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Scott LaFaro: Bibliography, Books G -- K


This section includes excerpts from published books, arranged by author's last name, which include commentary on Scott LaFaro. In general these constitute reference works, jazz discographies, or biographies of other jazz musicians with whom LaFaro performed.


Table of Contents

 Gelly  Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me (2002)
 Giddins  Visions of Jazz (1998)
 Gioia  The History of Jazz  (1997)
 Gioia  West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960  (rpt 1998; 1992)
 Goldberg  [Liner notes] to the Don Friedman recording, A Day in the City  (1961)
 Gourse  Straight, No Chaser  (rpt 1998; 1997)
 Gridley  Concise Guide to Jazz (1992)
 Harris  Kenton Kronicles   (2000)
 Jones  Black Music  (1967)
 Kahn  A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album  (2002)
 Keepnews   The View From Within: Jazz Writings, 1948-1987  (rpt 1990; 1987)
 Kernfeld   "LaFaro, Scott" in The New Grove Dictionary of American Music  (1986)
 Kleinzahler  Earthquake Weather  (1989)
    

 

Gelly, Dave.  Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me.  San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2002.

Index entry (p. 173) "LaFaro, Scott:  80, 112.

"In February 1958 he [Getz] recorded a pleasant album with the vibraphonist Cal Tjader in San Francisco.  Its most significant feature, in retrospect, is that it marked the recording debut of two exceptional young musicians, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Billy Higgins, both of whom were to become major names in jazz. . . ." (p. 80)

"[Following Getz's return to the USA from Sweden, January 19, 1961] As soon as he could, Getz had put together a quartet, consisting of himself, one of his favourite drummers, Roy Haynes, and two brilliant players, pianist Steve Kuhn and bassist Scott LaFaro. This was the band with which he made his New York return debut, on March 23rd, at the Village Vanguard.  The reviews were enthusiastic, but the atmosphere was, by all accounts, pretty poisonous. Bill Coss, who reviewed the event for Down Beat, was certainly aware of it. 'There were in attendance the haters, musical and otherwise," Coss wrote, "who came to find out whether the young white man, who had long ago lengthened the legendary Lester Young line into something of his own, could stand up against what is, in current jazz, at least a revolution from it (or revulsion about it).'

From the few recorded examples available, the band sounds excellent. Haynes could not make all Getz's engagements, in which case his replacement was Pete LaRocca [sic, in recté La Roca] The bulk of the album they recorded for Verve remains unissued, but there is one outstanding track, a blistering version of Sonny Rollins's 'Airegin'. In its way, this is as impressive as 'Shine' -- it is as fluent and imaginative, but more angular and abstract, and does not have that 'falling off a log' sense of ease. But then, of course, it would be difficult to find two tunes more different in character than 'Shine' and 'Airegin'. . . . One thing that does come across strongly is LaFaro's brilliance . For his first two solo choruses, Getz is accompanied by bass and drums only, and you can practically hear the delight Getz and LaFaro must have taken in the way tenor and bass swing along together. Getz had probably not experienced bass playing as sharp as this since the death of his friend Oscar Pettiford. But the partnership was short lived. LaFaro died in a car crash in July of that year." (p. 112)

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Giddins, Gary. Visions of Jazz: The First Century. New York:  Oxford, 1998.

In his chapter 51, 'Ornette Coleman (This is Our Music)', at pp. 470-471, Giddins discusses Ornette Coleman's 'Atlantic' recordings, particularly his compositions on the recording, Ornette! 

"'R.P.D.D.' is a savory folk-like melody with a dissonant tail and a blues riff for a middle part.  After the head, Coleman takes his cue from Blackwell's jaunty snares and Scott LaFaro's resonating plucked bass and works up a calypso rhythm.  The solo eventually works through every facet of the theme, modifying colors, tempo and dynamics.

