Scott LaFaro

[rockefeller center]

http://www.geocities.com/chuck_ralston/08_slf.htm

[mikeweil]

Very nice photo of LaFaro from this site.

When will discographers realize that the only really useful way to write a discography is on session basis, where you can add any new release? Such a great, admirable amount of work, but difficult to navigate through it because of the LP/CD orientation.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Excellent point regarding discographical practice. There is hope - I made this same comment to a fellow in the UK who similarly had done some great research but presented it in an issue-based document and he followed up on my suggestion of using Steve Albin's BRIAN discographical database program - which is session-based and easily handles all the issue/reissue situations. I guess it's just a matter of evangelizing.

Mike

[mikeweil]

I downloaded the BRIAN software a few months ago - now have to take the pains in getting used to it as I have no experience whatsoever using a database program ..... What I don't like that much is that you have each musician listed repeatedly when he doubles, and that you have a bunch of issues following each track, somehow bulges it up a little bit, but I guess there is no better solution, and the possibility of updating in no time is intriguing.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Well, I can solve one of those issues for you right now - the latest version (4.2) has redone the personnel reporting so that players are not duplicated when they double - you now get the standard format of:

James Moody (as, ts, f)

This requires absolutely no change in use of the program - you take your old data and just run the new report and the listing shows up the new way. Noal Cohen just updated all his reports (hopefully I'll find the time to do mine by the new year) so check, for example:

http://www.attictoys.com/jazz/TK.HTM

The multiple issue situation is a bit more difficult, but be sure you at least use the option where when all performances from a session appear on a single issue that issue is placed at the bottom "All titles on:" section.

There are also options in the program to identify the "original issue" and only list that, or to list only issues in certain formats (LP, 78, CD, etc.) - if that helps.

The program is storing the issue information perfectly, it's just a matter of establishing the best way to print that information. There are a few ways that it could be handled, none of which is clearly superior.

Mike

[medjuck]

Reading the "Chronology" on this web site I was surprised to see that LaFaro seems to have been Stan Getz's bass player at the time of his death and was given time off by Getz to play with Bill Evans for the Village Vanguard sessions. In fact the last gig before his death was with Getz at Newport. If one just you wouldn't infer from the Chronology that the Bill Evans Trio was ever hism ain gig.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Interestingly, when LaFaro died, Getz was playing nearby in Saranac Lake, NY and the substitute bassist was Henry Grimes (with Steve Kuhn and Roy Haynes). According to Kuhn, after Newport LaFaro went home to help his mother pack up the house to move to California.

Mike

[Chuck Nessa]

In the mid 60s all my musician friends thought Scott cheated by lowering the bridge. He was not admired at the time but influenced more.

[rockefeller center]

In the mid 60s all my musician friends thought Scott cheated by lowering the bridge. He was not admired at the time but influenced more.

The adjustable bridge on my bass makes me feel real bad now.

[Guest WINGY (I STAY BOMBED)]

I inherited a record collection from a friend of mine named Ray Shiner. He used to live in the Rochester, NY area and he was a former member of the Sauter-Finegan Band and in later years he was in charge of jazz studies at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY.

One of the records in the collection was The Bill Evans Trio "Sunday at the Village Vanguard". On the outside of the jacket there is a signature "Nancy Johnston".

I didn't think much about it at first but upon extracting the inner sleeve I found newspaper clippings and an original wallet sized high school senior photo of LaFaro

taped to the sleeve. The following is the obituary from a Geneva, NY newspaper that was among the clippings:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIERY DEATHS END REUNION CELEBRATION

Two men were killed in the crash of another car, which also hit a tree, in the Geneva Canandaigua Road.

They were Rocco Scott LaFaro, 25, Seaford, L.I. a bandleader, formerly of Geneva, and Frank Ottley, 25, of 476 West Lake Road, Geneva.

The pair, chums from the days at Geneva High School, were celebrating a reunion that followed a visit by LaFaro to Geneva Wednesday.

The car, believed to have been driven by LaFaro, skidded off the highway and traveled 200 feet before hitting the tree and bursting into flames. Both bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Ottley, an optician and the father of three children, will be buried Saturday following a service in St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Geneva at 10 PM.

Graveside service will be held for Mr. LaFaro at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Glenwood Cemetery, Geneva. Rev. Dale Bracey, assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, will officiate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder what part Nancy Johnston played in LaFaro's short life?

She also taped a longer article entitled"GENEVAN WINS NATIONAL JAZZ ACCLAIM" to the inner sleeve.

Gap Mangione told me that he was in the same bar with LaFaro the night of the crash. He said LaFaro was bombed out of his mind. The rest is history.

WINGY

[Shrdlu]

I've never heard negative criticism of Scott before. All the musicians that I've played with, especially the bassists, have raved about him. And, the proof is in the pudding: his recorded work sounds outstanding. No-one else in jazz could play the bass fiddle as well as Scott. The other guys that we love are fantastic in many cases, but are on a lower plane than Scott LaFaro.

[JSngry]

I've heard the same criticisms that Chuck mentions. Seems to me that LaFaro was sort of the "dividing point" in the developement of the role of the bass, although I still think that he was basically (no pun inteneded walking through doors that Mingus opened.

My personal preference is for the older, fat, "bottom" approach to bass (an approach that, while older in conception, carries over into all "modern" styles just fine), but that's not to be taken as a knock on LaFaro by any means. It's just my personal preference as a player and as a listener. And my "preference" is a matter of degree only, not absolute. I dig LaFaro.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I challenge the idea that what has been recorded is "the proof in the pudding." Recordings have never captured the true beauty of music. Probably never will.

