BUBI CHEN

Bubi Chen is one of Indonesia’ best-known jazz musicians and has an outstanding international reputation. Bubi Chen’s career as a jazz pianist has spanned over four decades through which he has recorded an album in Los Angeles with world’s class musicians John Heard and Albert “Tootie” Heath and several solo albums recorded in Indonesia and Singapore. At Berlin Jazz Festival in 1967 he played with Tony Scott and Phylly Joe Jones. In addition he also played and recorded numerous album with Singapore’ greatest jazz pianist Jeremy Montero.

The virtuoso performer was born in 1938 in Surabaya the second largest city in Indonesia where he spends most of his time. He grew up in a musician household, where his older brothers Teddy and Jopie were both known as respected jazz musicians during 60s and 70s. In fact, Bubi and Jopie were part of the highly acclaimed Indonesian All Stars who made history in performing at Berlin Jazz Festival in 1967. It was the first Indonesian jazz band performed at an International jazz festival. Indonesian All Stars comprise of Kiboud Maulana (guitar), Jack Lesmana (guitar), Benny Mustafa (drums), Maryono (sax), Jopie Chen (bass) and Bubi Chen (piano). Their own composition, “Janger Bali” that blended ethnic music of Bali and straight ahead jazz, has received outstanding review from many jazz observers.

In 1968, Bubi was voted in the DownBeat magazine reader polls as one of 5 best jazz pianists in the World and the best in Asia. He is the first Asian jazz musician ever voted in reader polls of the prestigious jazz magazine. Together with the late Maryono (sax), Perry Pattiselano (bass), Benny Mustafa (drums) he revived Indonesian All Stars and performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1992. His solo album “Virtuoso” was released in 1995 with the support of Belinda Moody (bass) and Louis Soliano (drum).

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ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

Download Music!: Abdullah Ibrahim-Guilty; Abdullah Ibrahim-Kata; Abdullah Ibrahim-Angelica 

Abdullah Ibrahim (born 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa), formerly known as Adolph Johannes Brand, and as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. With his wife, the jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, he is father to the New York underground rapper Jean Grae, as well as to a son, Tsakwe.

Biography

He first received piano lessons at the age of seven, was an avid consumer of jazz records brought by American sailors, and was playing jazz professionally by 1949. In 1959 and 1960, he played alongside Kippie Moeketsi with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown; the group recorded the first jazz LP by Black South African musicians in 1960. Ibrahim then joined the European tour of the musical King Kong.

He moved to Europe in 1962, and in February 1963, while Ibrahim was performing as “The Dollar Brand Trio” in Zürich's “Africana Club”, his wife-to-be Sathima Bea Benjamin convinced Duke Ellington to hear the trio while Ellington was in Zürich on a European tour. As a result, a recording session was set up with Reprise Records: Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio. A second recording of the trio (also with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on piano) performing with Sathima as vocalist was recorded, but remained unreleased until 1996 (A Morning in Paris under Benjamin's name). The Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums) subsequently played at many European festivals, as well as on radio and television.

Since then Ibrahim has toured mainly in Europe, the United States, and in his home country, South Africa. Performances are mainly in concerts and clubs, mostly as a band, but sometimes playing solo piano. He mainly plays piano but also plays flute, saxophone, and cello; he mainly performs his own compositions, although he sometimes performs pieces composed by others.

He briefly returned to South Africa in the mid-1970s after his conversion to Islam (and the resultant change of name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim); however, he soon returned to New York in 1976, as he found the political conditions too oppressive. While in South Africa, however, he made a series of recordings with noted Cape Jazz players (including Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen). This included Coetzee's masterpiece, "Mannenberg", acknowledged by most as one of South Africa's greatest musical compositions; the recording soon became an unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance. Saxophonist and flutist Carlos Ward was his sideman in acclaimed duets during the early eighties.

Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. Since the end of apartheid, he has lived in Cape Town, and now divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa.

He also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where he and others recalled the days of apartheid.

Abdullah Ibrahim is a towering figure in South African music, an artist who brings together all its traditions with a deeply felt understanding of American jazz, from the orchestral richness of Duke Ellington's compositions for big band to the groundbreaking innovations of Ornette Coleman and the 1960s avant-garde.

Ibrahim has worked as a solo performer, typically in mesmerising unbroken concerts that echo the unstoppable impetus of the old marabi performers. He also performs regularly with trios and quartets and larger orchestral units. Since his return to South Africa in the early 1990s, he has been feted with symphony orchestra performances, one of which was in honour of Nelson Mandela's installation as President. He has also founded the "M7" academy for South African musicians in Cape Town, and was the initiator of the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra, an 18-piece big band launched in September 2006.

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ABDULLAH Ibrahim, born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1934, remembers hearing traditional African songs, religious music and jazz as a child - all of which are reflected in his music. He received his first piano lessons in 1941 and became a professional musician in 1949 (Tuxedo Slickers, Willie Max Big Band). In 1959 he met alto saxophone player Kippi Moeketsi who convinced him to devote his life to music. He meets and soon marries South African jazz vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin in 1965.

In 1962 the Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass, Makaya Ntshoko on drums) tours Europe. Duke Ellington listens in at Zürich's Africana Club and sets up a recording session for Reprise Records: Duke Ellington presents the Dollar Brand Trio. 1963/64 sees the trio at major European festivals, including TV shows and radio performances.

United States. In 1966 he leads the Duke Ellington Orchestra: "I did five dates substituting for him. It was exciting but very scary, I could hardly play". Other than six months playing with the Elvin Jones Quartet Abdullah Ibrahim (who changed his name after his conversion to Islam in the late 1960s) has been a band leader ever since. 1968 sees a solo piano tour. From then on he has continuously playing concerts and clubs throughout the US, Europe and Japan with appearances at the major music festivals of the world (e.g. Montreux, North Sea, Berlin, Paris, Montreal, etc.). A world traveler since 1962, Ibrahim went back to South Africa in the mid-1970s but found conditions so oppressive that he went back to New York in 1976.

In 1988 Ibrahim wrote the award-winning sound track for the film Chocolat which was followed by further endeavors in film music the latest being the sound track to No Fear, No Die.

An eloquent spokesman and deeply religious, Abdullah Ibrahim's beliefs and experiences are reflected in his music. "The recent changes in South Africa are of course very welcome, it has been so long in coming. We would like a total dismantling of apartheid and the adoption of a democratic non-racist society; it seems to be on the way." In 1990, Ibrahim returned to South Africa to live there but keeps up his New York residence as well. Several tours took him around the globe featuring his groups and also doing much acclaimed solo piano recitals. 1997 saw the beginning of a duet cooperation with the dean of jazz drums, Max Roach.

Later projects (1997 and 1998) are of a large scale nature: Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder arranged Abdullah Ibrahim's compositions for a 22 piece string orchestra (members of the Youth Orchestra of the European Community) for a CD recording and a Swiss Television SF-DRS production and also for the full size Munich Radio Philharmonic Orchestra again for CD production and for concert performances featuring the Abdullah Ibrahim Trio.

The world premiere of the symphonic piece was at the renowned Herkules Saal, in Munich, Germany on January 18th 1998, under the direction of Barbara Yahr and the Zürcher Kammerorchester premiered the string orchestra version at Zurich's Tonhalle in February 1998. 

The string orchestra version was released in September 1998 ("African Suite") and met widest critical acclaim from the worlds of both jazz and classical music. The symphonic version ("African Symphony") will be released in 2001 in a double CD set which also features Abdullah Ibrahim with the NDR Jazz Big Band giving the full scope of his large format music.

Another highlight was the premiere of Cape Town Traveler, a multi-media production at the Leipzig music festival in 1999. A one hour performance featured A.I. & the Ekaya Sextet, a vocal group, filmmaterial from the early days in South Africa and the European years, electronic sounds ranging from impressionism to drum&bass - a great experience.

The newest album is "Cape Town Revisited" , recorded live in Cape Town. The piano of A.I. is featured with Marcus McLaurine (b) and George Gray (dr) and added is the fiery trumpet of South African Feya Faku on several tracks. A great honor has been bestowed on Abdullah Ibrahim when the renowned Gresham College in London invited him to give several lectures and concerts (beginning in October 2000 at Canary Wharf). Among his predecessors at the famed institution which looks back at a history of 500 years are John Cage, Luciano Berio, Xenakis

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South African pianist and composer. Born Adolph Johannes Brand, Ibrahim began his career in his home country, playing in a big swing band, forming his own trio, and then recording in a modern jazz sextet called the Jazz Epistles. This music was released in 1961, but soon afterwards, the political situation in South Africa led to the break up of the band, and Ibrahim (under the name Dollar Brand) moved to Switzerland, playing in a trio and accompanying the singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, whom he later married. 

Duke Ellington heard the group, arranged for it to record, and later brought Ibrahim to the United States, where he appeared at the Newport festival, toured with Elvin Jones and led his own groups. Gradually, Ibrahim's distinctive style began to emerge - music that recalled the sounds of South Africa, and mixed his country's vocal and harmonic traditions with the rhythmic feeling and improvisation of jazz. 

In the late 1960s, he spent time in South Africa, Europe and the United States, but from 1977 until the end of Apartheid, he was mainly based in New York. Since 1990 he has split his time between South Africa and New York. From 1983 he has led a group called Ekaya (which means 'home') as well as various trios, occasional big bands and many special projects. 

Central to his music is the idea that his compositions can be learned by ear - he seldom uses written scores - and that his pieces build from simple beginnings to huge and exciting sounds. He also continues to play solo piano, using techniques from all areas of piano history from the boogie woogie that first inspired him to play jazz to the more modern sounds of his mentor Ellington and a player he greatly admired, Thelonious Monk. 