"That selection is from my favorite of Coleman's Atlantics, the album called Ornette!  Unusual for LaFaro's ingenious sense of contrapuntal order, it has four of Coleman's finest tunes and consistently inspired long-form improvisations by him and [Don] Cherry.  'W.R.U' is a flat-out rocker, with LaFaro holding down the beat behind one of Cherry's most lucid improvisations (Eddie Jefferson could have put a lyric to it); toward the climax, LaFaro's timbre takes on a vocal quality, as though conversing with the trumpet.  Blackwell is at his attentive best, pumping like pistons.  He converts Coleman's entrance into an extended turnback, never losing the beat.  From the same session (but unreleased until 1971), comes the Tex-Mex serenade 'Check Up', in which Coleman, navigating a deeply affecting solo, turns the rhythm around as Blackwell finds precisely the right kick to complement his hoedown inspiration.  At moments like that, and they are plentiful, you realize that within the sphere of this music, avant-gardism per se is the last thing on anyone's mind."

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Gioia, Ted.  The History of Jazz.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1997.

At pp. 300-301:  Together with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, [Bill] Evans achieved a degree of interaction and heightened sensitivity rarely heard in the jazz world, and created a body of work that would be vastly influential.  Only twenty-three years old at the time he joined Evans, LaFaro had already performed on both coasts with musicians as diverse as Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, and Benny Goodman.  But with the Evans trio, LaFaro took far greater chances, departing markedly from the traditional walking line, instead offering countermelodies and guitar-like phrases.  His sense of time was freer, less tied to the ground beat, than any jazz bassist had previously achieved.  In this regard, he was ably assisted by drummer Motian, whose subtle percussion work -- especially his brush and cymbal playing -- added color and texture to the music as much as it did rhythmic drive.  For this band, the underlying pulse was implied rather than stated.  Evans referred to this approach as the 'internalized beat.'  It is not going too far to see this short-lived trio as redefining the nature of the jazz rhythm section.  Almost all the great piano-bass-drums units of later years -- perhaps most notably the exceptional Herbie Hancock -- Ron Carter -- Tony Williams combination that powered Miles's mid-1960s band -- would, in some measure, draw on the innovations of this seminal trio.

Studio recordings from December 1959 and February 1961 showcased the band's progress in breaking free from bop-era clichés in an attempt to create a more purified style of trio music.  The trio's follow-up recording -- which would also prove to be its last -- finds these hints of greatness coalescing into a full-fledged mastery.  On June 25, 1961, Evans's record company taped the trio's performance at New York's Village Vanguard.  The twenty-one selections recorded that day achieve a telepathic level group interplay, one in which the line between soloist and accompanist -- isolated and distinct in the swing and bop idiom -- often blurs and at times totally disappears.  The piano work, the bass line, the percussion part weave together in a marvelous, continuous conversation.  Such a description might make it seem that the music is busy, filled with content.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The marvel was how this music could say so much while leaving so much unsaid.   One would struggle to find a jazz recording from the day with a slower tempo than 'My Foolish Heart,' yet the performance never lags; indeed, it could serve as text-book case in how to use space and silence to accentuate the forward momentum of jazz music.   Other tracks are equally exemplary:  the intimate dialogue between the bass and piano on 'Some Other Time'; the shimmering percussion work on 'My Man's Gone Now,' supporting Evans's poignant solo; the probing across-the-bar lines phrasing on 'Gloria's Step' and 'All of You'; the pristine beauty of 'Waltz for Debby' and 'Alice in Wonderland'; the avant-garde deconstruction of 'Milestones.'  A group could deservingly build a major reputation on the basis of such a performance, and, as it turned out, that was exactly the case.  Eleven days later, LaFaro died in a car accident.   he was only twenty-five years old.

Entry at p. 332, discusses the Miles Davis rhythm section of Hancock, Carter, and Williams, as the premier one of the day, one which emulated the 'internalized beat' of the earlier Evans, LaFaro, Motian trio, but with "more aggression, a harder edge, and a more overt sense of forward motion."

