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In
November 2005, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez, Scotty's sister and contemporary, and I
met in Los Angeles to discuss approaches to writing a book about her brother.
We made an initial outline of topics and sought the advice of publishers and
authors, in particular, Mr. Gene Lees, esteemed author and critic and former
editor of Down Beat magazine.
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Helene has conducted dozens of
telephonic and in-person interviews with musicians with whom Scotty played and
recorded, to include drummers Lawrence Marable, Paul Motian, and Roy Haynes;
pianists Paul Bley, Don Friedman, Steve Kuhn, and Walter Norris; and
saxophonists Ornette Coleman, Herb Geller, Charles Lloyd, Sonny Rollins, Ira
Sullivan, and Phil Urso, to name a few.
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Also, Helene has interviewed three prominent
musical directors who included Scotty in their ensembles: Buddy Morrow
, Buddy De
Franco, and Gunther Schuller. And of course, Helene has had discussions with bassists Chuck Israels
and Charlie Haden, contemporary colleagues of Scotty, and with bassists
Eddie Gomez and Marc Johnson, two of the principle 'bassists of Bill
Evans'.
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My contributions to this endeavor are the bibliography
and discography (most of which is evident on this website) and
what I deem to have been perhaps the catalytic agent in all of this --
conversations with Helene over the past decade about the incredible gift to
jazz that her brother, Scott LaFaro, was during his short life time.
Much remains to be done, but with a little luck (and the continuing
thoughtful suggestions of many of you who have looked into the pages of
this site) the book should be published by Summer 2009.