Further Reading: 

Ed Hazell: 'Abdullah Ibrahim' in Barry Kernfeld (ed): The New Grove Dicitonary of Jazz (2nd ed) London 2001.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/abdullah_ibrahim.shtml

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About Abdullah Ibrahim

This is a fan-created site for Abdullah Ibrahim's music. Abdullah Ibrahim (born 1934, Cape Town, South Africa), formerly known as Adolph Johannes Brand, and as Dollar Brand (due to the brand of cigarettes he bought, Gold Dollar), is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. He first received piano lessons at the age of seven, was an avid consumer of jazz records brought by American sailors, and was playing jazz professionally by 1949. In 1959 and 1960, he played alongside Kippie Moeketsi with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown. In 1962 during a tour of Europe, Duke Ellington heard The Dollar Brand Trio playing in Zürich's Africana Club. As a result, a recording was set up with Reprise Records; Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio. The Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums) subsequently played at many European festivals, as well as on radio and television. Since then he has toured mainly in Europe, the United States, and in his home country, South Africa. Performances are mainly in concerts and clubs, mostly as a band, but sometimes playing solo piano. He mainly plays piano but also plays flute, and saxophone; he mainly performs his own compositions, although he sometimes performs pieces composed by others. He briefly returned to South Africa in the mid-1970s after his conversion to Islam (and the resultant change of name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim); however, he soon returned to New York in 1976, as he found the political conditions too oppressive. While in South Africa, however, he made a series of recordings with noted Cape Town jazz players (including Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen). This included Coetzee's masterpiece, "Mannenberg", acknowledged by most as one of South Africa's greatest musical compositions; the recording soon became an unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance. Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. Since the end of apartheid, he now lives in South Africa and divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa. Abdullah Ibrahim is a towering figure in South African music, an artist who brings together all its traditions with a deeply felt understanding of American jazz, from the orchestral richness of Duke Ellington's compositions for big band to the groundbreaking innovations of Ornette Coleman and the 1960s avant-garde. Ibrahim has worked as a solo performer, typically in mesmerising unbroken concerts that echo the unstoppable impetus of the old marabi performers. He also performs regularly with trios and quartets and larger orchestral units. Since his triumphant return to South Africa in the early 1990s, he has been feted with symphony orchestra performances, one of which was in honour of Nelson Mandela's installation as President. He has also founded a school for South African musicians in Cape Town. With his wife, the jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, he is father to the New York underground rapper Jean Grae, as well as to a son, Tsakwe.

Source: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=93999433

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Abdullah Ibrahim

The melodic sounds of South Africa are fused with the improvisation of jazz and the technical proficiency of classical music by South Africa-born pianist Dollar Brand or, as he's called himself since converting to Islam in 1968, Abdullah Ibrahim. Since attracting international acclaim as a member of the Jazz Epistles, one of South Africa's first jazz bands, Ibrahim has continued to explore new ground with his imaginative playing. Exposed to a variety of music as a youngster, including traditional African music, religious songs, and jazz, Ibrahim began studying piano at the age of seven. Becoming a professional musician in 1949, he performed with such South African groups as the Tuxedo Slickers and the Willie Max Big Band. Ten years later, he joined the Jazz Epistles, a group featuring trumpet player Hugh Masekela and alto saxophonist Kippi Moeketsi. The band, which had been formed in 1959 by American pianist John Mohegan for a recording session, Jazz in Africa, had recorded the first jazz album by South African musicians. 

In 1962, Ibrahim left South Africa with vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin, who he married in 1965, and temporarily settled in Zurich. Performing with his trio, which featured bassist Johnny Gertze and drummer Makaya Ntshoko, Ibrahim was overheard by Duke Ellington at the Africana Club. Ellington was so impressed by what he heard that he arranged a recording session for Ibrahim and the trio. The resulting album, Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio, was released on the Reprise label in 1963. he continued to be supported by Ellington following the album's release. In addition to being booked to play (at Ellington's urging) at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965, Ibrahim served as Ellington's substitute and performed five shows with the Ellington Orchestra the following year. Shortly afterwards, he disbanded the trio and accepted an invitation to join Elvin Jones' quartet. The collaboration with Jones lasted six months. After leaving the Jones quartet, he continued to be involved with a variety of projects Besides touring as a soloist in 1968, he worked with bands led by Don Cherry and Gato Barbieri. Briefly returning to South Africa in 1976, Ibrahim settled in New York the same year. Although he returned to South Africa to live in 1990, he continues to divide his time between his birthplace and his adopted home in New York. 

In 1997, Ibrahim collaborated on an album and tour with jazz drummer Max Roach. The following year, Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder arranged several of his compositions for a 22-piece orchestra for a Swiss television production, and for a world tour undertaken by the full-sized Munich Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Yahr of the United States. Ibrahim has composed the scores for such films as Chocolat and No Fear No Die. 

Source: Craig Harris, All Music Guide

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Perhaps the most gifted African musician working within the fused ancestral streams of African+American music, Abdullah Ibrahim, formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a pianist, composer, arranger, band leader and teacher. He is among the preeminent proponents of music as a healing and transformative tool. He has brought to bear upon his music influences from the artistic royalty of American Jazz and African musics. The thrust of his gifts is an expression of this lineage. His creative intention has been secured through his deep Faith. Abdullah Ibrahim's understanding of the far-reaching roots of the healing traditions of both music and people's art is comprehensive . 

Many who have encountered Abdullah Ibrahim would also call him a teacher...including many of those who make up his worldwide audience. There is no escaping the transformative power of his music should one approach it with receptivity. In this respect he is both teacher and student, standing as exemplar within the chain of transmission which posits that every person is being inexorably drawn home and is capable of both openness and activation, of being taught and teaching, of following the path and leading others along it. Readmore...

SCOTT LaFARO

Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 – July 6, 1961) was an influential jazz bassist, perhaps best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio.

Biography

Born in Newark, New Jersey, LaFaro grew up in a musical family (his father played in many big bands). 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 in Geneva, NY. He only took up the double bass at 17 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.[4] 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, Percy Heath, Victor Feldman, Stan Kenton, Cal Tjader [5], 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. Ornette Coleman also collaborated with him around this time.

Death

LaFaro died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1961 in Flint, New York on US 20 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.

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

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Rocco Scott LaFaro (1936-1961) was a musician of the first order, who found his 'voice' in jazz in the mid-1950s. His played the double bass violin, better known today as the acoustic bass to differentiate this instrument from the electric (or electronic) bass. His life was cut short in an automobile accident in the summer of 1961 near Geneva, New York, his home town. Although he performed for only six years (1955-1961), his innovative approach to the bass astounded his contemporaries, and to this day his recorded performances continue to surprise and delight.  
Those who have found the Bill Evans Jazz Resource on the Internet know of the profound interplay among Paul Motian, Scott LaFaro and Bill Evans in a jazz trio that for many musicians to this day remains a model of sonority, complexity, and swing. Scott LaFaro's bass playing 'alchemy' (to borrow from an Ornette Coleman recording on which LaFaro performed) propelled Bill Evans to meet the artistic challenge of balance in a jazz trio. 
The trios of Art Tatum, Nat Cole, and Oscar Peterson feature the pianist. Bill Evans and Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian were of one voice. The Evans trios that followed in the wake of the tragic death of Scott LaFaro in 1961, continued the search for balanced interplay but, notwithstanding the contributions of Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker, Gary Peacock, Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell and Elliot Zigmund, Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera, musicians with technical facility and swing, the pianist's voice remained dominant.
The post-LaFaro trios of Bill Evans achieved maturity and polish, the result of many years of playing together. Evans and LaFaro and Motian played (and recorded) as a trio less than two years, from December 1959 to June 1961. It is the sense of harmonic exploration and discovery, challenge and response, time's ebb and flow, that draws one to listen again and again to Portrait in Jazz, Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz For Debby. These recordings are as fresh today as when they were first made, and together serve as an archetype of the jazz piano trio. 
Scott LaFaro's mastery of his chosen instrument began after his 1954 graduation from high school. Although he played bass only six years, LaFaro remains a beacon for jazz bassists.

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Jazz Legends: Scott LaFaro  

Born on April 3, 1936 in Newark, New Jersey 
Died on July 6, 1961 in Flint, New York 

He never recorded as a leader, appeared on less than twenty albums, and had just two regular gigs, the most famous for barely a year. Yet Scott LaFaro is probably the most influential bassist of the past 50 years. He took the bass away from its role as a strict timekeeper, and made it a more melodic instrument. Plucking his notes from the strings’ underside, he produced more volume than had been possible. He concentrated on the instrument’s high end, for a sound that was, in the words of critic Joe Goldberg, "as though he were playing a large guitar." It was when LaFaro joined his group that Bill Evans devised his theory of "simultaneous composition" – a style that not only influenced all subsequent Bill Evans trios, but also affected the trio format as a whole. Possibly no other musician has made such impact on his instrument at such a young age. 

Rocco Scott LaFaro was born in New Jersey in 1936; the family moved to Geneva, New York when he was five. Scott’s father was a violinist who had played for Paul Whiteman and the Dorsey Brothers; in Geneva he was the leader of a supper-club band. At the age of ten, LaFaro began piano lessons; when he entered high school in 1950, he was playing tenor sax and bass clarinet. Playing in the school band, he asked bassist Gail Brown if he could see her instrument. She taught Scott the chord positions, but he remained with the sax … until a basketball injury in 1953 hurt his embouchure. Later that year he heard Leroy Vinnegar play in a local club; this revived his interest in the bass. By the time he graduated in 1954, LaFaro was already playing the area nightclubs, sometimes on tenor, sometimes on bass. After a short stay at Ithaca College, Scott joined the band of Buddy Morrow, and remained with him until September of 1956. A few weeks later he joined up with Chet Baker, where he started a friendship with the drummer Larance Marable. "I found out so much from Larance, a lot of it just from playing with him." 

When the Chet Baker group played New York in early 1957, Scott’s playing impressed Victor Feldman; about a year later, LaFaro would play on Feldman’s first American album. When he left Baker, Scott moved to Los Angeles and studied with Herb Geller for several months. ("I couldn’t find enough work, and besides, I definitely needed the practice.") His fortune turned in 1958: his performance on the album The Arrival of Victor Feldman led to sessions with Hampton Hawes and Stan Getz. He spent a short time with Paul Bley (it was the first time Scott played with Ornette Coleman) and sat in with Thelonious Monk on a couple of occasions. By the time he joined Bill Evans in late 1959, LaFaro was improvising at all times – not just on his solos. Evans listened closely, reacted to Scott, who responded in kind … an approach was born. If this gig established the reputation of Scott LaFaro, it also enhanced the standing of Bill Evans. 

Scott first recorded with Evans on the various-artists album Dedications; their first full album together was Portrait in Jazz. Ornette Coleman used him for his 1960 album Ornette!; two days later he was in the studio with Evans, making the eloquent Explorations. He also got the chance to play a live date with John Coltrane, on a day when Steve Davis was late to the club. The following year was Scott’s busiest, juggling the projects of Getz, Evans, and Ornette. On June of 1961 the Evans trio had a memorable week at New York’s Village Vanguard; the final day of the engagement, June 25th, was taped in its entirety. On July 3, he played Newport with Stan Getz; it would be the final performance of Scott LaFaro. On July 5 he visited his mother in Geneva, and stayed until it was very late. He was invited to spend the night, but said no; he had to get back to New York. In the early hours of July 6, Frank Ottley and Scott LaFaro died when Scott’s car left the road, hit a tree, and caught fire. Bill Evans was so distraught he did not perform publicly for nearly a year; LaFaro’s bass style has been adopted by Eddie Gomez and many musicians since. 