Entry at p. 344, mentions LaFaro briefly in the context of Ornette Coleman's seminal recording, Free Jazz, which served as precursor to the extended musical lines and 'free' play in jazz groups lead by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, and others.  

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Gioia, Ted.  West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960.  Photographs by William Claxton.  Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press, 1998.  "First California Paperback Printing 1998."  "Originally published New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.  With a new postscript."

P. 91-- Gioia draws an interesting comparison between the way pianists Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans utilized their respective bassists:

"Bassist Ron Crotty tells of Brubeck's insistence that his bass line stick closely to the harmonic roots--so much so that Brubeck would pound out his own bass line on the piano if he thought Crotty deviated too far from the standard chords.  Similarly the drummers featured in the early groups were expected to support the soloists in a fairly subdued, traditional manner.  The kind of open sound that, say, Bill Evans sought in his collaborations with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian would never have appealed to Brubeck, despite other striking similarities (especially harmonic conception) between the two pianists."

LaFaro is mentioned briefly on pp. 110, 219, 321, and 331, in lists of other  musicians prominent on the California "West Coast" jazz scene in the 1950s:  Cal Tjader, Billy Higgins, Vince Guaraldi, Eddie Duran, Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd, Dick Whittington, and others.  The contexts of these lists is the relatively conservative approach to jazz club operations and recording studios in San Francisco at the time, and the experimental approach at Howard Rumsey's Hermosa Beach (near Los Angeles) 'Lighthouse' jazz club.   

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Goldberg, Joe. [Liner notes] to the Don Friedman recording, A Day in the City:  Six Jazz Variations on a Theme.  New York:  Riverside Records, 1961.  Riverside RLP 9384. 1 sound disc : stereo, 33 1/3 rpm ; 12 in.  Recorded June 12, 1961. Performers: Friedman, piano; Chuck Israels, bass; and Joe Hunt, drums.

"Most memorable of all to Friedman was a warm association with the late bassist Scott LaFaro."

See the Don Nelson article below for remarks about Friedman and LaFaro.

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Gourse, Leslie.  Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk.  New York: Schirmer Books, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1997.  Schirmer Books paperback edition, 1998.

At p. 178:  "In 1960, Monk played at Boston's Storyville jazz club again without any mishaps -- except for a bad review.  The Boston Traveler critic John McLellan found Monk's performance uninspired and thought the inclusion of the bassist Scott LaFaro (usually associated with Bill Evans) might have been the reason, his virtuosity -- the beauty and subtlety of his harmonies and rhythms -- notwithstanding.  (LaFaro kept his strings very close to the fingerboard to enhance his agility; without the proper electronic equipment found in recording studios, he had an extremely soft sound.)  McLellan didn't like the drummer Pete Mondrian for Monk's group, either.  Also in 1960, Monk was booked again at the Newport Jazz Festival and gave splendid performances with his quartet at the Blackhawk club in San Francisco." 

Note: My guess is drummer Pete Mondrian is a nom de plume for Paul Motian.

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Gridley, Mark C.  Concise Guide to Jazz.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992. Two editions: "book alone" and "book with cassette" (verso, title page).  I have the "book alone" edition.

This text book guide to the music discusses jazz listening skills, origins, instrumentation, styles (early, swing, be-bop, cool, hard bop, avant-garde of the 1960s, fusion),  the basics of music, and includes a buying guide and a glossary. 

In his discussion of the styles and influence of Bill Evans (pp. 148-152, Gridley provides a "Listening Guide for 'Solar' by Bill Evans" (pp. 150-152) which includes some interesting, analytical remarks about LaFaro's playing of this tune:

'Solar' composed by guitarist Chuck Wayne (but mistakenly, often attributed to Miles Davis) is twelve measures long but does not follow the chord progression of a typical blues. Discussion below is based on the version of 'Solar' recorded 25 June 1961 at the Village Vanguard, in New York, and included in the album, Sunday at the Village Vanguard.  Performers:  Bill Evans, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass; Paul Motian, drums.

