scott lafaro car accident29 Mar scott lafaro car accident
LaFaro continued to divide his time between Getz, Ornette, and Evans in 1961. - 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. He also played in Stan Getz's band between jobs with the Bill Evans trio. They spent so much time discussing music, listening to records, at the piano, they were inseparable. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". Advice and guidance to those interested in building a library of jazz recordings. See all our current specials here. Scotty was on the road at the time, in California. Is that a jazz thing? His records with Bill Evans are among the finest jazz trio discs . LaFaro was taken from this world 60 years ago, on July 6, 1961, in Flint, New York, where he was involved in an auto accident a few days after playing with Stan Getz at Newport. In 2009 she published a biography about him, Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. ", 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. Already a member? Musician. Composer: Styne / Sondheim While driving home late one nighthis car went off the road and struck a tree. Gloria Gabriel was one of the dancers. (, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:36. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock . My father passed away (from a heart attack) in 1957. 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. 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. The young bassist was friends to other artists and art during his all-too brief sojourn upon the mortal coil. It will be observed on his birthday anniversary, April 3. Then wed go home and have dinner and ice cream. John Tynan wrote inDownbeatthat the rhythm duo [LaFaro and Billy Higgins] were the baddest cats on the date. I was 19 and working. Composer: Hammerstein II / Kern Tracks such as "Solar" (RealAudio excerpt), from the Village Vanguard sessions, highlight his ability to play high notes with surprising speed. It remains what is likely Evans' most well-known song,[citation needed] one that he would play throughout his career. It wasnt until he left for Ithaca College, where music majors were required to play a stringed instrument, that he first played bass. Our Dad was from here. 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. LaFaro-Fernandez: Scotty and I were born in New Jersey but we moved back to Geneva in 1942. LaFaro-Fernandez: Dad (Joe LaFaro) never forced us to play music. Tragically, LaFaros chance to see how far his talent would take him was cut short when he died in a car crash near Geneva in July 1961 at the age of 25. [1] With Evans and drummer Paul Motian he developed the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. Read about our approach to external linking. When Scotty was in sixth grade we took our first piano lessons. Before that grim July night, LaFaro had been a busy bassist. For much of 1958, LaFaro was with pianist/vibraphonist Victor Feldman's band. 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. Evanss illness resulted in the cancellation of a long engagement opposite Thelonious Monk at the Jazz Gallery. But LaFaro had a pronounced Dolphy streak too, in that both musicians were playmakers, facilitators, helping others to raise their games by playing theirs at the highest level. Joining Palombi on this date are Don Friedman and Eliot Zigmund. 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. 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. Today would be the 78th birthday of the great Scott LaFaro, who died in a car accident in 1961. In the latter case, Getz fired LaRoca and hired Roy Haynes, but Kenton wasn't about to be second-guessed. Become a member and get exclusive access to articles, live sessions and more! 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. He emphasized high notes, could play with great speed and his interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential. 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." That show typically includes stories about LaFaro, who forever changed the jazz worlds concept of what bass playing could accomplish with his counter-melodic style. 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. I was also told by classical bass players that this also changed things for them because as was with all music pretty much up until then, the bass was considered more of a rhythm instrument only. LaFaro broke new ground on the instrument, developing a countermelodic style of accompaniment rather than playing traditional walking basslines, as well as virtuosity that was practically unmatched by any of his contemporaries. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. There is a creek that ran through the park, it would go up past Shuron Optical where they used this rouge chemical to make glass lenses, so the creek was always red. So if you were all living in California, how was it that your brother was near Geneva when he died? 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. Postings here are the last known photographs or videos of a person. Such is the legacy of bassist Scott LaFaro, though I would suggest that what was was more than we often think. 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. "[12], In 1988, Insights label of RVC Corporation in Japan released Memories for Scotty. Shortly after, he acquired a bass made in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire by Abraham Prescott. He replaced Charlie Haden as Ornette Coleman's bassist in January 1961. My day consists of such a singular preoccupationthe physicology of music. Tonight Show, 14 Feb 1957. Tom Reneys writings delve into the history and mystery of jazz, blues, and beyond. Died . Haynes shared with Scotty a fastidiousness about clothing, and hed just been named toEsquiresBest-Dressed list. He worked from sheet music for the clarinet, with its much higher pitch, to improve his command of the bass upper register. Cool Modal Music Post-Bop. For many, that Evans association, with drummer Paul Motian, is the LaFaro legacy. Composer: Gillespie ~ Charles A. Ralston, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide Scott LaFaro's life and career were cut short in July of 1961. A stacked bass makes for a stacked musical deck. We spoke with LaFaro-Fernandez by phone to give us a glimpse on her brothers formative years in Geneva. 