I do enjoy LaFaro, but have heard plenty of criticism that he was not strong enough in live situations. Most recent was in an interview I did with Jon Hendricks.

Mike

[Shrdlu]

Well now, the recordings are all we have. Live playing sounds much clearer, but sadly we don't have that in Scott's case. But the recordings, especially those with Bill, are outstanding, and I think it is most inappropriate to start revisionist dissing of Scott's work after all these years. I think the proof is there. In a letter to a friend of mine, Bill Evans said that the four albums he did with Scott give a pretty good representation of their work together.

I have never heard a finer jazz bassist on a recording. And Bill really liked his work - that's about the best opinion you could get.

I want to add that Scott's style isn't my favourite style, though, so I have no personal crusade to promote. I am not in favor of the bass player always soloing on every piece. I think that a bassist's principal job is to accompany. My personal favorite, for many years, is Ron Carter, almost the antithesis of Scott LaFaro. I also prefer Paul Chambers, as he always gave such a good "feel" to a performance (though he was also an outstanding soloist of course).

[Larry Kart]

About Michael's point that the recorded sound of LaFaro might not be what one heard in a live setting from him, while I never heard LaFaro live, when I heard in a club setting (Shelly's Manne Hole) back in 1962 or '63 a bassist (Red Mitchell) whom I'd assumed from recordings had an unusually big sound, I was astonished to find that in a normal rhythm section with horns setup he was almost inaudible--and by that time in my life I'd heard lots and lots of bassists in live settings. FWIW, I've always assumed that Mitchell was LaFaro's chief stylistic model -- or at least that's the way it seemed to some of us at the time -- though LaFaro certainly was his own man.

[JSngry]

I don't know how "revisionist" it is, really. From what I've read, LaFaro's appraoch wasn't universally revered in its time. His album w/Ornette (ORNETTE!!!, not FREE JAZZ), for example, seems to have generated mixed feelings from Day One. Sure, his work with Evans is darn near universally acclaimed, and justifiably so, but outside of that orb, there seems to have been ambivalence. Certainly not overwhelmingly so, but enough to notice when doing research.

[mikeweil]

The recent reissue of Victor Feldman's Latinville for Contemporary, who used to record live in the studio with rather minimalist miking, reveals a comparatively soft sounding bass, although his swing and latin groove are great.

Edited October 26, 2009 by mikeweil

[wesbed]

I was listening to the Bill Evans/Scott LaFaro Vanguard sessions this evening. I was enjoying listening to Scott LaFaro as much as to Bill Evans. I found some LaFaro pictures on the internet. And, was reminded how young he was. With all that is discussed about Scott LaFaro, it seems odd that the oldest age he reached was 25 years. I wonder what another 10 or 20 years of experience would have brought to his playing?

[wesbed]

I was really enjoying Mr. LaFaro's playing last night. Here is another picture of Scott:

[brownie]

A (much too brief) video of LaFaro playing with Richie Kamuca, Frank Rosolino, Victor Feldman, Stan Levey (?) in 1958 in a sequence from the Bobby Troup show

Kamuca/LaFaro

[brownie]

A (much too brief) video of LaFaro playing with Richie Kamuca, Frank Rosolino, Victor Feldman, Stan Levey (?) in 1958 in a sequence from the Bobby Troup show

Kamuca/LaFaro

Much longer and better videos from the Stars of Jazz show (and it was Stan Levey...)

[BillF]

A (much too brief) video of LaFaro playing with Richie Kamuca, Frank Rosolino, Victor Feldman, Stan Levey (?) in 1958 in a sequence from the Bobby Troup show

Kamuca/LaFaro

Much longer and better videos from the Stars of Jazz show (and it was Stan Levey...)

Many thanks for posting those! I have quite a few records by very similar groups (often on VSOP/Mode) and they were steaming there in a way they don't quite manage in the recording studio.

[Chas]

Has anyone here had a look at the new LaFaro biography , Jade Visions : The Life And Music Of Scott LaFaro ?

[JohnT]

IMHO, it's a great book written by his sister which helps to kind of take away the "myth" of Scott LaFaro and look at how he became, through a lot of hard work, one of the best bass players. It also discusses his early formative years and how he he worked to change the "role" of the bass to have much more interplay in the rythm section (I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Scott LaFaro so I am a little biased). I also came away with a good sense of what it was like hustlin' gigs on both the west and east coasts during the late '50's and early '60's since LaFaro was playing with a variety of east and west coast groups. Lot's of good interviews with contemporaries of LaFaro and some great, never before seen (at least by me), photo's too. Of course, at the end of the book you come away with the great loss to the jazz community with the tragic ending.

The one thing I was amazed by was the, seemingly, ease at which LaFaro and many players in the late '50's and early sixties went from the east coast to west coast to play. It must have been much more difficult to get from one coast to the other during those early years but LaFaro seems to do it often. I went from the east coast to the west a couple of months ago for a two week trip and found myself never really adjusting to the time change and these musicians seemed to do it all the time!!

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in Scott LaFaro and the music scene of the "50's and early '60's.

[Chas]

I have to say I'm a little leery both of autobiographies , and of biographies written by close kin , as they often lack the critical distance necessary to prevent their becoming insipidly hagiographic . One of the reviewers at Amazon feels very strongly that such is the case with this book , which of course only serves to further jaundice my predisposition .

In view of this , I appreciate your countervailing input John . There's really no need to cop to a bias , as it's a given that most of the book's readers will be fans . It sounds as though the book can be enjoyed even by those who wouldn't consider themselves LaFaro fans , so long as they enjoy reading gig stories and anecdotes about a time when the 'scene' was keen .