Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936 – July 6, 1961) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

double bassist known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. LaFaro broke new ground on the instrument, developing a countermelodic style of accompaniment rather than playing traditional walking basslines, as well as virtuosity that was practically unmatched by any of his contemporaries. Despite his short career, he remains one of the most influential jazz bassists, and was ranked number 16 on ''

Bass Player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...

'' magazine's top 100 bass players of all time.

Early life

Born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. the son of a big band musician, LaFaro was five when his family moved to

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

. He started playing piano in elementary school, bass clarinet in middle school, and tenor saxophone when he entered high school. He took up double bass at 18 before entering college because learning a string instrument was required of music education majors. After three months at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

, he concentrated on bass. He played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant on State Street in downtown Ithaca.

Career

Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the

Buddy Morrow Buddy Morrow (born Muni Zudekoff, aka Moe Zudekoff; February 8, 1919 – September 27, 2010) was an American trombonist and bandleader. Career On a scholarship at age 16, Morrow studied trombone with Ernest Horatio Clarke (1865–1947) at Juill ...

big band. He left that organization to work in Los Angeles. LaFaro spent most of his days practicing his instrument. He practiced from sheet music for the higher-pitched clarinet to improve his facility the upper register for bass. Fellow bassist Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck strings with both the index and middle fingers independently. For much of 1958, LaFaro was with pianist/vibraphonist

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

's band. In 1959, after working with trumpeter Chet Baker, bandleader

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

, vibraphonist

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...

, and clarinetist Benny Goodman, LaFaro returned east and joined Bill Evans, who had recently left the

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

Sextet. With Evans and drummer

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...

he developed the counter-melodic style that would come to characterize his playing. Evans, LaFaro, and Motian were committed to the idea of three equal voices in the trio, working together for a singular musical idea and often without any musician explicitly keeping time. By late 1960, LaFaro was in demand as a bassist. He replaced

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

as Ornette Coleman's bassist in January 1961. For a time, Haden and LaFaro shared an apartment. He also played in Stan Getz's band between jobs with the Bill Evans trio. Around this time he received a greeting card from Miles Davis suggesting that Davis wanted to hire him. In June 1961, the Bill Evans trio began two weeks of performances at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The trio attracted attention for its style. The last day was recorded for two albums, ''

Sunday at the Village Vanguard ''Sunday at the Village Vanguard'' is a live album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans and his Trio consisting of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian. Released in 1961, the album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jaz ...

'' and '' Waltz for Debby''.

Death

LaFaro died in an automobile accident on July 6, 1961, in

Seneca, New York Seneca is a town in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 2,658 at the 2020 census. The town is named after a group of local natives. The Town of Seneca is on the southern border of the county and is southwest of the C ...

, on

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

between

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

Canandaigua Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county compl ...

, four days after accompanying Stan Getz at the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...

. According to Paul Motian, the death of LaFaro left Bill Evans "numb with grief", "in a state of shock", and "like a ghost". Obsessively he played "

I Loves You Porgy "I Loves You, Porgy" is a duet from the 1935 opera ''Porgy and Bess'' with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was performed in the opera's premiere in 1935 and on Broadway the same year by Anne Brown and Todd Duncan. They rec ...

", a song that had become synonymous with him and LaFaro. Evans stopped performing for several months.

Instruments

LaFaro started his professional career playing a German-made Mittenwald

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

but it was stolen in the Spring of 1958. Shortly after, he acquired a bass made in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire by

Abraham Prescott Abraham Prescott (July 5, 1789 – May 1, 1858) was a noted luthier, particularly of the double bass, who worked in Deerfield and Concord, New Hampshire during the 19th century. Prescott built his first double bass in 1819, building 207 over ...

. The top of the instrument is a three-piece plate of slab-cut fir; the back is a two-piece plate of moderately

flamed maple Flame maple (tiger maple), also known as ''flamed maple'', ''curly maple'', ''ripple maple'', ''fiddleback'' or ''tiger stripe'', is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, produ ...

with an

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

inlay at the center joint; the sides are made of matching

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

. 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. LaFaro continued to play this bass until his death. The bass was badly damaged in the automobile accident that killed him, but was eventually restored and is sporadically used in performance to honor LaFaro. Bill Evans said of LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a marvelous sustaining and resonating quality. He would be playing in the hotel room and hit a quadruple stop that was a harmonious sound, and then set the bass on its side and it seemed the sound just rang and rang for so long."

Posthumously released items

In 1988, Insights label of RVC Corporation in Japan released ''Memories for Scotty''. The album included five tracks recorded in New York City during 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer

Pete LaRoca Pete "La Roca" Sims (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012, known as Pete La Roca from 1957 until 1968) was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, ...

