Scott LaFaro
Encyclopedia
Rocco Scott LaFaro was an influential jazz bassist
, perhaps best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio
.
, LaFaro grew up in a musical family (his father played in many big bands). His family moved to parent's hometown of Geneva, New York
when Scott was five years old. He started on piano while in elementary school, began on the bass clarinet in junior high school, changing to tenor saxophone when he entered high school. He only took up the double bass at 18, in the summer before he entered college, when he learned a string instrument was required for music education majors. About three months into his studies at Ithaca College
in Ithaca, NY, LaFaro decided to concentrate on bass. He often played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant on State Street in downtown Ithaca.
He entered college to study music but left during the early weeks of his sophomore year, when he joined Buddy Morrow and his big band. He left that organization in Los Angeles
after a cross country tour and decided to try his luck in the Los Angeles music scene. There, he quickly found work and became known as one of the best of the young bassists. In 1959, after many gigs with such luminaries as Chet Baker
, Victor Feldman
, Stan Kenton
, Cal Tjader
, and Benny Goodman
, LaFaro joined Bill Evans
, who had recently left the Miles Davis
Sextet
. It was with Evans and drummer Paul Motian
that LaFaro developed and expanded the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. LaFaro replaced Charlie Haden
as Ornette Coleman
's bassist in January, 1961.
LaFaro played a double bass
made in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire
by Abraham Prescott
. The top of the instrument is a three-piece plate of slab-cut fir
; the back is a two-piece plate of moderately flamed maple with an ebony
inlay at the center joint; the sides are made of matching maple
. 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
.
In 2009, University of North Texas Press published "Jade Visions", a biography about Scott by his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez. It includes an extensive discography of Scott's recorded work.
In 2009, Resonance Records released "Pieces of Jade", the first album released featuring LaFaro as a bandleader. The album includes five selections recorded in New York City during 1961 that showcase LaFaro with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca, as well as a 22-minute practice tape of LaFaro and Bill Evans rehearsing "My Foolish Heart" in late 1960.
between Geneva
and Canandaigua
, two days after accompanying Stan Getz
at the Newport Jazz Festival
. 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.
Although he performed for only six years (1955–1961), LaFaro's innovative approach to the bass redefined jazz playing bringing an "emancipation" introducing "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before", and inspired a generation of bassists who followed him.
With Bill Evans
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, perhaps best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
.
Biography
Born in Irvington, New JerseyIrvington, New Jersey
Irvington is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 53,926, a decline of 11.2% from the 60,695 residents enumerated in the 2000 Census.-Geography:...
, LaFaro grew up in a musical family (his father played in many big bands). His family moved to parent's hometown of Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...
when Scott was five years old. He started on piano while in elementary school, began on the bass clarinet in junior high school, changing to tenor saxophone when he entered high school. He only took up the double bass at 18, in the summer before he entered college, when he learned a string instrument was required for music education majors. About three months into his studies at Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
in Ithaca, NY, LaFaro decided to concentrate on bass. He often played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant on State Street in downtown Ithaca.
He entered college to study music but left during the early weeks of his sophomore year, when he joined Buddy Morrow and his big band. He left that organization in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
after a cross country tour and decided to try his luck in the Los Angeles music scene. There, he quickly found work and became known as one of the best of the young bassists. In 1959, after many gigs with such luminaries as Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, Victor Feldman
Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman was a British jazz musician, best known as a pianist.-Early history:...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his...
, and Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, LaFaro joined Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, who had recently left the Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
Sextet
Sextet
A sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
. It was with Evans and drummer Paul Motian
Paul Motian
Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups...
that LaFaro developed and expanded the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. LaFaro replaced Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
as Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
's bassist in January, 1961.
LaFaro played a double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
made in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
by Abraham Prescott
Abraham Prescott
Abraham Prescott was a noted luthier, particularly of the double bass, who worked in Deerfield and Concord, New Hampshire during the 19th century. Prescott built his first double bass in 1819, building 207 over the course of his career....
. The top of the instrument is a three-piece plate of slab-cut fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
; the back is a two-piece plate of moderately flamed maple with an ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
inlay at the center joint; the sides are made of matching maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
. 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
Thumb position
In music performance and education, thumb position, not a traditional position, is a stringed instrument playing technique used to facilitate playing in the upper register of the double bass, cello, and related instruments, such as the electric upright bass...
.
In 2009, University of North Texas Press published "Jade Visions", a biography about Scott by his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez. It includes an extensive discography of Scott's recorded work.
In 2009, Resonance Records released "Pieces of Jade", the first album released featuring LaFaro as a bandleader. The album includes five selections recorded in New York City during 1961 that showcase LaFaro with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca, as well as a 22-minute practice tape of LaFaro and Bill Evans rehearsing "My Foolish Heart" in late 1960.
Death
LaFaro died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1961 in Flint, New York on U.S. 20U.S. Route 20
U.S. Route 20 is an east–west United States highway. As the "0" in its route number implies, US 20 is a coast-to-coast route. Spanning , it is the longest road in the United States, and the route sparsely parallels Interstate 90...
between Geneva
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...
and Canandaigua
Canandaigua (city), New York
Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census...
, two days after accompanying Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
at the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
. His death came just ten days after recording two live albums with the Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a 1961 album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. The album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.-History:...
and Waltz for Debby, albums considered among the finest live jazz recordings.
Although he performed for only six years (1955–1961), LaFaro's innovative approach to the bass redefined jazz playing bringing an "emancipation" introducing "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before", and inspired a generation of bassists who followed him.
Discography
With Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
- Free Jazz: A Collective ImprovisationFree Jazz: A Collective ImprovisationFree Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is the sixth album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded in 1960. Its title established the name of the then-nascent free jazz movement...
(Atlantic, 1960) - TwinsTwins (Ornette Coleman album)Twins is an album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. Recorded between 1959 and 1961 for Atlantic, it was only released in 1971...
(Atlantic, 1960) - The Art of the ImprovisersThe Art of the ImprovisersThe Art of the Improvisers is an album by the American jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman featuring tracks recorded between 1959 and 1961 which was first released on the Atlantic label in 1970.-Reception:...
(Atlantic, 1961)
With Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
- Portrait in JazzPortrait in JazzPortrait in Jazz is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1960.-History:Eight months after his successful collaboration with Miles Davis on the album Kind of Blue, Evans recorded Portrait in Jazz with a new group that helped change the direction of modern jazz.Most noticeably,...
(Riverside, 1959) - ExplorationsExplorations (album)Explorations is an album by jazz musician Bill Evans originally released on Riverside label in 1961. The album won the Billboard Jazz Critics Best Piano LP poll for 1961.-History:...
(Riverside, 1961) - Sunday at the Village VanguardSunday at the Village VanguardSunday at the Village Vanguard is a 1961 album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. The album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.-History:...
(Riverside, 1961) - Waltz for Debby (Riverside, 1961)
External links
- Scott LaFaro at Resonance Records
- A biography (at Jazz Improv magazine), with recommended recordings
- Scott LaFaro Discography
- http://www.worldwidewoodshed.com/woodsheddin/issue4/LaFaro.htm