People who influenced him: Leroy Vinnegar 

People whom he influenced: Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland 

Played with: Chet Baker, Paul Bley, Willie Bobo, Conte Candoli, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Buddy DeFranco, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Victor Feldman, Tommy Flanagan, Herb Geller, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, Vince Guaraldi, Charlie Haden, Hampton Hawes, Roy Haynes, Billy Higgins, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Richie Kamuca, Wynton Kelly, Barney Kessel, Steve Kuhn, Harold Land, Mel Lewis, Booker Little, Thelonious Monk, Paul Motian, Marty Paich, Frank Rosolino, Bobby Timmons, Cal Tjader 

Quotes by Scott LaFaro: 
"I don’t like to look back, because the whole point in jazz is doing it now." 

Quotes about Scott LaFaro: 

Recommended Reading: 
Martin Williams, "Introducing Scott LaFaro", The Jazz Review, August 1960. 

Recommended Recordings: 
As sideman: 
Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet (Atlantic, 1961) Not the first free-jazz recording, but the one which named the genre, and established the style. Scott plays on the left speaker with Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, and Billy Higgins; Coleman’s regular group is on the right speaker. Everyone plays wildly, without changes or meter – within a structured (yet simple) framework. A major influence on the jazz avant-garde, from John Coltrane to Albert Ayler. 

Bill Evans – Explorations (Riverside, 1960) With a faster pace than usual for him, Evans excels, on the second album with his classic trio. He sounds like he’s racing on "Beautiful Love", trying to get all his ideas stated; "Israel" is forceful, compact, and poignant. The presence of LaFaro seemed to make Evans work harder. 

Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961) Choice excerpts from Scott’s final recording; he would die about two weeks later. Tunes were selected to highlight the bass – as a result, there’s less piano than most albums by Evans. Some of LaFaro’s best solos are here: a lovely bounce on "Alice in Wonderland", the breezy joy of "Gloria’s Step", and the slow drone of "Jade Visions", Scott’s own composition. 

Bill Evans – Waltz for Debby (Riverside, 1961) Something of a ballad album, this has the remaining tracks from the Village Vanguard session. Scott has some solos, but the main attraction is Evans, with some of the slowest, most beautiful piano you have ever heard. Highlights include "Detour Ahead" (in two lovely takes), the first full-length version of "Waltz for Debby", and "Some Other Time", which is the basis for "Peace Piece". If you’ve never heard Bill Evans, this would be a great introduction. 

Victor Feldman – The Arrival of Victor Feldman (Contemporary, 1958) Feldman, best known as a pianist, here spends much of his time on the vibes. "Waltz" has a breathless spiral of notes, and "Chasing Shadows" has a good dose of blue piano. (Orrin Keepnews once compared Feldman to Wynton Kelly.) LaFaro sounds more conventional than his later efforts, but is starting to stretch – check out his solo on "S’posin’". 

Stan Getz – Stan Getz/Cal Tjader Sextet (Fantasy, 1958) A light-hearted swing session, Stan plays strongly on Latin-flavored backgrounds. Vince Guaraldi is the pianist, and leads them through "Ginza Samba", a ten-minute jam session. It’s hardly earth-shattering, but it makes for great listening. 

Hampton Hawes – Bird Song (Original Jazz Classics, 2000) Hiding in a tape box for 40 years, this trio session was apparently made on the same date as For Real! Scott is heard more prominently here, mixing with Hawes on a great program of standards. The album also includes a different trio session with Paul Chambers and Larance Marable. 

Hampton Hawes – For Real! (Contemporary, 1959) Hawes’ first album with a horn would be his last for five years, until John Kennedy pardoned him from a drug sentence. On tenor is Harold Land, a forceful and underrated voice; highlights are an explosive version of "Crazeology" and a tender "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams".

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Biography 

Born: April 3, 1936; Died: July 6, 1961 

Rocco Scott LaFaro (1936-1961) was a musician of the first order, who found his 'voice' in jazz in the mid-1950s. His played the double bass violin, better known today as the acoustic bass to differentiate this instrument from the electric (or electronic) bass. His life was cut short in an automobile accident in the summer of 1961 near Geneva, New York, his home town. Although he performed for only six years (1955-1961), his innovative approach to the bass astounded his contemporaries, and to this day his recorded performances continue to surprise and delight.

Those who have found the Bill Evans Jazz Resource on the Internet know of the profound interplay among Paul Motian, Scott LaFaro and Bill Evans in a jazz trio that for many musicians to this day remains a model of sonority, complexity, and swing. Scott LaFaro's bass playing 'alchemy' (to borrow from an Ornette Coleman recording on which LaFaro performed) propelled Bill Evans to meet the artistic challenge of balance in a jazz trio.

The trios of Art Tatum, Nat Cole, and Oscar Peterson feature the pianist. Bill Evans and Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian were of one voice. The Evans trios that followed in the wake of the tragic death of Scott LaFaro in 1961, continued the search for balanced interplay but, notwithstanding the contributions of Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker, Gary Peacock, Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell and Elliot Zigmund, Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera, musicians with technical facility and swing, the pianist's voice remained dominant.

The post-LaFaro trios of Bill Evans achieved maturity and polish, the result of many years of playing together. Evans and LaFaro and Motian played (and recorded) as a trio less than two years, from December 1959 to June 1961. It is the sense of harmonic exploration and discovery, challenge and response, time's ebb and flow, that draws one to listen again and again to Portrait in Jazz, Explorations , Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz For Debby. These recordings are as fresh today as when they were first made, and together serve as an archetype of the jazz piano trio.

Scott LaFaro's mastery of his chosen instrument began after his 1954 graduation from high school. Although he played bass only six years, LaFaro remains a beacon for jazz bassists.

Source: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=8537

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Biography by Scott Yanow

During his tragically short life, Scott LaFaro quickly developed into one of the most advanced bassists around, competing with Charlie Haden and Charles Mingus. He emphasized high notes, could play with great speed, and his interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential. LaFaro originally played clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college. He was with Buddy Morrow's band (1955-1956), toured with Chet Baker (1956-1957), and worked during the next few years with Ira Sullivan, Barney Kessel, Cal Tjader, and Benny Goodman, among others. 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. The 25-year-old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world.

Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:41dqoa9abijz

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Scott LaFaro Discography

1955 (The age of 19)
Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra
Buddy Morrow (tb, ldr) Bill Haverman or Dave McKenna (p) Scott LaFaro or Chuck Sagle or Dave Poshonka (b) Bob McKee (d) Jimmy Randolph (vo -3) unidentified orchestra 
NYC, December 20, 19551. W340 Tippity Top Wing W 90047 
2. W341 Georgia Bop Dance Wing MGW 12006 
3. W342 A Band Of Angels Wing W 90047 

* Buddy Morrow - Music For Dancing Feet (Wing MGW 12006; Mercury MG 20210)
* Buddy Morrow - Tippity Top c/w A Band Of Angels (Wing W 90047, W 90047x45) 
1956 (The age of 20)
Chet Baker Quintet
Chet Baker (tp) Phil Urso (ts) Francy Boland (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Lawrence Marable (d) 
television broadcast, "Tonight Show", Los Angeles, CA, late 1956 Intro Philology (It) 214W 13 
 Extra Mild - 
 C.T.A. - 

* Clifford Brown/Chet Baker - Trumpet Geniuses Of Fifties: Black And White Series, Vol. 1 (Philology (It) 214W 13) 
Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra
Buddy Morrow (tb, ldr) Scott LaFaro (b) unidentified orchestra, and others 
Chicago, IL, 1956 Day By Day Standard Radio Transcription Services ST 1039 
 Don't Worry About Me - 
 They Didn't Believe Me - 
 Little Girl Blue - 
 If There's Someone Lovelier Than You - 
 Somebody Somewhere - 
 Blue Suede Shoes - 
 My Blue Heaven - 
 April In Paris - 
 Main Title - 

* Buddy Morrow - Shorty-Tunes (Standard Radio Transcription Services ST 1039) 

Walt Stewart (tp) Dick Johnson (as) replaces others 
same location, date13306 Theme From "The Proud Ones" Wing W 90079 
13307 Paradise Lost - 
13308 Laura Mercury MG 20167, MG 20221 
13309 Portrait Of Jennie Mercury MG 20221 

* Various Artists - Sweet And Solid (Mercury MG 20167)
* Buddy Morrow And His Golden Trombone (Mercury MG 20221)
* Buddy Morrow - Theme From "The Proud Ones" c/w Paradise Lost (Wing W 90079, W 90079x45) 
Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra
same personnel 
NYC, 195613422 My Foolish Heart Mercury MG 20221 
13423 Symphony - 
13424 There Will Never Be Another You - 

* Buddy Morrow And His Golden Trombone (Mercury MG 20221) 
Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra
Walt Stewart (tp) Buddy Morrow (tb, ldr) Dick Johnson (as) Scott LaFaro (b) unknown (vocal group -5) unidentified orchestra 
Universal Recorders, Chicago, IL, 19561. 14035 The Song Is You Mercury MG 20221 
2. 14036 Cerise - 
3. 14037 You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To - 
4. 14038 This Is Autumn - 
5. 14585 The Trolley Song unissued 
6. 14580 Pink Lady Mercury MG 20396 
7. 14581 I'll Close My Eyes Mercury MG 20221, MG 20396 
8. 14582 With A Song In My Heart Mercury MG 20221, EP 1-4040, MG 20396 
9. 14583 Rib Joint Mercury 71024, MG 20396 
10. 14584 With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair Mercury MG 20221, MG 20396, MG 20795 

* Buddy Morrow And His Golden Trombone (Mercury MG 20221)
* Buddy Morrow - Night Train (Mercury MG 20396, SR 60009)
* Various Artists - Spring Is Here (Mercury MG 20795, SR 60795)
* Buddy Morrow And His Orchestra (no details) (Mercury EP 1-4040, 71024) 
1957
Beverly Kelly With Pat Moran Trio
Pat Moran (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Gene Gammage (d) Beverly Kelly (vo) 
NYC, late 1957 Lover Come Back To Me Audio Fidelity AFLP 1874 
 The Man I Love - 
 I Get A Kick Out Of You - 
 I Wish I Knew - 
 You Don't Know What Love Is - 
 I'm Glad There Is You - 
 Sometimes I'm Happy - 
 You And The Night And The Music - 
 But Not For Me - 
 This Love Of Mine - 
 Embraceable You - 
 Spring Is Here - 

