documents Fender’s Diamond Anniversary, Sadowsky Announces 2021 Limited Edition Basses, Tedeschi Trucks Band: The Fireside Sessions. Unlike any bass that I’ve ever played before, I can play anything I want on Scott’s bass. It is pretty loud and has a pleasingly acoustic tone, so I could still use my microphone instead of a pickup. He would have played twenty-four hours a day if he could…He was learning a mile a minute.”, Morrow’s outfit had a big hit with “Night Train.” The bandleader told Helene, “We were a band which was dedicated at the time to mainly rhythm and blues. I paid special attention to the recording process, choosing a great studio and incredible engineers to capture the first full length recording of the Prescott since Waltz for Debby. Interview with Bill Evans By George Klabin 1966 Songtext von Scott LaFaro mit Lyrics, deutscher Übersetzung, Musik-Videos und Liedtexten kostenlos auf Songtexte.com