Scott LaFaro is a ghostly figure in jazz. The bassist was widely respected, and many believe his revolutionary conversational approach on the instrument in the first Bill Evans Trio changed the direction of the jazz bass moving forward. If you play an upright bass today, LaFaro has likely been a strong influence.
Now, Cherry Red Records in London has just released a three-CD set that is a must-own: The Alchemy of Scott LaFaro: Young Meteor of the Bass traces his seminal recording career from the Pat Moran Trio sessions in December 1957 to the Bill Evans Trio recordings at the Village Vanguard in June 1961. The track choices to illustrate his evolution and prowess are superb. Best of all, you can hear him distinctly on all tracks.
Unfortunately, LaFaro never got to bask in the glory of his labor. On July 6, 1961, while visiting his parents in Geneva, N.Y., he died in a crash on U.S. Route 20 between Geneva and Canandaigua. He was 25. His sudden death shattered Bill Evans, who loved his approach and felt he was completely in sync with his own recipe for transforming the traditional sound of the jazz trio to a more egalitarian collaboration rather than a piano-driven ensemble.
Evans's grief was career-altering. Not only did he stop playing for several months and thereafter routinely performed I Loves You Porgy as a slow-ballad tribute to his former colleague, I also believe LaFaro's death had an impact on pushing Evans deeper into himself and triggering depression and unbridled drug addiction.
The only other musician I can think of who experienced a similar loss that affected his personality and music was David Crosby. After the death of his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, who perished in a crash in the summer of 1969, David never got over it. We talked about the event and the impact when I spent an afternoon at his California house in 2014. [Photo of David Crosby and Christine Hinton in February 1969 by Henry Diltz]
The LaFaro set is one you put on and leave on, or pick up where you left off the next day. With this set, you're being told a chronological musical story about an artist who invented something new on his instrument—the way Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and Horace Silver did, to name a handful. It's quite an education.
Featured groups in order:
- Pat Moran Trio
- Victor Feldman Trio
- Cal Tjader/Stan Getz Sextet
- Hampton Hawes Quartet
- Buddy DeFranco and His Septet
- Marty Paich Orchestra
- Herb Geller and His All-Stars
- Tony Scott Quartet
- Bill Evans Trio (from Portrait in Jazz)
- Booker Little Quartet
- John Lewis Orchestra
- Ornette Coleman
- Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
- Bill Evans Trio (from Explorations)
- Stan Getz Quartet (from Stan the Man)
- Bill Evans Trio (from Sunday at the Village Vanguard)
- Bill Evans Trio (from Waltz for Debby)
Chuck Israels replaced LaFaro on bass in the second Bill Evans Trio in late 1961. In a recent lengthy conversation with Chuck for a liner notes project, he reflected on LaFaro and his importance:
There’s been a lot written and discussed about the undisputed brilliance of Scott LaFaro’s playing, his charisma and his partnership with Bill. Some marvelous music was made in that ensemble—Bill’s first working trio. Those extraordinary results arrived partly as a result of Scotty’s advanced development and his unabashed competition with Bill.
It was a competition Bill accepted and respected, and it made for some unexpected and serendipitous results—music that surprised and attracted listeners who were able to appreciate what was often the combined result of two powerful, partly divergent musical attitudes that each player had agreed could be coordinated to make a kind of music neither player could make on his own.
This took place with the anchoring participation of Paul Motian’s drumming. Everyone in the trio benefited from the justified attention the music received but, in fact, the trio functioned as a creative piano/bass duo and a drummer.
The Cherry Red set's sound is crystal clear, warm and intimate; and the liner notes booklet runs 36 pages. The label's Matt Ingham has made available a critically important set that not only celebrates LaFaro but also explains with illustrative specificity why he was different and a jazz game-changer.
JazzWax tracks: You'll Find The Alchemy of Scott LaFaro (Cherry Red) here or here.
Notes: For more on Pat Moran, Chuck Israels and Buddy DeFranco, read my JazzWax interviews here, here and (for Buddy DeFranco) by clinking on the links to my nine different conversations with the clarinetist in the right-hand column under JazzWax Interviews and "B. DeFranco."
For more on Scott LaFaro, read Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro (North Texas), by Helene LaFaro-Fernandez, Scott's sister, with an introduction by Gene Lees and foreword by pianist-bassist-vibraphonist Don Thompson. It's also available as a Kindle download.
JazzWax clips: Here's In Your Own Sweet Way by the Pat Moran Trio, with Gene Gammage on drums...
Here's Ballad Medley: I'm Glad There Is You and There's No You by the Buddy DeFranco Septet, featuring Herbie Mann (fl,ts,b-cl), Buddy DeFranco (cl), Victor Feldman (p,vib), Pete Jolly (p,accor), Barney Kessel (g), Scott LaFaro (b) and Stan Levey (d)...
Ballad Medley - I'm Glad There Is You + There's No You
Here's Haunted Heart from the Bill Evans Trio's Explorations, with Paul Motian on drums...
Here's the Bill Evans Trio playing/ My Foolish Heart from Waltz for Debby, live at the Village Vanguard, with Paul Motian on drums...
Bonus: Here's LaFaro in 1958 on KABC-Los Angeles's Stars of Jazz, with Richie Kamuca (ts), Frank Rosolino (tb), Victor Feldman (p), Scott LaFaro (b) and Stan Levey (d)...