* Beverly Kelly Sings With The Pat Moran Trio (Audio Fidelity AFLP 1874) 
Pat Moran Trio
Pat Moran (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Gene Gammage (d) 
NYC, maybe December, 1957 Making Whoopie Audio Fidelity AFLP 1875 
 In Your Own Sweet Way - 
 Onilisor - 
 Stella By Starlight - 
 Someone To Watch Over Me - 
 Come Rain Or Come Shine - 
 Blackeyed Peas - 
 I Could Have Danced All Night - 
 Farewells - 
 Yesterdays - 
 Blues - 

* This Is Pat Moran (Audio Fidelity AFLP 1875, AFSD 5875) 
1958
Victor Feldman Trio
Victor Feldman (vib, p) Scott LaFaro (b) Stan Levey (d) 
Los Angeles, CA, January 21 & 22, 1958 Serpent's Tooth Contemporary C 3549 
 Waltz (Frederic Chopin) - 
 Chasing Shadows - 
 Flamingo - 
 S'posin' - 
 Bebop - 
 There Is No Greater Love - 
 Too Blue - 
 Minor Lament - 
 Satin Doll - 

* The Arrival Of Victor Feldman (Contemporary C 3549, S 7549; Fantasy OJC 268, OJCCD 268-2) 
Stan Getz - Cal Tjader Sextet
Stan Getz (ts) Cal Tjader (vib) Vince Guaraldi (p) Eddie Duran (g) Scott LaFaro (b) Billy Higgins (d) 
San Francisco, CA, February 8, 1958 Ginza Samba Fantasy LP 3266; Prestige PR 24019 
 I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face - 
 For All We Know - 
 Crow's Nest - 
 Liz-Anne - 
 Big Bear - 
 My Buddy - 

* Stan Getz/Cal Tjader Sextet (Fantasy LP 3266, LP 8005, LP 3348, F 8348, OJC 275, OJCCD 275-2)
= Stan Getz With Cal Tjader (America (F) 30 AM 6069)
* Stan Getz - Five Brothers (Prestige PR 24019) 
Hampton Hawes Quartet
Harold Land (ts) Hampton Hawes (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Frank Butler (d) 
Los Angeles, CA, March 17, 1958 Hip Contemporary M 3589; Prestige PRCD 11015-2 
 Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams Contemporary M 3589 
 Crazeology - 
 Numbers Game - 
 For Real Contemporary M 3589; Prestige PRCD 11015-2 
 I Love You Contemporary M 3589 

* Hampton Hawes - For Real! (Contemporary M 3589, S 7589; Fantasy OJCCD 713-2)
* Hampton Hawes - Blues The Most (Prestige PRCD 11015-2) 
Hampton Hawes Trio
Hampton Hawes (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Frank Butler (d) 
Contemporary Records' Studio, Los Angeles, CA, March, 1958 What's New? Fantasy OJCCD 1035-2 
 I'll Remember April - 
 Blue 'N' Boogie - 

* Hampton Hawes - Bird Song (Fantasy OJCCD 1035-2) 
Buddy DeFranco And His Septette
Herbie Mann (fl, ts, bcl) Buddy DeFranco (cl) Pete Jolly (p, accor) Victor Feldman (p, vib) Barney Kessel (g) Scott LaFaro (b) Frank De Vito (d) 
Los Angeles, CA, April 4, 195822200-4 Oh, Lady Be Good! Verve MGV 8383 
22201-3 Satin Doll Verve MGV 8383, VSP 21 
22202 Lullaby In Rhythm unissued 
22203-7 My Funny Valentine Verve MGV 8383 
22204-7 Blues For Space Travelers - 
22205-4 Ballad Medley: I'm Glad There Is You / There's No You / These Foolish Things - 
22206-1 Tin Reeed Blues - 
22207-4 Crazy Rhythm - 

* Buddy DeFranco And His Septette - Live Date! (Verve MGV 8383, MGVS 6166)
* Herbie Mann - Big Band Mann (Verve VSP 21) 
Richie Kamuca Quintet
Frank Rosolino (tb) Richie Kamuca (ts) Scott LaFaro, Carl Perkins (b) Stan Levey (d) Ruth Price (vo -3,4) 
KABC Studios, Los Angeles, CA, April 7, 19581. Cherry Vantage NLP 5007 
2. Deep In A Dream - 
3. You Are Lucky Star unissued 
4. Until The Real Thing Comes Along - 
5. Chart Of My Heart Vantage NLP 5007 
6. (blues exit) unissued 

* Richie Kamuca/Victor Feldman/Cal Tjader - Kamuca - Feldman - Tjader: Featuring Scott LaFaro (Vantage NLP 5007) 
Victor Feldman Quartet
Ritchie Kamuca (ts) Victor Feldman (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Stan Levey (d) 
"Lighthouse Club", Hermosa Beach, CA, September, 1958 It Could Happen To You (It Could Happen To Me) Fresh Sound (Sp) FSCD 1030 
 Bass Blues - 

* Joe Gordon/Scott LaFaro - West Coast Days (Fresh Sound (Sp) FSCD 1030) 
Victor Feldman Trio
Victor Feldman (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Stan Levey (d) 
November 10, 1958 There's No Greater Love Vantage NLP 5007 
 Flamingo - 
 Be Bop - 

* Richie Kamuca/Victor Feldman/Cal Tjader - Kamuca - Feldman - Tjader: Featuring Scott LaFaro (Vantage NLP 5007) 
1959
Marty Paich And His Orchestra
Frank Beach (tp) Stu Williamson (tp, vtb) George Roberts, George Roberts (tb) Bob Enevoldsen (vtb, ts) Vince DeRosa (frh) Jimmy Giuffre (cl, bars) Art Pepper (as) Bill Perkins (ts) Victor Feldman (vib, per) Marty Paich (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Mel Lewis (d) 
Los Angeles, CA, January, 1959 Too Close For Comfort Warner Bros. WB 1296 
 Yonger Than Spring Time / Surrey With The Fringe On Top - 
 I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face - 
 It's All Right With Me - 
 I Love Paris - 
 Lazy Afternoon - 
 Just In Time - 
 If I Were A Bell - 
 I've Never Been In Love Before - 

* Marty Paich - The Broadway Bit (Warner Bros. WB 1296, WS 1296)
= Marty Paich - The New York Scene (Discovery DS 844)
= Marty Paich - Moanin' (Discovery DSCD 962) 
Stan Kenton Orchestra
Bud Brisbois, Joe Burnett, Rolf Ericson, Frank Huggins, Roger Middleton (tp) Archie Le Coque, Jimmy Knepper, Kent Larsen (tb) Jim Amlotte, Bill Smiley (btb) Lennie Niehaus (as) John Bonnie, Bill Trujillo (ts) Billy Root, Sture Swenson (bars) Stan Kenton (p, arr, cond) Scott LaFaro (b) Jerry McKenzie (d) 
Ukiah, CA, February 26, 1959 How Deep Is The Ocean Status (E) STCD 109 
 Walking Shoes - 
 The Nearness Of You - 
 Lullaby Of Broadway - 
 Where Or When - 
 The End Of A Love Affair - 
 On The Street Where You Live - 
 The Way You Look Tonight - 
 Jersey Bounce - 
 My Funny Valentine - 
 Tenderly - 
 That Old Feeling - 
 More Than You Know - 
 I Remember You - 
 When I Fall In Love - 
 They Didn't Believe Me - 
 So In Love - 
 All Of You - 
 Closing Medley: Eager Beaver / Painted Rhythm / Dynaflow / Opus In Chartreuse / Jump For Joe / Artistry In Rhythm - 

* Stan Kenton At Ukiah 1959 (Status (E) STCD 109) 
Victor Feldman Tentet
Conte Candoli (tp) Frank Rosolino (tb) Walter Benton (ts) Victor Feldman (vib) Vince Guaraldi (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Stan Levey (d) Mongo Santamaria (cga) Armando Peraza (bgo) Willie Bobo (tim) 
Los Angeles, CA, March 2, 1959 Poinciana Contemporary C 5005 
 Spain - 
 Cuban Love Song - 
 Woody'n You - 

* Victor Feldman - Latinsville! (Contemporary C 5005, S 9005, CCD 9005-2) 
Victor Fedman Octet
Conte Candoli (tp) Walter Benton (ts) Victor Feldman (vib) Vince Guaraldi (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Mongo Santamaria (cga) Armando Peraza (bgo) Willie Bobo (tim) 
Los Angeles, CA, March 3, 1959 The Gypsy Contemporary C 5005 
 In A Little Spanish Town - 

* Victor Feldman - Latinsville! (Contemporary C 5005, S 9005, CCD 9005-2) 
Stan Kenton Orchestra
Bud Brisbois, Joe Burnett, Rolf Ericson, Frank Huggins, Roger Middleton (tp) Archie Le Coque, Jimmy Knepper, Kent Larsen (tb) Jim Amlotte, Bill Smiley (btb) Lennie Niehaus (as) John Bonnie, Bill Trujillo (ts) Billy Root, Sture Swenson (bars) Stan Kenton (p, arr, cond) Scott LaFaro (b) Jerry McKenzie (d) Mike Pacheco (per) 
Burbank, CA, March, 1959 Theme And Variations Hindsight HCD 612 
 Fearless Finlay - 
 I Concentrate On You - 
 My Old Flame - 
 Intermission Riff - 
 La Suerte De Los Tontos - 
 Bernie's Tune - 
 Street Scene - 
 Out Of This World - 

* The Stan Kenton Orchestra In Concert (Hindsight HCD 612) 
Herb Geller Quintet With Barbara Long
Thad Jones (tp) Herb Geller (as) Hank Jones (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Elvin Jones (d) Barbara Long (vo -1,2) 
NYC, June 9, 19591. 3542 Mama's Talkin' Soft Atco LP 33-109 
2. 3543 Everything's Coming Up Roses - 
3. 3544 Together Wherever We Go - 

* Herb Geller And His All Stars Play Selections From Jule Styne And Stephen Sondheim's Music For "Gypsy" (Atco LP 33-109, SD 33-109) 
Herb Geller Quintet With Barbara Long
Thad Jones (tp) Herb Geller (as) Billy Taylor (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Elvin Jones (d) Barbara Long (vo -1) 
NYC, June 10, 19591. 3545 Small World Atco LP 33-109 
2. 3546 Some People - 
3. 3547 You'll Never Get Away From Me - 
4. 3548 Little Lamb - 
5. 3549 Cow Song - 

* Herb Geller And His All Stars Play Selections From Jule Styne And Stephen Sondheim's Music For "Gypsy" (Atco LP 33-109, SD 33-109) 
Tony Scott Quartet
Tony Scott (cl) Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
NYC, October 28, 1959 Misery (To Lady Day) Sunnyside SSC 1015 
 Requiem For "Hot Lips" Page - 
 Blues For An African Friend - 