Gridley's analysis of 'Solar':

.  .  .

'Solar' was selected to provide the clearest example of the unique approach that bassist Scott LaFaro developed when playing with Bill Evans. LaFaro does not walk during this performance. Also, his rhythms contain very little repetition. Unlike traditional bass playing that provides a very predictable foundation for the soloists, LaFaro's role can be considered an ever-changing counter activity. Sometimes it even seems to go its own way, independent of Bill Evans' piano playing, as in the first few choruses.

.  .  .

0' 00" -- First Chorus -- Melody Statement --

Evans begins alone, playing the first phrase of the melody in octaves. Then he is joined by LaFaro and Motian, and he plays the second phrase in harmony and the remaining phrase in octaves. LaFaro improvises melody of his own, in the style of the 'Solar' melody. LaFaro's lines occasionally quote phrases from the original melody and mimic Evans' lines. They also contain figures that state the pulse and outline notes in the chords.

In the first five choruses, piano and bass interweave their separate melodies. They take turns coming in and out of the foreground of the music. This is very different from the usual format in which piano melody is accompanied by walking bass. Though LaFaro's lines are usually somewhat subordinate to Evans', they are more dense, more varied, and closer to the foreground than bass parts had traditionally been.

0' 15" -- Second Chorus -- Evans Restates the Melody --

All piano phrases are harmonized. LaFaro functions alternately as creator of counter melodies and as embellisher of beats.

0' 30" -- Third Chorus --

Evans begins his solo improvisation by voicing all his lines in octaves and not comping for himself. While Evans departs from the melody as he improvises, LaFaro paraphrases it. This amounts to a two-part invention with drums and cymbals accompaniment.

0' 43" -- Fourth Chorus --

Evans and LaFaro continue to improvise counter lines to each other, LaFaro occasionally quoting the melody.

0' 56" -- Fifth Chorus --

LaFaro moves to a less melodic and more rhythmic role. Evans improvises in ways which intentionally blur the rhythmic pulse.

1' 09" -- Sixth Chorus

1' 22" -- Seventh Chorus

1' 36" -- Eighth Chorus

1' 49" -- Ninth Chorus --

Beginning in the fourth measure, Evans constructs about twelve measures' worth of lines from quarter-note triplet figures.

1' 60" -- Tenth Chorus

2' 13" -- Eleventh Chorus --

After the fourth measure, Evans stops voicing his lines in octaves and begins to play one note at a time instead. He generates solo lines with his right hand and comps for himself with his left hand. Note how soft, light, and infrequent his left hand chords are. This pattern persists until the sixteenth chorus.

2' 27" --  Twelfth Chorus

2' 38" -- Thirteenth Chorus

2' 50" -- Fourteenth Chorus

3' 04" -- Fifteenth Chorus

3' 17" -- Sixteenth Chorus --

Evans paraphrases the melody, using locked-hands block chording.

.  .  .

Two other analyses in this book which include remarks about bass playing:

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Harris, Steven D.  The Kenton Kronicles: A biography of Modern America's Man of Music: Stan Kenton.  Foreword by Pete Rugolo.  Pasadena, CA: Dynaflow Publications [2000]. Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., PO Box 10, Saline, MI 48176.  ISBN 0-9676273-0-3 ($64.95)  LCCC #99-091380.  "This first printing is a Limited Edition of only 1,000 copies and is already a collector's item." (verso title page)

At p. 169:  LaFaro mentioned in the "Archie LeCoque" interview (pp. 166-169).  "My room mates [LeCoque says] for three years with Stan's band were Bill Trujillo, Billy Catalano and, during the spring of '59, bassist Scott LaFaro. Scott and I decided we were awfully pale and decided to buy a sun lamp. We would lay under it after work and a few times fell asleep and got burnt very badly. Stan used to harp on us all the time to get rid of that sun lamp. Scott wasn't what one would consider a big band bass player. We all knew something important was going to happen with this guy. But he only lived another two years after that, the result of a car accident while on tour with pianist Bill Evans."

