A look at some noted Philadelphia jazz/rock and jazz bassists, after the jump ….
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In 2005, I travelled to London to attend the first reunion concert of my favorite band (Cream) at the Royal Albert Hall. The night before, the band’s principal lyricist Pete Brown performed at a very popular blues/jazz/rock venue on the outskirts of town (the Bulls Head Pub). After the show ended, I and some friends from Australia headed toward the stage to talk with the band members. The African-American bassist David Hadley-Ray overheard my American accent and — after asking where I was from — replied, “I’m from Philly”. Opportunistically, I was able to throw my hands up and say, “Well, of course: the home of great bassists!” ... which led to a nice conversation, helped by the fact that yours truly played the bass in his mis-spent youth (helping to earn my way through college).
Yet I was not being facetious: as the City of Brotherly Love has yielded many of the finest bassists in jazz and jazz-rock over the past few decades, relative to its population. And this was something that I was reminded of at the recently concluded Netroots Nation gathering, though I had little time for shows. There are six that I’d like to profile, plus a few I’ll note in passing later on.
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Percy Heath was born in Wilmington, North Carolina before his family moved to Philadelphia just a few years later. His brothers also achieved fame in the jazz world (saxophonist brother Jimmy and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath, who are both still alive at age 92 and 84) and Percy was drafted in 1944 into the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen (although the war ended before he saw combat).
He is best known as one of the founders of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) who existed from 1952 to 1974 and helped gain jazz an entree into concert halls (wearing tuxedos was part of the calculation). In his later years he played with his siblings in the Heath Brothers band, in MJQ reunions and enjoyed striped bass fishing on eastern Long Island before his death in 2005, just two days short of his eighty-second birthday.
Percy Heath (1923-2005)Jimmy Garrison was born in Georgia and whose early years were in Miami, yet also came-of-age in Philadelphia where he performed with many of the greats in jazz (such as Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins) … and then became known to the general public as John Coltrane’s bassist (as Coltrane had made his early recordings in Philadelphia). His strong playing was needed to back-up the “sheets of sound” that Coltrane played and many young rock musicians (such as Roger McGuinn and Ray Manzarek) cited Jimmy Garrison’s playing as very influential among that generation of rockers. He taught at universities in his later years yet — as many photographs showed him holding a cigarette — he died of lung cancer in April, 1976 at only age forty-two.
Jimmy Garrison (1934-1976)Someone who is very much with us is Christian McBride— of whom I have already written a mini-profile just four months ago. At only age forty-seven, he is one of the hardest-working musicians around: with six Grammy Awards, is the creative director for jazz at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and in 2016: he succeeded George Wein as artistic director of the world-renowned Newport Jazz Festival, which Wein founded in 1954. He has recorded with many in the R&B world (Isaac Hayes, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole and even his idol James Brown) plus rock (Bruce Hornsby, Carly Simon, Sting and Don Henley).
He also serves as the host of National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America…. and so if All Things Considered ever has a story about the jazz world …. chances are, you’ll hear his voice.
Christian McBride (b. 1972)Although (perhaps) the least-known of these profiles, I have heard Alphonso Johnson in concert more than any of them — as he played in various jazz-rock (and also rock and R&B bands) over the years. A Philadelphia native, he played in the pioneering jazz-rock band Weather Report from 1973-1975, and has performed with Phil Collins, some of Bob Weir’s side projects (including The Other Ones), Steve Hackett and also saxophonist Sonny Rollins. At age sixty-eight, he is an adjunct instructor at the University of Southern California and the California Institute of the Arts in addition to his stage work.
Alphonso Johnson (b. 1951)Someone who I was able to interview in 1975 at Hofstra University is the prolific musician Stanley Clarke— who is comfortable in nearly any sort of musical forum. My best friend worked for our community college newspaper and we obtained an interview with Chick Corea’s Return to Forever (RTF) mates (along with drummer Lenny White and guitarist Al DiMeola). Alas, as the show was at the tail end of May: by the time John and I had edited and submitted the concert review/interview, the paper did not publish the last week of classes … and would not print it in the autumn as being “out of date” — a Marx Brothers-like routine. Still, Stanley treated us community college students as if we were veteran journalists.
Besides his work in RTF, Stanley has played with many old school jazz musicians (Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Stan Getz), the funk/R&B set (George Duke, Donnie Hathaway) and rock musicians (Jeff Beck, Stewart Copeland of The Police). Yet it was while playing with Stan Getz that he met Chick Corea, which changed his career goal: to be one of the first black musicians in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
A three-time Grammy winner at age sixty-eight, he has been nominated for three Emmys and scored various films (Boyz ‘N the Hood, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, and back in 1977 when Dick Clark had a 25th anniversary show featuring an all-star rock band to play Rock Around the Clock: he chose as its bassist not somebody from rock and roll but instead a jazz-rocker hailing from the city where Dick Clark became famous: Stanley Clarke.
Stanley Clarke (born 1951)Someone who was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown, yet who came of age in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was Jaco Pastorius— whose brilliant (yet tragic) career was ended by his bi-polar condition. I wrote a detailed profile of him (at this link) noting that his 1976 debut solo album turned the world of electric bass upside-down. Although he never performed in his band: Miles Davis performed a tribute song to him (written by his own bassist Marcus Miller) called Mr. Pastorius. He replaced Alphonso Johnson after he left Weather Report in 1975 and after leaving Weather Report himself: Pastorius led his own band and also performed with Joni Mitchell, Ian Hunter and others before he was killed in December, 1987 at the age of only thirty-five. His playing is best exemplified on the Weather Report ballad A Remark You Made and if you’re interested you can read more about his fascinating life at this link.
Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987)Two others of note include Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who worked with Ornette Coleman, Anton Fier and Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (and while coming-of-age in Philadelphia, he was born in the Long Island town next to where I grew-up) ….. and also veteran jazz bassist Reggie Workman, who spent some time with Art Blakey and John Coltrane before becoming a session musician extraordinaire and also a professor at the New School in Manhattan.
Let’s close with a very short 2014 instrumental from Stanley Clarke — whose credits list Joe Walsh of the Eagles on guitar (yet I can’t really tell his playing). It also has old friend Stewart Copeland on drums … whose playing is easy to tell.
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Nothing from the field this evening.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by acadia about the shaky re-election possibilities for Susan Collins— I thought the observation by samanthab about one reason for her strong out-of-state money draw was apropos.
In today’s Abbreviated Pundit Round-up (where the Trumpster’s “Love it or leave it” bellowing is discussed), skohayes notes a 1966 billboard where last night’s rally took place … that hits close to where home used to be.
In the diary by annieli about the Michael Cohen document dump today — Cali Scribe has a suspicion that a certain TV host will be citing them this evening.
And in the front-page story about said document dump, Ebionim reminds us of a pipe-smoking attorney general from yesteryear, and the fate that befell him.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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