* Tony Scott - Sung Heroes (Sunnyside SSC 1015) 
Tony Scott Trio
Tony Scott (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
NYC, October 28, 1959 Remembrance Of Art Tatum Sunnyside SSC 1015 

* Tony Scott - Sung Heroes (Sunnyside SSC 1015) 
Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
NYC, December 28, 1959 Come Rain Or Come Shine (take 4) Riverside RCD 30678 
 Come Rain Or Come Shine (take 5) Riverside RLP 12-315, RLP 1162; Prestige P 24052 
 Autumn Leaves (take 9) (mono take) Riverside RLP 12-315; Milestone M 47034; Fantasy OJCCD 088-2; Riverside RCD 30678 
 Autumn Leaves (stereo take) Riverside RLP 1162 
 Witchcraft Riverside RLP 12-315, RLP 1162 
 When I Fall In Love - 
 Peri's Scope Riverside R 45435, RLP 12-315, RLP 1162 
 What Is This Thing Called Love? - 
 Spring Is Here Riverside RLP 12-315, RLP 1162 
 Someday My Prince Will Come - 
 Blue In Green (take 3) - 
 Blue In Green (take 1) Riverside RCD 30678 
 Blue In Green (take 2) Fantasy OJCCD 088-2; Riverside RCD 30678 

* Bill Evans - Portrait In Jazz (Riverside RLP 12-315)
* Bill Evans - Portrait In Jazz (Riverside RLP 1162; Fantasy OJC 088, OJCCD 088-2; Riverside RCD 30678)
= Bill Evans - Spring Leaves (Milestone M 47034)
* Various Artists - Piano Giants (Prestige P 24052)
* Bill Evans - Peri's Scope c/w What Is This Thing Called Love? (Riverside R 45435) 
1960
Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
"Birdland", NYC, March 12, 1960 Autumn Leaves (March 12th On The Books) Alto AL 719; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 
 Our Delight (Fingerology) - 
 Beautiful Love (Ides Of March) / Five (theme) - Evans - A Rare Original (Alto AL 719)
* Bill Evans - The 1960 Birdland Sessions (Cool & Blue C&B CD 106) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Birdland", NYC, March 19, 1960 Autumn Leaves (March 19th On The Books) Alto AL 719; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 
 Come Rain Or Come Shine / Five (theme) - 

* Bill Evans - A Rare Original (Alto AL 719)
* Bill Evans - The 1960 Birdland Sessions (Cool & Blue C&B CD 106) 
Booker Little Quartet
Booker Little (tp) Tommy Flanagan (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Roy Haynes (d) 
NYC, April 13, 1960 Opening Statement Time M 52011 
 Minor Sweet - 
 The Grand Valse - 
 Who Can I Turn To? - 

* Booker Little (Time M 52011, S 2011) 
Booker Little Quartet
Booker Little (tp) Wynton Kelly (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Roy Haynes (d) 
NYC, April 15, 1960 Bee Tee's Minor Plea Time M 52011 
 Life's A Little Blue - 

* Booker Little (Time M 52011, S 2011) 
Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
"Birdland", NYC, April 30, 1960 Come Rain Or Come Shine (Billie Bounces Light) Session Disc 113; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 
 Nardis / Blue In Green (Billie Bounces Light) Alto AL 719; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 
 Autumn Leaves Session Disc 113; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 

* Hooray For Bill Evans Trio (Session Disc 113)
* Bill Evans - A Rare Original (Alto AL 719)
* Bill Evans - The 1960 Birdland Sessions (Cool & Blue C&B CD 106) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Birdland", NYC, May 7, 1960 All Of You Session Disc 113; Ozone 20; Cool & Blue C&B CD 106 
 Come Rain Or Come Shine - 
 Speak Low - 

* Hooray For Bill Evans Trio (Session Disc 113)
* John Handy Quintet - Bill Evans Trio (Ozone 20)
* Bill Evans - The 1960 Birdland Sessions (Cool & Blue C&B CD 106) 
John Lewis - Gunther Schuller - Jim Hall Orchestra plus The Contemporary String Quartet
Ornette Coleman (as -1) Charles Libove, Roland Vamos (vln) Harry Zaratzian (vla) Alfred Brown (vla -2) Joseph Tekula (vlc) Jim Hall (g) Scott LaFaro (b) Alvin Brehm (b -1) Sticks Evans (d -1) Gunther Schuller (comp, arr, cond) 
NYC, December 19, 19601. 5232 Abstraction Atlantic LP 1365 
2. 5233 Piece For Guitar And Strings - 

* John Lewis/Gunther Schuller/Jim Hall - Jazz Abstractions (Atlantic LP 1365, SD 1365) 
John Lewis - Gunther Schuller - Jim Hall Orchestra plus The Contemporary String Quartet
Robert DiDomenica (fl) Eric Dolphy (fl -1, as, bcl, fl -2) Ornette Coleman (as -2) Charles Libove, Roland Vamos (vln) Harry Zaratzian (vla) Joseph Tekula (vlc) Eddie Costa (vib) Bill Evans (p) Jim Hall (g) George Duvivier, Scott LaFaro (b) Sticks Evans (d) Gunther Schuller (arr, cond) 
NYC, December 20, 19601. 5235 Variants On A Theme Of John Lewis (Django): Variant I / Variant II / Variant III Atlantic LP 1365 
2. 5236 Variants On A Theme Of Thelonious Monk (Criss Cross): Variant I / Variant II / Variant III / Variant IV - 

* John Lewis/Gunther Schuller/Jim Hall - Jazz Abstractions (Atlantic LP 1365, SD 1365) 
Ornette Coleman Octet
Don Cherry (pocket tp) Freddie Hubbard (tp) Eric Dolphy (bcl) Ornette Coleman (as) Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro (b) Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins (d) 
NYC, December 21, 19605247-1? The First Take (Free Jazz (alt. take)) Atlantic SD 1588 
5247 Free Jazz, Pt. 1 Atlantic LP 1364 
- Free Jazz, Pt. 2 - 

* Ornette Coleman - Twins (Atlantic SD 1588, SD 8810)
* Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (Atlantic LP 1364, SD 1364) 
1961 (The age of 25)
Ornette Coleman Quartet
Don Cherry (cor) Ornette Coleman (as) Scott LaFaro (b) Ed Blackwell (d) 
NYC, January 31, 19615316 Untitled Atlantic unissued 
5317 W.R.U. Atlantic LP 1378 
5318 Check Up Atlantic SD 1588 
5319 T&T Atlantic LP 1378 
5320 C&D Atlantic LP 1378, SD 1558 
5321 R.P.D.D. Atlantic LP 1378 
5322 The Alchemy Of Scott LaFaro Atlantic SD 1572 
 Proof Readers Rhino R2 71410 

* Ornette Coleman - Ornette! (Atlantic LP 1378, SD 1378)
* Ornette Coleman - Twins (Atlantic SD 1588, SD 8810)
* The Best Of Ornette Coleman (Atlantic SD 1558)
* Ornette Coleman - The Art Of The Improvisers (Atlantic SD 1572)
* Ornette Coleman - Beauty Is A Rarething (Rhino R2 71410) 
Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
NYC, February 2, 1961 Israel Riverside RLP 351 
 Haunted Heart - 
 Beautiful Love (take 2) - 
 Elsa Riverside R 45462, RLP 351 
 Nardis Riverside RLP 351 
 How Deep Is The Ocean? Riverside R 45462, RLP 351 
 I Wish I Knew Riverside RLP 351 
 Sweet And Lovely - 
 Beautiful Love (take 1) Fantasy OJCCD 037-2 
 The Boy Next Door Milestone M 47034; Fantasy OJCCD 037-2 

* Bill Evans - Explorations (Riverside RLP 351; Fantasy OJC 037, OJCCD 037-2)
= Bill Evans - Spring Leaves (Milestone M 47034)
* Bill Evans - Elsa c/w How Deep Is The Ocean? (Riverside R 45462) 
Stan Getz Quartet
Stan Getz (ts) Steve Kuhn (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Pete LaRoca (d) 
Chicago, IL, February 21, 196123486-3 Baubles, Bangles And Beads unissued 
23487-1 Little Old Lady - 
23488-1 I Remember Clifford - 
23489-2 For You, For Me, Forevermore - 
23490-3 Airegin Verve 815 239-1 
23491-4 Speak Low unissued 
23492-4 Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most - 

* Stan Getz - Stan The Man (Verve 815 239-1) 
Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Paul Motian (d) 
"Village Vanguard", NYC, matinee 1, June 25, 1961 Gloria's Step (take 1) Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3 
 Alice In Wonderland (take 1) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 140-2 
 My Foolish Heart Riverside RLP 399 
 All Of You (take 1) Milestone M 9125, MCD 9235-2 

* Bill Evans - More From The Vanguard (Milestone M 9125)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby (Riverside RLP 399; Fantasy OJC 210, OJCCD 210-2)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Fantasy OJCCD 140-2)
* Bill Evans - On Green Dolphin Street (Milestone MCD 9235-2) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Village Vanguard", NYC, matinee 2, June 25, 1961 My Romance (take 1) Riverside RLP 399 
 Some Other Time - 
 Solar Riverside RLP 376 

* Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby (Riverside RLP 399; Fantasy OJC 210, OJCCD 210-2)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RLP 376; Fantasy OJC 140, OJCCD 140-2)
= Bill Evans Live At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RS 3006)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Village Vanguard", NYC, soiree 1, June 25, 1961 Gloria's Step (take 2) Riverside RLP 376 
 My Man's Gone Now - 
 All Of You (take 2) - 
 Detour Ahead (take 1) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 210-2 

* Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RLP 376; Fantasy OJC 140, OJCCD 140-2)
= Bill Evans Live At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RS 3006)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - More From The Vanguard (Milestone M 9125)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby (Fantasy OJCCD 210-2) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Village Vanguard", NYC, soiree 2, June 25, 1961 Waltz For Debby (take 1) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 210-2 
 Alice In Wonderland (take 2) Riverside RLP 376 
 (I Loves You,) Porgy Milestone M 47002; Fantasy OJCCD 210-2; Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3 
 My Romance (take 2) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 210-2 
 Milestones Riverside RLP 399 

* Bill Evans - More From The Vanguard (Milestone M 9125)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RLP 376; Fantasy OJC 140, OJCCD 140-2)
= Bill Evans Live At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RS 3006)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby (Riverside RLP 399; Fantasy OJC 210, OJCCD 210-2)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3) 
Bill Evans Trio
same personnel 
"Village Vanguard", NYC, soiree 3, June 25, 1961 Detour Ahead (take 2) Riverside RLP 399 
 Gloria's Step (take 3) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 140-2 
 Waltz For Debby (take 2) Riverside RLP 399 
 All Of You (take 3) Milestone M 9125; Fantasy OJCCD 140-2 
 Jade Visions (take 1) - 
 Jade Visions (take 2) Riverside RLP 376 
 (...a few final bars) Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3 

* Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby (Riverside RLP 399; Fantasy OJC 210, OJCCD 210-2)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - More From The Vanguard (Milestone M 9125)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3)
* Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RLP 376; Fantasy OJC 140, OJCCD 140-2)
= Bill Evans Live At The Village Vanguard (Riverside RS 3006)
= Bill Evans - The Village Vanguard Sessions (Milestone M 47002)
= Bill Evans - The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961 (Riverside (J) VICJ 60951/3) 
Stan Getz Quartet
Stan Getz (ts) Steve Kuhn (p) Scott LaFaro (b) Roy Haynes (d) 
"Newport Jazz Festival", Newport, RI, July 3, 1961 Baubles, Bangles And Beads Raretone (It) FC 5010 
 Where Do You Go? - 
 Airegin - 

* Stan Getz Special, Vol. 1 (Raretone (It) FC 5010) 
Others
Victor Feldman Ensemble
Conte Candoli (tp) Frank Rosolino (tb) Walter Benton (ts) Victor Feldman (vib, p) Vince Guaraldi, Andy Thomas (p) Scott LaFaro, Al McKibbon, Tony Reyes (b) Willie Bobo, Stan Levey, Nick Martinis (d) Mongo Santamaria (cga) Frank Guerrero, Armando Peraza, Ramon Rivera (per) 
unknown location, date Poinciana Contemporary CCD 9005-2 
 Pancho - 
 The Breeze And I - 
 Bullues Bullose - 
 Lady Of Spain - 

* Victor Feldman - Latinsville! (Contemporary CCD 9005-2)

Source: http://www.jazzdisco.org/scott-lafaro/discography/

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RUFUS REID

Rufus Reid (b. February 10, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Personal history

Rufus Reid was raised in Sacramento, California where he played the trumpet through junior high and high school. Upon graduation from Sacramento High School, he entered the United States Air Force as a trumpet player. During that period he began to be seriously interested in the bass.

After fulfilling his duties in the military, Rufus had decided he wanted to pursue a career as a professional bassist. He moved to Seattle, Washington, where he began serious study with James Harnett of the Seattle Symphony. He continued his education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied with Warren Benfield and principal bassist, Joseph Guastefeste, both of the Chicago Symphony. He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Music Degree as a Performance Major on the Double Bass.

Rufus Reid's major professional career began in Chicago and continues since 1976 in New York City. Playing with hundreds of the world's greatest musicians, he is famously the bassist that saxophonist Dexter Gordon chose when he returned to the states from his decade-long exile in France. His colleagues include Thad Jones, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Harris and Bob Berg.

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Biography by Ron Wynn

A prolific bassist who's seemingly always in the recording studio, Rufus Reid's name appears on countless hard bop, bebop, swing, and even some pop sessions. His restrained yet emphatic and pungent tone, time, harmonic sensibility, and discernible, if understated, swing are welcome on any session. Trumpet was Reid's first love, but he switched to bass while in the Air Force. He played with Buddy Montgomery in Sacramento, CA, then studied music in Seattle and Chicago in the late '60s and early '70s. Reid worked in Chicago with Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Milt Jackson, Curtis Fuller, and Dizzy Gillespie, and recorded with Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, Lee Konitz, and Howard McGhee in 1970. He toured internationally several times with the Bobby Hutcherson-Harold Land quintet, Freddie Hubbard, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Harris, and Gordon through the '70s. Reid moved to New York in 1976, playing and recording with a quartet co-led by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, and taught at William Patterson College in Wayne, NJ, starting in 1979. He recorded with Konitz, Ricky Ford, Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition with Kenny Burrell, with a quintet co-led by Frank Wess and Art Farmer, and in duos with Kenny Burrell and Harold Danko in the '80s. Reid also did sessions with Art Farmer and Jimmy Heath. He has co-led a group with drummer Akira Tana since the late '80s that is called TanaReid. As a leader, Rufus Reid has cut sets for Theresa, Sunnyside, and Concord.

Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifpxqy5ld0e~T1

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Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is, without a doubt, one of the most influential bassists working in jazz today, and he has had a significant impact on double bass performance and pedagogy throughout his career. His book The Evolving Bassist was one of the earliest of the contemporary generation of double bass method books, and it continues to be a foundational text for double bass students. I recommend it to all of my students who are interested in jazz, and I use many of his exercises for arco study and sight reading practice even with students who only study classical music.

Born on February 10, 1944 in Atlanta, GA., Rufus Reid was raised in Sacramento, California where he played the trumpet through junior high and high school. Upon graduation from Sacramento High School, he entered the United States Air Force as a trumpet player. During that period he began to be seriously interested in the bass. After fulfilling his duties in the military, Rufus had decided he wanted to pursue a career as a professional bassist. He moved to Seattle, Washington, where he began serious study with James Harnett of the Seattle Symphony. He continued his education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied with Warren Benfield and principal bassist, Joseph Guastefeste, both of the Chicago Symphony. He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Music Degree as a Performance Major on the Double Bass. The MidAtlantic Arts Foundation awarded Rufus The 2005 Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award for his dedication to America’s National Cultural Treasure: Jazz, for his personal and professional commitment to Jazz Education in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The International Society of Bassists presented Rufus with their highest honor, The Distinguished Achievement Award, in 2001. The New Jersey Chapter of the IAJE named him OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR of 1999. The International Association of Jazz Educators awarded Rufus the Humanitarian Award in 1997 BASS PLAYER magazine, awarded Rufus the 1998 Jazz Educator Achievement Award.

Source: http://doublebassblog.org/2008/07/cbc-87-rufus-reid-interview.html

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Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid, one of today's premiere bassists on the international jazz scene, with his reputation firmly established in the education arena, now adds composition to his vitae. These past three years, Rufus has been a participant in the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop which has empowered him to move more deeply into the composing arena. He won the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Award for his composition, "Skies Over Emilia." His composition, "Whims of the Blue Bird" is the result of this award's commission. This has led to further commissions. He is writing for string orchestra, jazz ensembles large and small, and double bass ensemble pieces. 

Rufus travels throughout the world as guest artist performing his compositons with both small and large ensembles. The BBC Big Band in Great Britain has recorded three of Rufus' compositions, and three arrangements of standards. 

The Gait Keeper is a result of a commission from Cornell University Jazz Ensemble. The title tune of the new Rufus Reid Quintet CD is an adaptation of that big band work. 

The Gait Keeper (Sunnyside Records) contains several new works by Rufus. This Quintet CD features a variety of moods and textures, opening with an infectious bouyant melody, called The Meddler. It also includes a musical tribute to his mentor and friend, the great bassist, Ray Brown. and closes with a majestic bowed solo paying tribute to the great bassist, Sam Jones, with his composition, "Seven Minds." This CD will definitely survive a journey of repeated listenings for the jazz enthusiast. 

Rufus already has two trio CD's out with Sunnyside: Perpetual Stroll, and Seven Minds; Corridor To The Limits, a quartet CD that features Harold Land, plus his duo CD with Harold Danko, called Myrth Song.

From 1990-2001, Rufus co-led a Quintet with Akira Tana. They released five CD's during their tenure: Yours and Mine and Passing Thoughts on Concord Records; Blue Motion ,Looking Forward , and Back To Front are available on Evidence Music. 

Rufus also has four duo CD's. Two in cooperation with Michael Moore, released by Double Time Records: Double Bass Delights and Intimacy of the Bass. Rufus and Ron Jackson did Song for Luis for Mastermix Records, and Peter Ind and Rufus recorded Alone Together for Wave Records. 

Rufus' book, The Evolving Bassist , published since 1974, continues to be recognized as the industry standard as the definitive bass method. As of January, 2000, the book is available in its millennium edition. 

Rufus Reid is equally known as an exceptional educator as well, teaching clinics since 1971, with associations with Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, the Stanford University Jazz Workshop, and the Lake Placid Institute, to name a few. Rufus was on the faculty of William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, as Full Professor and Director of the Jazz Studies and Performance program for twenty years completing his tenure in 1999. The WPU Jazz Program continues to be considered one of the best in the country for the aspiring jazz student. 

Rufus Reid's major professional career began in Chicago and continues since 1976 in New York City. His extensive jazz background and discography reads literally like the Who's Who in jazz. He has traveled, performed and recorded with many of the great Jazz Masters. He was privileged to share many musical moments with some that have passed on: Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt, Don Byas, Philly Joe Jones, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Farmer. 

Rufus has performed and recorded with Andre Previn, Kathleen Battle and the St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra in 1992. Also in 1992, Rufus had two performances of "Two Faces," a Concerto for Solo Double Bass and Jazz Trio, composed by Benny Golson for Rufus with the Wayne Chamber Orchestra. It was debuted at William Paterson University and had a New York premier in October in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. 

Born on February 10, 1944 in Atlanta, GA, Rufus Reid was raised in Sacramento, California where he played the trumpet through junior high and high school. Upon graduation from Sacramento High School, he entered the United States Air Force as a trumpet player. During that period he began to be seriously interested in the bass. After fulfilling his duties in the military, Rufus had decided he wanted to pursue a career as a professional bassist. He moved to Seattle, Washington, where he began serious study with James Harnett of the Seattle Symphony. He continued his education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied with Warren Benfield and principal bassist, Joseph Guastefeste, both of the Chicago Symphony. He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Music Degree as a Performance Major on the Double Bass. 

In 1997, The International Association of Jazz Educators awarded Rufus with the Humanitarian Award. BASS PLAYER magazine, awarded Rufus the 1998 Jazz Educator Achievement Award, and DOWN BEAT magazine in March 1999, had a feature story on Rufus Reid as a legendary thirty year veteran. In November 1999, The New Jersey Chapter of the IAJE named him OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR of 1999, Rufus Reid truly continues to be THE EVOLVING BASSIST.