At pp. [332] - 389, "On the Road with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra: The Band Itinerary, 1940-1978" entries relevant to LaFaro's interest in and performance with the Stan Kenton Orchestra (SKO):

Between 1950 and 1954, while LaFaro was a student at Geneva High School, his father, Joseph LaFaro, took both Scott and Scott's sister, Helene, to listen to various bands appearing in and around Geneva (to include Rochester and Syracuse). It is highly probable that Scotty heard the SKO at one or more of the following venues:

The following SKO performances are important to determining whether or not LaFaro appeared with the SKO when the following recordings were made:

Stan Kenton & His Orchestra. (?1958 Artistry Record 101 LP recording)

  • 1958 November 03 through 08 -- Florida tour (six cities including Tampa, Florida State University in Tallahassee and the Sea Isle in Miami)

  • 1958 November 06 -- Municipal Auditorium -- Sarasota, FL

  • 1958 November 11 -- Vandenberg Hall, Keesler AFB -- Biloxi, MS

Note: "CHUCK: To answer your question, I happen to know when Red Kelly left [SKO] from interviewing him among other sources. Same for hundreds of other [SKO] alumni. I can usually recognize the sound of most players, what ever instrument they play. La Faro joined Kenton on 3/6/59
[i.e., 6 March 1959] and stayed less than 3 weeks. On or before March 25, he was replaced by Carson Smith.

About the Artistry 101 record [Stan Kenton & His Orchestra]: first, it is very misleading. It was not recorded on 11/6/58 at the Municipal Auditorium [at Sarasota, FL]. It was actually recorded 11/11/58 at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss. It has been reissued on CD by another source and the sound quality is better. The bassist on that is (again) Red Kelly." (17 Nov 02 e-mail from Steven D. Harris, author of The Kenton Kronicles)

At Ukiah (1990 CD, Status Records)

  • 1959 February 03 -- Casino Lounge, Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, NV (on location recording for Capitol Records on 02 Feb 59 at the Tropicana Blue Room)

  • 1959 February 26 -- County Fair Building -- Ukiah, CA

Note: According to Mr. Harris's research and interviews, Scott LaFaro played with the SKO from 6 March 1959 to on or about 25 March 1959 -- less than three weeks.  Although given credit as the bassist on the At Ukiah recording, Harris is confident that the bassist on that recording was [Thomas] Red Kelly. (17 Nov 02 e-mail Harris to Ralston)

The Stan Kenton Orchestra in Concert (1997 CD, Hindsight Records):

  • 1959 March 01 -- 04 Off
  • March 05 -- band rehearsal, Diana Ballroom -- Los Angeles, CA
  • March 06 -- Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
  • March 07 -- Claremont College, Claremont, CA
  • March 08 -- NCO Club, March Field AFB, Riverside, CA
  • March 09 -- Riverside ballroom, Phoenix, AZ
  • March 10 -- San Juan Country Club, Farmington, NM
  • March 12 -- Auditorium, Wichita Falls, TX
  • March 13 -- Cimarron Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
  • March 14 -- Blue Note ballroom, Wichita Falls, KS
  • March 15 -- Meadow Acres Ballroom, Topeka KS
  • March 16? -- Millburn Country Club, Pittsburg, PA
  • March 17 -- Electric Park, Waterloo, IA
  • March 18 -- Froghop Ballroom, St. Joseph, MO
  • March 19 -- Memorial Union, IA State University, Iowa City, IA
  • March 20 -- Hub Ballroom, Bradley University, Edelstein, IL
  • March 21 -- Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines, IA
  • March 22 -- Million Dollar ballroom -- Milwaukee, WI
  • March 23 -- Jackson Co. Blvd. Auditorium, Jackson, MI
  • March 31 -- SKO records, Capitol Records, Universal Studios, Chicago

Note:  Again, according to Harris, this recording was made "the first night of a new tour and [with] a partially new band. The date was March 6, 1959; the place Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.  I [Harris says] can't verify for sure, so it's best to put a question mark. If not, it's definitely the first week. The band sounds sloppy and you can tell that even LaFaro is having trouble with some of those complicated big band charts.  [This] was Scott's first gig with Kenton (he was only with the band for three weeks) . . ." (17 Nov 02 e-mail Harris to Ralston)

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Jones, LeRoi. Black Music. New York: William Morrow, 1967. LaFaro mentioned briefly at pp. 73, 79.

p. 79: “Scott LaFaro, one of Ornette [Coleman]'s many white bassists . . .”

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Kahn, Ashley.  A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album. New York: Viking, published by the Penguin Group, 2002.

At p. 61, Kahn quoting John Coltrane about his concerns about his group:

Though I don't particularly have any reason to complain about [bassist] Reggie Workman, he hasn't reached that level of maturity [equal to Paul Chambers] yet. I've figured it out with Elvin [Jones] though. What he (Elvin) needs is a bassist who's a real "force of nature" because he [Elvin] plays so hard that if you don't respond with the same authority, you're practically over-taken.  With Elvin, you need a flexible bassist, because often he's ahead of the time: you have to follow him and lead him at the same time  . . .  I don't know an available bassist who can do it."

At p. 100, Kahn discusses Garrison's recommending LaFaro to Evans:

"Jimmy Garrison had changed greatly since 1957, when he accompanied Coltrane the week the saxophonist went cold turkey. With the help of home buddies like Philly Joe Jones, he [Garrison] made the transition to New York in 1958 and slipped in and out of bands led by Curtis Fuller, Lennie Tristano, and Bill Evans.  After Garrison left Evans (but not before recommending his replacement, Scott LaFaro), a chance meeting led to his being introduced to recent arrival Ornette Coleman, who eventually recruited him to replace Charlie Haden."

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Keepnews, Orrin. The View From Within: Jazz Writings, 1948-1987. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, Oxford University Press paperback, 1990.

At pp. 166-179: “The Bill Evans Sessions”. From the program booklet accompanying the recording set, Bill Evans: The Complete Riverside Recordings, Fantasy, 1984. A discussion of twenty recording sessions involving Bill Evans. LaFaro is discussed at pp. 170-171, `Session 4 (December 28, 1959)' released as the Portrait in Jazz album; at pp. 171-172, `Session 6 (February 2, 1961)' released as the Explorations album; and at pp. 173-174, `Session 9 (June 25, 1961' released as two separate albums: Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz For Debby.

At pp. 170-1:  On Session 4 (December 28, 1959):

Evans began working almost exclusively as leader of his own trio early in 1959, over two decades, he was to make personnel changes only rarely. But it actually took him until late in that first year to settle on his first permanent lineup. Motian, of course, had been an early associate; Scott LaFaro, only twenty-three at this time, apparently worked his way into the trio by frequently sitting in while Bill was having trouble getting sidemen to stick with him through some unpleasant early club engagements. This was very much a transitional session for Evans, who still displays a lot of the more extroverted side that had emerged during the months with Miles, and only a few selections -- most notably 'Autumn Leaves' and 'Blue in Green' -- point with any clarity towards the concept of 'simultaneous improvisation' that was to be such a major element in his association with the innovative but tragically short-lived LaFaro. Valuably, there are tow available versions of both these numbers. In the case of 'Blue in Green' (which Bill had written for the celebrated Miles Davis Kind of Blue album, although to his outspoken dismay, his leader had received joint composer credit), it's simply that I have come across a previously un-issued next-to-last take that the pianist and I had both almost approved. 'Autumn Leaves' was originally issued in differing monaural and stereophonic versions for a reason peculiar to the technology of the times. In those days, two-track stereo was new and primitive and not yet part of the standard recording equipment a t many studios. On this occasion, the separate portable stereo machine had malfunctioned during the performance of what we adjudged the best take. Not wanting to be limited by stereo (which was still considered a dubious gimmick and accounted for perhaps 10 percent of record sales), we issued the preferred version in mono and a second-best on the stereo record.

