Rocco Scott LaFaro was born on April 3, 1936, and died on July 6, 1961. He was an American jazz musician who played the double bass. LaFaro worked with the Bill Evans Trio, a famous jazz group. He found new ways to play the double bass. Instead of using traditional walking basslines, he created a countermelodic style. This meant he added melodies that worked with the music rather than following a simple pattern. His skill on the instrument was very high, and few others could match his abilities. Although he died at the age of 25 and had a short career, LaFaro remains one of the most important jazz bassists in history. He was ranked number 16 on Bass Player magazine's list of the top 100 bass players of all time.

Early life

LaFaro was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a father who was a musician in a big band. At age five, his family moved to Geneva, New York. He began playing the piano during elementary school, the bass clarinet during middle school, and the tenor saxophone when he started high school. At 18, he began learning the double bass before attending college, as studying a string instrument was required for students majoring in music education. After spending three months at Ithaca College, he focused on playing the bass. He performed in musical groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant, both located on State Street in downtown Ithaca.

Career

Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the Buddy Morrow big band. He left that group to work in Los Angeles. LaFaro spent most of his time practicing his instrument. He practiced using sheet music for the higher notes of the clarinet to improve his ability to play the upper range of the bass. Another bassist, Red Mitchell, taught him to use his index and middle fingers separately to pluck the strings. For much of 1958, LaFaro was part of pianist and vibraphonist Victor Feldman's band. He also recorded music with Hampton Hawes.

In 1959, after working with trumpeter Chet Baker, bandleader Stan Kenton, vibraphonist Cal Tjader, and clarinetist Benny Goodman, LaFaro returned to the East Coast and joined Bill Evans, who had recently left the Miles Davis Sextet. With Evans and drummer Paul Motian, he developed a unique way of playing that worked with other musicians' melodies. Evans, LaFaro, and Motian believed each musician in the trio should have an equal role, creating music together as a single idea without one person keeping time.

By late 1960, LaFaro was in high demand as a bassist. In January 1961, he replaced Charlie Haden as the bassist for Ornette Coleman. For a time, Haden and LaFaro lived in the same 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, who wanted to hire him.

In June 1961, the Bill Evans trio performed for two weeks at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The trio's style attracted attention. The final day of the performances was recorded for two albums: Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.

Death

LaFaro died in a car accident on July 6, 1961, in Seneca, New York, on U.S. Route 20 between Geneva and Canandaigua. This happened four days after he performed with Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival. Paul Motian said that LaFaro’s death made Bill Evans "very sad and unable to feel emotions," "shocked and confused," and "acting like a ghost." Evans played the song "I Loves You, Porgy" repeatedly, as it was closely connected to him and LaFaro. Evans stopped performing for several months.

Evans said that LaFaro was "one of the most, if not the most outstanding talents in jazz." Ray Brown, a famous bassist, said, "This was one of the most talented young musicians I’ve seen in a long time. For his age, he really had it covered. … It’s a shame, really a shame. It’s going to set the instrument back ten years." Motian added, "We were supposed to make a record with Miles Davis: the trio, Bill, myself, and Scott. … We were talking to Miles about it, it was all set up, and then Scott got killed and the whole thing got forgotten."

Instruments

LaFaro began his professional career playing a German-made Mittenwald double bass. However, this instrument was stolen in the spring of 1958.

Soon after, he obtained a double bass crafted in 1825 in Concord, New Hampshire, by Abraham Prescott. The top of the instrument is made from three pieces of fir wood. The back consists of two pieces of maple with some flame patterns and an ebony inlay in the center. The sides are made of matching maple. The bottom has rounded corners, and the top has slanted edges, which made it easier to move the fingers into and out of thumb position. LaFaro played this bass until his death. It was severely damaged in the car accident that killed him, but it was later repaired and is sometimes used in performances to honor LaFaro.

Bill Evans described LaFaro's Prescott bass: "It had a long-lasting and rich sound. He would play in a hotel room and strike a note that involved four strings at once, creating a harmonious sound. Then he would place the bass on its side, and the sound seemed to continue for a very long time."

In 2008, Marc Johnson, Bill Evans’s final bassist, played LaFaro’s bass on an Evans tribute album recorded by Johnson’s wife, Eliane Elias. The album is titled Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans.

Posthumously released items

In 1988, the Insights label of RVC Corporation in Japan released an album called Memories for Scotty. The album included five songs recorded in New York City in 1961 with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca.

In 2009, Resonance Records released five tracks from Memories for Scotty on a new album called Pieces of Jade. This release also included 22 minutes of LaFaro and Bill Evans practicing "My Foolish Heart" during a rehearsal in 1960. In the same year, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez published a biography of her brother Scott titled Jade Visions. The book was released by the University of North Texas Press and included a detailed discography.

Honors

On March 5, 2014, the City Council of Geneva, New York, decided to make April 3 Scott LaFaro Day. On April 4, 2014, a ceremony was held to change the name of a downtown street to Scott LaFaro Drive.

According to Joachim Berendt, LaFaro's new way of playing the bass led to "emancipation," which introduced "so many diverse possibilities as would have been thought impossible for the bass only a short time before."

Bassist Charlie Haden recalled:

Discography

• West Coast Days (Fresh Sound, 1958, 1960 [1992]) – with Joe Gordon
• 1960 (PJL, 1960 [2005]) – with Steve Kuhn, Pete La Roca

• Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (Atlantic, 1961)
• Ornette! (Atlantic, 1962)
• The Art of the Improvisers (Atlantic, 1959–60 [1970])
• Twins (Atlantic, 1959–61 [1971])

• Live Date! (Verve, 1957 [1958])

• Portrait in Jazz (Riverside, 1960)
• Explorations (Riverside, 1961)
• Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961)
• Waltz for Debby (Riverside, 1961 [1962])
• The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 (Riverside, 1961 [2005])
• The 1960 Birdland Sessions (Fresh Sound, 1960 [2005])

• The Arrival of Victor Feldman (Contemporary, 1958)
• Latinsville! (Contemporary, 1960)

• Memories for Scotty (Insights, 1961 [1988]) – Five tracks reissued on Pieces of Jade (Resonance, 2009)

• Gypsy (ATCO, 1959)

With Stan Getz and Cal Tjader
• Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet (Fantasy, 1958)

• For Real! (Contemporary, 1958 [1961])

• Jazz at the Cellar 1958 (Lone Hill Jazz, 1958 [2007])

With John Lewis, Gunther Schuller, and Jim Hall
• Jazz Abstractions (Atlantic, 1960 [1961])

• Booker Little (Time, 1961)

• This Is Pat Moran (Audio Fidelity, 1957 [1958]) – Eight tracks reissued under LaFaro's name as The Legendary Scott LaFaro (Audio Fidelity, 1978)

• The Broadway Bit (Warner Bros., 1959)

• Sung Heroes (Sunnyside, 1959 [1986]) – with Bill Evans, Paul Motian