Source: http://www.sonsofsound.com/artists/reid/biography.html

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Discography

As leader

Live at the Kennedy Center (Motéma Music)
The Gait Keeper (Sunnyside Records)
Perpetual Stroll (Sunnyside Records)
Seven Minds (Sunnyside Records)
Corridor To The Limits (Sunnyside Records)
Myrth Song, with Harold Danko
Yours and Mine (Concord Records)
Passing Thoughts (Concord Records)
Blue Motion (Evidence Music)
Looking Forward (Evidence Music)
Back To Front (Evidence Music)
Double Bass Delights, with Michael Moore (Double Time Records)
Intimacy of the Bass, with Michael Moore (Double Time Records)
Song for Luis, with Ron Jackson (Mastermix Records)
Alone Together, with Peter Ind (Wave Records)

As sideman

With Jack DeJohnette
Album Album (1984)

With The Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra
It Only Happens Every Time (1977)

With Dexter Gordon
Sophisticated Giant (1977)

Books: The Evolving Bassist(1974) (2nd Edition:ISBN 9780967601502)

Contributions to Education

Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops
Stanford Jazz Workshop
The Lake Placid Institute
Professor Emeritus[2], William Paterson University, Jazz Studies and Performance program (1979-1999)
The "Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists" Annual Bass Conference
The Sligo Jazz Project

Recognition/Awards

2008 Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Arts / Music Composition category[3]
Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Award ("Skies Over Emilia")
2006 Fellowship, from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts
The 2005 Mellon Jazz 2005 Living Legacy Award, from The MidAtlantic Arts Foundation
The Distinguished Achievement Award, 2001, The International Society of Bassists
Outstanding Educator of 1999, The New Jersey Chapter of the IAJE
Humanitarian Award, 1997, The International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE)
1998 Jazz Educator Achievement Award, BASS PLAYER magazine
Raymond and Beverly Sackler Composition Competition 2006 Award Winner, administered by the University of Connecticut
2006 ASCAP/IAJE Billy Strayhorn Commission Recipient

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Rufus Reid by Bob Bernotas

Rufus Reid is one of the world's greatest bass players. At least this is what I read in Downbeat about two years after I witnessed him buying his first bass from a friend of ours named Malcolm Groves who was the bass player in our high school jazz band at Sacramento High School. Rufus built his reputation in Chicago, but he went to high school with me and many other fine musicians in Sacramento, California. The bandmaster, Aubrey Penman, was an inspiring figure and great organizer. Rufus was a quiet little cat and played third trumpet. Every now and then he would stand up and take a little solo and us hotshots would turn around and go "yeah!". So the world lost a trumpet player but gained a great bassist and educator. A number of years later, I ran into Rufus at a clinc he was doing at the University of California at Berkeley. He was up there with an afro and speaking eloquently about the bass, jazz and improvising. I walked up to him and congratulated him on finding himself, a truly magnificent event. I used to listen to him a lot with Dexter Gordon at the old Keystone Corner in San Francisco and later with Stan Getz. In the last few years, I had the opportunity to work with him on several fine occasions and he was my bass player of choice for my Benny Carter recording. So it is with great pride and admiration that I present an interview with my good friend and colleague the great Rufus Reid, courtesy of Bob Bernotas, for you to savor. MM

Jazz critics love to call this or that bassist, "the anchor of the band." It's one of their most well-worn, and least apt, cliches. A far more fitting metaphor-still in a nautical vein-would be that the bassist is the rudder of the band. Harmonically, bassists have to navigate through the often dense and deep chord changes, finding the notes that give each chord its character and stringing them together smoothly. Rhythmically, bassists must steer a steady course amidst the unruly eddies and currents of jazz polyrhythms.

So, in brief, the bass player's job is really very simple: just play the right notes in all the right places. Then, after all the other players have had their say, the bassist gets to solo. And nobody does all of these things better than Rufus Reid.

From his days in Chicago during the early 1970s to his current and longtime tenure on the New York scene, Reid has built a reputation as one of the most reliable, respected, and sought-after players in jazz. Clearly, when you've been the bassist of choice for masters like Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, James Moody, Kenny Burrell, Art Farmer, and J.J. Johnson, well, you must be doing something right. Alongside his countless sideman gigs, Reid, in partnership with drummer Akira Tana, co-leads the quintet, TanaReid.

And as if all that were not enough to occupy one busy bassist, Reid is a dedicated jazz educator. Since 1980 he has served as director of the Jazz Studies and Performance Program at New Jersey's William Paterson College. He also is an active clinician and private teacher, the author of two books on bass playing, and a former panelist for the National Foundation for the Arts. In recognition of this long record of service, the International Association of Jazz Educators, at it's annual convention in January 1997, honored Reid with its Humanitarian Award. BB

Did you begin on the smaller string instruments, like violin or cello, as many bassists have?
No, I was a trumpet player. I was a brass player, actually, from junior high school-mellophone, euphonium-but only by default, because they ran out of trumpets. But I eventually got the trumpet in high school. And then I was in the Air Force Band as a trumpet player. So on one level I guess you could say I was a "professional" trumpet player, but that's really a misnomer.
I think I always had an affection for the bass, but I didn't really get into it until I got into the military and I had a lot of time to practice and I ended up teaching myself.

So you found your true instrument relatively late.
Yeah, I was between 18 and 19. When I was in a band in high school, whenever we took a break I always went over to the bass player and kind of fooled with the bass a little bit. But I never really thought of it as something I would do, until I was in the military and had a lot of time and there was a bass standing in the corner. That's where I started. 
So I had an affinity for the bass. I was much more comfortable with it. It's funny, I knew less, but I actually could do more on the bass. So it was much more satisfying.

When I quit the trumpet I was actually playing better than I ever did play. I was never a lead player, but I was a good ensemble player. But in retrospect, I wasn't a very good trumpet player at all. Jazz-wise, I was trying to sound like Miles or trying to do some things Louis Armstrong would do, but only because I had a good ear. I had no idea what they were doing until I really began to work with the bass. Then I began to get into chords and understand that stuff.

Did you get to study bass formally in the Air Force?
I was basically working on my own. There were some guys in the military that actually helped me. Even though I was a young player they liked my time-feeling better than the bass player who had the job. 'Course he didn't really care about it anyway. And then I did some studying with a retired Japanese bass player from the Tokyo Symphony when I was in Japan.

But I didn't really study the bass until a couple years after getting into the instrument-I mean seriously. I had gotten hooked, so to speak, and so I said, "Maybe I better get serious, get me a real teacher and buckle down." I lived in Seattle for about three years after I got out of the service because my brother lived there. And so I studied with James Harnett, who was the principle bassist at the Seattle Symphony at the time. So that was really my first real formal study, although it wasn't jazz. It was just learning the instrument and playing orchestral stuff.
So the military was a really wonderful thing for me, whereas it's not a real fond. memorable event in a lot of people's minds. It really helped change my whole life. I met some wonderful people and I had some great experiences.

You began your real professional career in Chicago.
Right. I finally went back to college when I was up in Seattle. I went to Olympic College, which was a two-year community college, and then I moved to Chicago in 1969 and I finished up at Northwestern, which was great because it was a heavy-duty music school. So I really had to bear down. And then in Chicago, I became kind of the house bass player for the Jazz Showcase. I was there about seven and a half years, and five of those years were pretty intense.

Who were some of the people you played with there?
Well, every week there was somebody-Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Booker Ervin, Curtis Fuller. That's where I met Kenny Burrell. That's the first time I got to play with Dexter. Illinois Jacquet, James Moody. Moody and Gene Ammons used to do a lot of sparring together, so did Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. And of course, Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, I used to play with him a lot. Zoot Sims, Al Cohn. You know, anybody who came through town. So there was always something for me to get involved with.

And most of the people didn't have a book. They came in and called tunes. Chicago was a "tune town," and if you worked, you had to know a lot of tunes. I wouldn't say that everyone who came in didn't want to rehearse. Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson came into town demanding a rehearsal and were very particular about what they wanted to hear, and that was really very intriguing to me. And consequently those were the two people that took me to Europe for the first time. The Showcase, that was an education in itself, every week.

I would get records if I didn't really know the person's music, the way that they played, 'cause I would assume if they made this record, this was the way that they played on a gig, which was not necessarily the case. But at least it was a start. And so, in a way I was beginning to get a reputation on people's lips. Chicago was a very, very strategic period for me.

What were some of the skills that you needed to develop in order to cope with that sort of situation?
Well, as a rhythm section player I think part of the job description is really being pliable, being flexible enough to find that sweet spot in a person's rhythm, where they place the beat. And as a bass player it was a challenge. I never really thought about it so much, I just did it because I had to. It was something that made sense to me. I tried to connect with all the people I played with. But it was a real challenge to try to play with everybody.

Were there any particular musicians with whom you worked who were especially challenging?
Well, Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson really did it harmonically, and they were a lot more modern, let's say, more modal, in what they were doing, especially during that period, although they had this incredible bebop core. But Bobby Hutcherson was doing all these things with Andrew Hill and stuff earlier which harmonically were really open. That was probably the most demanding thing.

I did play with Joe Henderson a little bit at that time, and his music was harder. I mean, it swung and everything, but harmonically it did other things. It was harder. You know, playing the blues with Gene Ammons, I mean, it had a big, fat groove and that was really the most important thing. On Joe's stuff, that was important, too, but harmonically you had to be more on it. So that was challenging for me.

So it seems like versatility is the most important quality for any bassist who wants to work a lot.
I think so. And being able to hear, because a lot of times I came up playing and there were no books, there was no music. And a lot of times I couldn't see the keyboard. They'd ask me if I know the song. I'd say, "No." So they would just start the tune. "Well, I'll play a chorus and you just come in." I had to figure out what key it was in, whether it had a bridge or not, and fumble my way the best way I could. In a way, the first couple choruses might have been pretty chaotic, but at the same time I learned how to really hear changes, and then remember sequences as they go by.

So retaining events that were happening was important for me. And I think most people liked me because I caught on real fast. This musical savvy is unwritten, but it's there, and a lot of young students today really don't understand that. You don't have time to analyze anything, you've just got to go with the flow, 'cause you gotta play! So to me, that has been my survival kit.

My tentacles were always out. Always. I think that a lot people, that they get complacent and they get comfortable and their tentacles kind of recede and sometimes they forget how to get out. And then all of a sudden these people don't have their senses anymore of how to survive. They can't think fast enough. But as bass players we have to think fast, because we have that ability to completely sabotage the band immediately, harmonically, rhythmically, or both.

And It's the bass line, or the attitude of the bass line, I guess, is really what makes a tune work. I think, maybe, a lot of bass players don't give enough consideration to the clarity of their bass lines.

What gives a bass line clarity?
Well, the first thing I tell students is they should always play as if there is no one else in the rhythm section. Assume that there is nobody else to clarify the tune harmonically, meaning a pianist or a guitarist or whatever. They also should assume that there is no drummer, that their time is good enough. So without playing chords, we are able to make the listener hear something that's not completely all there. Just to say, "Well, I just want to walk a bass line," that's a cavalier way to think about it.