Two continuing Bill Evans characteristics appear for the first time at this session.  The readily apparent one was his penchant for reconstructing and revitalizing some very minor pop tunes, as well as some essentially strong ones that had grown stale with overuse.  The second, known only to those who worked with him in the recording studio, was his unwillingness to keep plugging away at the same selection -- as most jazz musicians do -- until he was satisfied. Bill's alternative, which was more impatient, probably more creative, and often quite unsettling to his sidemen and producer, was to abandon a number if a couple of takes left him less than fully pleased, returning to it at some arbitrary point later in the session. Our present use of more than one version in two instances serves to illustrate this. The actual recording order for this material was : the second take of 'Blue in Green,' followed by an accepted 'Come Rain or Come Shine' and then the monaural version of 'Autumn Leaves', after which they returned to 'Blue in Green' for the originally issued Take 3 and then went back to 'Autumn Leaves' to play a satisfactory performance on which the stereo equipment was working properly! This date was originally released as the Portrait in Jazz album."

At p. 172: On Session 6 (February 2, 1961):

“ . . . My chief recollection of this session is as a classic case of personal factors influencing musical judgment. Evans was full of openly expressed negative feelings during the date, largely because of a running nonmusical argument with LaFaro. I felt equally negative, being annoyed with both of them and distressed by Bill's complaints about a presumably tension-induced headache. Although I kept insisting that the music sounded just fine, that was mostly pep talk; I actually shared his misgivings, and we were equally surprised when later listening proved my words to have been accurate. (In a 1976 interview, he went so far as to call this 'one of my favorite albums.')

At pp. 173-4: On Session 9 (June 25, 1961):

"This is most accurately described as a single recording effort, even thought it actually involves the work of five sets (two between 4:30 and about 6:30 in the afternoon, three beginning at 9:30 that night) in that famous New York cellar known as the Village Vanguard. This was, of course, the legendary 'live' date taped on the last time the Evans-LaFaro-Motian trio ever played together, just ten days before Scott's tragic death in a highway accident.

I really don't recall with full certainty why Riverside was able to record this at all (although the trio's most recent album had been made almost five months before, that was far less than the usual interval between our Bill Evans sessions), or on the other hand why we waited until the very end of a two-week engagement. I must assume that some pressure was exerted on Bill: the group was clearly in top form and should be recorded; I had been extremely enthusiastic about on-the-job taping since the vast success of The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco a year earlier; and this type of session was a relatively painless way to extract an album from the usually foot-dragging pianist. They delay, while surely due in part to artist reluctance, also reflected the fact that our staff engineer, Ray Fowler, was not on hand, perhaps on vacation. (His replacement was Dave Jones, one of the best at 'live' location recording in that two-track era; the sound of these selections remains as crisp and undated as the music.) The choice of the very last day is actually quite understandable; at the time, the Vanguard's schedule regularly included Sunday matinees, allowing for a really full amount of recording in one day. And of course we could not be aware of what a last-chance position we were in.

Accordingly, no one panicked at the brief power outage that ruined our taping of the first afternoon selection, 'Gloria's Step.' Whatever the cause, it never recurred; thereafter, all was technically -- and also creatively -- free of problems. The format of the compilation offers a unique opportunity to recreate almost totally the entire occasion in exactly the sequence of original performance.