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). She recalls that Zoot Sims so impressed her brother that he was impatient for the intermission to end, and that bassist Leroy Vinnegar hummed all the while he was playing, a habit Scotty later developed as well. Helene says he talked about seeing Duke Ellington for weeks, shaking his head in disbelief of howthey could fool with the melody and make it so much more. As for religion, she says that whenever shes asked, I always answer, We went wherever the music was best. That was Dads criterion, be it a mass at a Roman Catholic church or Friday evening Shabbat dinner at the cantors home., Scottys first instruments were piano, clarinet, and tenor saxophone. 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. Other times, its distilled into a moment that seems to transcend itself, and thus it went for Paul Gonsalves, hero of a Newport afternoon. My dad loved the director, so we had to go and have that experience as well. He played sessions at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and roomed with fellow bassist Charlie Haden, who recalled the first time LaFaro mentioned Bill Evans. Sign in to continue reading, Sixty years after the bass greats untimely death, a look at his musical legacy beyond the Bill Evans Trio. An investigation is underway after two people were killed in a crash involving a big rig along the . [14] On April 4, 2014 a ceremony to rename a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive took place. He waited until we got interested, and then he was totally supportive. 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. 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. [15][16], According to Joachim Berendt, LaFaro's innovative approach to the bass caused "emancipation", introducing "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before". It was there his career exploded. 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. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Chicago, 1956. That left air and spaceand timewhich could do with some filling, some shaping. How did that happen? Performers: Ornette Coleman, as; Don Cherry, c; Scott Lafaro, b; Ed Blackwell, d. New York City, 31 Jan 1961. Those six numbers with LaFaro making up what became the Booker Little album are a masterclass in postbop bass. Killed in a car accident aged just 25, Scott LaFaro was widely regarded as the most technically gifted bassist of the 20th Century. A master of the upright bass, he recorded with Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman before he died in a car crash at age 25. LaFaro joined the Bill Evans Trio in 1959 and, although he would record with Ornette Coleman (including Free Jazz) and gig with Stan Getz, the bassist is best-remembered for his association with Evans, particularly their Village Vanguard recordings of 1961. HOMETOWN Newark, NJ, United States of America BORN April 3, 1936 Similar Artists Paul Motian. 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? In the mid 1950s, at the Los Angeles music scene, he became known as one of. Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 July 6, 1961)[1] was an American jazz double bassist known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. He died near Geneva in an auto accident in 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. California had affordable education, and we could all go to college. He played a lot of top, cymbals, and Scotty wanted more drums, says Kuhn. 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. Q: When did your brother start getting interested in music? Security video shows a crash in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles which left a driver dead. 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. It is still so wild to me that he was so influential. Mom needed the money. She had lost her husband, then four years later lost her son, and she still had young kids to raise. Geller said Goodman was unhappy with his current bassist, and offered to recommend Scotty but cautioned, Bennys very conservative, dont do any of those fast things you can do. ", 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. You can read our interview with Holland. 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. 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. One may even ask the question whether it is possible to love jazz and not love Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, and I dont think youre being a curmudgeon if you stamp a foot and issue an emphatic No, by Jove!. 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. I would love to see it. As such, the album is a sort of memorial record for him; all of the tracks featured were either written by him, or feature a bass solo performed by him as the centerpiece of the track. 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 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. My mom was still pregnant with my last sister. Fraternal guidance, in that this endeavor allowed fellow band members to do what they best did. LaFaro left Morrow and settled in Los Angeles in 1957. So they were constantly trying for fresh approaches and fresh improvisationsAnd Bill told me, I remember it exactly, If I played the same lick on a tune two nights in a row, the next time I playe dit Scott would play it with me in harmonyhe would actually harmonize it so that at that point it was time for me to get rid of that lick and move on to something else.Is that what LaFaro was trying to bring to Getzs attention at the Blackhawk? He would practice for hours: he had all these Sonny Rollins solos he had written out in bass clef! [5] He left that organization to work in Los Angeles. In May 1960, the Bill Evans Trio joined in a program at Circle in the Square that was devoted to Gunther Schullers jazz compositions. Performers: Chet Baker, tp; Phil Urso, ts; Francy Boland, p; Larance Marable, d; Scott LaFaro, b. LaFaro originally played clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college. 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