One thing about the players who are successful, you know, Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Eddie Gomez, Dave Holland, is the clarity of their playing, and I think my career has been able to benefit from that. I feel I could play it as if no one else was around and someone could transcribe my bass line and say, "This must be this chord." If you can get that clear, then you have arrived, so to speak, at understanding the sounds.

I spend a lot of time talking about making a bass line satisfy me. It can satisfy me academically, it can be "correct," but when I play something and I flinch, that means I didn't like it or I wish I hadn't played it or whatever. There's no "perfect line," right? But it has to be satisfying. So I actually may go from one bar to the next and say, "Well, there's something about that I don't like," even though I know it's correct. It's not wrong. But then I just maybe flip an octave or change a note, and then I say, "Yeah, I'm satisfied there."

As a player, when you begin to improvise you don't have time to analyze stuff. So I advocate that a person really should sit down and write out a lot of lines. Not necessarily transcribing, say, one of Ron Carter's lines, because he did those. Transcribe your own lines and then say, "Why did I do that? I don't like that." Well, why didn't you like it? "I don't really know why. I just didn't like it." So you change it. And if you really are meticulous enough it should take you about a half hour to write out just one chorus, quarter notes, that would be totally satisfying.

I think bass players end up having to be magicians, you know, illusionists, because they end up making people believe they're hearing more than they're hearing, hearing more harmony, hearing implied harmony that isn't really there. And that adds a lot of color.
But that's because, I think, some of the greatest bass players that I've studied, like Ray Brown, he's a good pianist. Red Mitchell was a wonderful pianist. Ray Drummond is a wonderful pianist. People don't hear him play, but he's kind of a frustrated pianist. But that's why when he solos, he comes up with these other notes. And the more I became friendlier with the piano and began to understand the way harmony moves, then my lines were better. My implications were better, more clear. And my soloing was better.

One of the problems we have as bass players is that we're supporting everybody with this bass line, but when it comes to our solo, there's no bass line. So consequently we end up feeling that we have to play a solo which is really more of a glorified bass line. And it ends up not really being as melodic as one might like it to be. Now I'm not saying that I want that support from the pianist, because I don't really want a piano player to walk a bass line while I'm playing, although sometimes, depending on who it is and how well they are able to do it, it may be very nice.

I guess this is why most bass players tend to play in the upper register, because it gets them in the realm of where they feel people will believe that they're soloing, as opposed to being a "bass player." But I tend to still play in the lower registers, even though I could play in the upper register, like an Eddie Gomez or a Niels-Henning ÿrsted-Pedersen or like John Patitucci, now, in particular, or like Michael Moore, who play a great deal in the upper registers of the instrument predominantly. I'm more down in the gut part of the bass.

I suppose your big breakthrough came in 1977 when you joined Dexter Gordon's quartet.
It was an incredible period for me. It's been over 15 years now since I left his group, for sure, and I'm still reaping the benefits of having played with him. As loose as he was, he was still clear when he played. He wasn't, as you know, a real technical, dazzling kind of a player, but he had an incredible sound and he was demanding enough when he played. He had this huge, robust sound and Eddie Gladden had this huge, robust sound on the drums, and George Cables had this huge palette at the keyboard, so I didn't have a choice. And we began to really work very well together. I really felt I was an integral part of that band.

Dexter was great. We got along fine. It was easy to travel with him. He was so laid back all the time but we never missed any airplanes, I don't know why. And he was not a malicious kind of guy. I was always paid, well and on time. And when he played, he played. Forever.
He was an extremely intelligent man. He came from a well-bred family, his father was a doctor. He would read the newspaper every day and he was always on top of current affairs. He had a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. So it was really nice to be around somebody like that.
And it was a strategic time for him, too, kind of a second chance, in a sense, coming back to this country and actually reaping some of the things that he should have had a long time ago. So I had four years of really a great time. We were busy, we were playing a lot and traveling a great deal, and it still has really fond memories.

I eventually left the band because as we became busier, it was more difficult for him to really take care of business sometimes, because of his physical condition. He was still drinking too much and still dealing with some of the drugs, and it just got to be a hassle. I was actually having difficulty dealing with that, so eventually I left before it really got funky, because I loved him so much and I wanted to leave all the good stuff in place.

That was around the time you joined the faculty at William Paterson College. What is your role there?
I am the director of the Jazz Studies and Performance Program at William Paterson. This is my eighteenth year, which is hard to believe. As director of the program I replaced Thad Jones, who was artist-in-residence,when he decided to move to Europe. He was a full-time person, but at that time there was no degree program. So the idea was to create a program that was different from any other program, if that were possible, and have a real connection to the marketplace, because of our logistic set-up to New York, and then set up a curriculum that I felt that was more realistic to the bandstand.

Realistic in what way?
In that, you're not just studying the music, but preparing to be able to hang on the bandstand. In other words, we're really developing the students' ears, instead of giving them a test and then grading them on the test and saying, "OK, you're a good player." We wanted to create an atmosphere so that once they got to the bandstand it wasn't a culture shock. And I felt that from my experience, good, bad, and indifferent, we would be able to show the students what works and what doesn't work.

I learned on the bandstand and you don't have time to analyze, you have to deal. But as students, we feel that we can stop and we can analyze stuff, we can rationalize, or whatever, and that doesn't work in the real world. You don't get a second chance, sometimes, if you can't prove that you actually have some savvy. And so, we have created the environment where the students perform in a couple different groups learning a lot of repertoire, a minimum of 25 tunes for each group with no duplications. So that's 50 tunes, plus their private lessons.
In a nutshell, I helped develop the curriculum that worked-and some of the stuff that didn't work, we tried it again. And yet, what I do best is play. Even with the educational thing, what I do best is to play. So when I teach, I play and I talk about what I'm doing. This is basically why I was hired, because I was able to communicate, and I enjoy that. It has been a challenge, but I get a chance to work with a lot of young players and see them develop. And it's made me into a stronger player.

When students come into the program, what do they need to learn most of all?
Most of them, they want it now, without working for it. A lot of the young students, their priorities are in the wrong places, in my mind. Not everyone, obviously, but there are a lot of students who really want to become famous before they actually know how to play their instruments. This is one thing that Wynton Marsalis has made very evident, being more knowledgeable about a lot of things. On one hand, it's been great. On the other hand, it's made some students put their priorities in a different place because they want a manager and they want a record contract, but they don't have anything to manage yet nor do they have the experience.

In May 1992 you premiered a remarkable piece at William Paterson, a three-movement bass concerto by Benny Golson, Two Faces. Would you like to talk a bit about that?
I hadn't really worked that hard since I left school. It was fantastic for me, first of all, that Benny Golson, of all people, would write something for me. He was asked to do it through the auspices of the school. I had worked with him with the Jazztet and with his quartet and different things, so he said, "Yeah, that sounds great," and we went to work. It was over 700 measures, you know? And it was fantastic. It actually was the greatest thing for me because it made me utilize all the things that I had studied in school, in the orchestral fashion, and yet it also utilized all the things that I do as a jazz player.

When I began to really "go underground," so to speak, working on the concerto, it felt so good. My hands felt good. I wish I could have played it a couple more nights back to back. I really feel that I could play Benny's piece better now, although I still need to go back in the woodshed with it, but it made me realize how much music I didn't know, and how much I wasn't connected with my instrument. I'm constantly thinking about it, 'cause I would like to record that piece. But that was a highlight of my career, to have that, basically, dropped in my lap.

In the last few years you had been working with J.J. Johnson. Has he really retired?
He's serious. Our last concert was at William Paterson, November 10 [1996]. He hates to travel, always has, with a passion. And he feels that he doesn't want to come out and play less than he would like you to hear him. He's been very adamant about that, extremely concerned about not being up. And of course when you hear him, you say, "What are you talking about?"

Well, he's gone out on top, which is rare.
That's what he wants. He said, "There are a lot of my colleagues that ended up not playing as well," I mean really bad, and he says, "I don't want to do that." And he's made enough money, I guess, that he doesn't really have to. I won't say that he won't ever play out again, but he's not going to travel with the band anymore.

What impressed you most about working with J.J.?
Just his focus. And when I worked with J.J., when I worked with Benny Golson, these were incredible gentlemen. Kenny Burrell. They are elder statesmen.

And Art Farmer?
Yes, absolutely. I mean, these are absolute gentlemen, and I think a lot of the young players don't see enough of that kind of person, not only as heavy-duty players, but as people.
One of the first records my brother gave me was Walkin' with Miles and J.J., and I could sing his solos. I was 16. Now, for me to play with him was really fantastic. So I had this vision when I went to the first rehearsal. I had all these expectations and it was even more. It was unbelievable. He was very meticulous. After the rehearsal, I didn't even have to do the gig. The rehearsal was so satisfying and so wonderful.
When we played together that first night people thought we had been together for a long time, because J.J. is so very meticulous. He's a ponderer. He really ponders about how the whole picture looks, not only his part, which he's extremely concerned about, but how it all works. That's why he hates jam sessions. He hates the unknown.

We were on the road, and there was one very good concert, one of the real exceptional ones that I remember, and they were all pretty good. This was outside of Amsterdam and the place was packed and it just went nuts. The next morning, I woke up and there was a note under my door. It was a handwritten note from J.J. saying, "Thank you for last night. You played your butt off." And that really messed me up.

So I had some really wonderful people to learn from in my career. Eddie Harris was my first boss. Everything he said, he did. All he wanted you to do was to be on time and play good. You always got paid on time. So he spoiled me. Nancy Wilson spoiled me. I never had any problems with Dexter. I never had any problems with J.J. They set a precedent for me.

So this is also something that we talk about at the school with the kids. I say, "You don't have to be abused by a lot of people just because you're a musician." I guess it's easier said than done, but I say, "Many of the problems that we as musicians have, we've allowed them to happen." If you look good and you come in on time, you don't have to allow a lot of the crap that we end up having to take, out-of-tune pianos and all that. You have to learn to speak up, but then you also have to back it up. The bottom line is, you have to be able to play, all the time.

I mean, Eddie Harris played good every night. And Gene Ammons and all these people. James Moody, man, you better be in good shape to play with this man. And J.J. was consistent every night. So he demands you to be the same.

You do get the chance, occasionally, to work as a leader, or co-leader, of your own quintet, TanaReid. Why don't you say a few words about that?
Akira and I are in our sixth year collaborating. We're working on some new music for a new album, which we hope will be recorded later this year. So a lot of my energies are really on that band, because I haven't been this happy in a long time, as a leader. Although I'm being hired, now, for who I am, on other people's gigs I still have to play the way that they want me to play. But with this band, I play the way I play, and it's been very gratifying.

Reprinted from Jazz Player Vol.5, No.1

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