The re-creation of the day is only 'almost' total because of two unavoidable omissions: the flawed opening number, and an un-issued version of 'My Man's Gone Now,' which had been the only item left on one original reel apparently lost during the turmoil and travel the Riverside tape vaults went through in the years after 1964.

Although we were only looking for one album, we felt there would be a better chance of capturing the spontaneous qualities of on-the-job recording in general -- and of this trio in particular -- by being able to make the eventual choice from a larger group of tunes rather than frequently repeating an exact pre-selected repertoire. Thirteen numbers were played in all, five only once, just two as many as three times. Evans was unusually please with the results and -- perhaps also influenced by the realization that this now documented the end of an important period in his career -- readily agreed to the release of two separate six-tune albums (Sunday at the Village Vanguard, followed by Waltz for Debby). The necessary choices were quite arbitrary; it is clear that nothing played this day was without considerable merit. 'Porgy,' originally omitted for reasons of overall time, was squeezed into an early-70s reissue package, and seven 'rediscovered' alternates filled a mid-1984 album."

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Kernfeld, Barry.  "LaFaro, Scott" in The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie.  London:  Macmillan Press Ltd.; New York: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, Inc., 1986. 

"LaFaro, Scott (b Newark, NJ, 3 April 1936; d Geneva, NY, 6 July 1961).  Jazz double bass player. He started playing the clarinet at the age of 14; later, in high school, he took up the tenor saxophone, and finally studied double bass in Ithaca and Syracuse. In 1955-6 he traveled with Buddy Morrow's band to Los Angeles, where he began his jazz career in Chet Baker's combo (1956-7). After moving to New York in 1959 he joined a trio led by the pianist Bill Evans (with drummer Paul Motian). where remained until his early death in an automobile accident. His recordings with Evans and Ornette Coleman (1960-61) set the standard for a new generation of jazz bass players who varied their accompaniments by mixing traditional timekeeping bass lines with far-ranging countermelodies in free rhythm." (in vol 3, p.4)

Note:  The most accurate, succinct, thumb-nail sketch of Scotty I have found.

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Kleinzahler, August.  "What It Takes" [poem] in his Earthquake Weather (Mount Kisco, NY: Moyer Bell Limited, 1989), p. 34. 

Poem, "What It Takes" alludes to Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and their playing of 'My Foolish Heart'.  This poem was translated into French by Alain Pailler with the title "Ce Qu'il en Coute" in Le Courrier de Centre Internationale d'Etudes poétiques (No. 202-203 avril-juin 1994), p. 74.

English text:

 

What It Takes

He stared for hours
at the cat
taking his ease under the calla leaf
or fog
pour in late afternoon
whelming the tower on the hill

how bird   truck   or shout
wind&light
scored day the way the music
roll in a nickelodeon's scored
and what it played in the mind

or the young Bill Evans
before Scott LaFaro died
playing
           My Foolish Heart
again and again
fennel, lobelia    shadow&flies
however many times it takes

 

       

French translation by Alain Pailler:

 

Ce Qu'il En Coûte


Des heures il a fixé
le chat
tout à son aise sous la feuille d'arum
ou le brouillard
qui se déverse en fin d'après-midi
enveloppant la tour sur la colline

combien oiseau   camion   ou cri
vent&lumière
marquerènt la journée de quelle façon le piano
mécanique détaille le rouleau à musique
et comment l'esprit a réagi

ou le jeune Bill Evans*
avant que Scott LaFaro ne meure
jouant
                  My Foolish Heart
encore et encore
fenouil, lobélie     ombre&mouches

quoi qu'il en soit plus d'une fois il en coûte

 

 *Pianiste de jazz (1929-1980). A renouvelé radicalement la formule du trio
  piano/contrebasse/batterie, aux côtés, notamment, de Scott LaFaro, contrebassiste
  d'exception décédé dans un accident de voiture, en 1961, à l'âge de 25 ans.

 

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