. In 2009,

Resonance Records Resonance Records is an independent jazz record label established in 2008 as the centerpiece of the Rising Jazz Stars Foundation, a non–profit organization dedicated to preserving the art and legacy of jazz. The label is based in Los Angeles, Ca ...

reissued five tracks from ''Memories for Scotty'' on '' Pieces of Jade'', together with twenty-two minutes of LaFaro and Bill Evans practising " My Foolish Heart" during a rehearsal in 1960. Also in 2009, the

University of North Texas Press The University of North Texas Press (or UNT Press), founded in 1987, is a university press that is part of the University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as ...

published ''Jade Visions'', a biography of LaFaro by his sister Helene LaFaro-Fernandez, with an extensive discography.

Honors

On March 5, 2014, the Geneva (New York) City Council approved making April 3 Scott LaFaro Day. On April 4, 2014 a ceremony to rename a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive took place. According to Joachim Berendt, LaFaro's innovative approach to the bass caused "emancipation", introducing "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before". Bassist

recalled,

Discography

As co-leader

* ''1960'' with Steve Kuhn,

Pete La Roca Pete "La Roca" Sims (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012, known as Pete La Roca from 1957 until 1968) was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, ...

(PJL, 2005) – recorded in 1960

As sideman

With Ornette Coleman * '' Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, 1961) * '' Ornette!'' (Atlantic, 1962) * '' The Art of the Improvisers'' (Atlantic, 1970) – recorded in 1959-60 * ''

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

'' (Atlantic, 1971) – recorded in 1959-61 With Bill Evans * ''

Portrait in Jazz ''Portrait in Jazz'' is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1960. It is the first of only two studio albums to be recorded with his famous trio featuring bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. History Eight months a ...

'' ( Riverside, 1960) * '' Explorations'' (Riverside, 1961) * ''

'' (Riverside, 1961) * '' Waltz for Debby'' (Riverside, 1962) – recorded in 1961 * ''

The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 ''The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961'', a three-CD box set released in 2005, marks the first time the entire Bill Evans Trio's complete sets at the Village Vanguard on June 25, 1961 have been released in their entirety (outside of ...

'' (Riverside, 2005) – recorded in 1961 * ''The 1960 Birdland Sessions'' (

Fresh Sound Fresh Sound, or Fresh Sound New Talent, is a jazz record label established in Barcelona, Spain, by Jordi Pujol. The label was initially founded as a reissue label. The catalog includes work by musicians both major and minor that was recorded be ...

, 2005) – recorded in 1960 With

* '' The Arrival of Victor Feldman'' (

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

, 1958) *'' Latinsville!'' (Contemporary, 1960) With Don Friedman * ''Memories for Scotty'' (Insights, 1988) – five tracks reissued on '' Pieces of Jade'' (

Resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied Periodic function, periodic force (or a Fourier analysis, Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system ...

, 2009) With Stan Getz and

* ''

Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet ''Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet'' is an album by vibraphonist Cal Tjader and saxophonist Stan Getz recorded in 1958 and first released on the Fantasy Records, Fantasy label.

'' (

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, 1958) With

Hampton Hawes Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on ...

* '' For Real!'' (

, 1961) – recorded in 1958 With

Booker Little Booker Little Jr. (April 2, 1938 – October 5, 1961)
– accessed June 2010 was an American

* ''

Booker Little Booker Little Jr. (April 2, 1938 – October 5, 1961)
– accessed June 2010 was an American

'' (

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

, 1961) With

Pat Moran McCoy Pat Moran (born 1934 in Enid, Oklahoma) is an American jazz pianist. Life and work Born Helen Mudgett, Pat Moran studied piano at Phillips University and later at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Career She began her career as a concer ...

* ''This Is Pat Moran'' (

Audio Fidelity Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

, 1958) – recorded in 1957 With

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

* ''The Broadway Bit'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, 1959) With

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

*'' Jazz Abstractions'' (Atlantic, 1960) With

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as '' Top Gun'' (1986), '' Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''D ...

* ''Sung Heroes'' ( Sunnyside, 1959)

References

External links

A biography at ''Jazz Improv'' magazine with recommended recordingsDiscographyNAMM Oral History Interview with Helene La Faro
January 18, 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:LaFaro, Scott 1936 births 1961 deaths Musicians from Newark, New Jersey American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists American people of Italian descent Road incident deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American musicians Bebop double-bassists Cool jazz double-bassists Modal jazz musicians Free jazz double-bassists 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians