Sunday, November 4, 2001
Two Costly Losses
Over the last couple of years we have lost two important contributors to Jazz and the music world in general. I am referring to the passing of J. J. Johnson and Lou Levy.
I had the pleasure of knowing both of these talented gentlemen well, both personally and musically. In fact, we traveled together with Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a result, I not only had the enviable opportunity of hearing them play nightly, but also was able to “hang” with them by day as we traveled from city to city on tour.
I shall always remember J. J. and his insatiable curiosity about photography - something I, too, was completely absorbed with at that time. As a matter of fact, it comes to mind that somewhere in my thousands of tour pictures I have one of J. J. and yours truly admiring my newly acquired Hasselblad camera at an airport somewhere in Europe, during a change of aircraft. His interest in photography was intense and totally directed, as was his talent musically. Playing for him as part of a rhythm section brought nothing but pure joy to his accompanists such as Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis and yours truly. I can vividly remember goading him on with "play another one, J. J." (meaning another chorus). He was an absolute joy musically, and a warm acquaintance personally. Needless to say, he is irreplaceable.
Lou Levy and I became quite close friends on the same JATP tours, when he became a part of Ella Fitzgerald's backing group. I loved Lou, and really enjoyed him musically. But I also enjoyed watching the various female members of the audience falling apart over this silver-headed, handsome accompanist. For some reason or the other, Lou himself seemed more or less oblivious to the nightly distaff drooling that took place about him. At any rate, because of this, I decided to rename him, kiddingly, after a well-known movie actor, Jeff Chandler (Chopin relived). My verbal joke resulted in his nickname becoming Jeff Chandelier, which, I think, in many ways tickled him. I shall miss you also, Lou.
Thinking of Lou and J.J., I suspect, leads us to think of others now gone. People like Duke Ellington, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Bill Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams, Charlie Parker, Sam Jones, Bill Evans and more. When we consider these names as a group, I think it makes us understand how fortunate we all have been to have had access to such a wealth of musical genius. And perhaps it also makes us conscious of the magnitude of our loss.
I had the pleasure of knowing both of these talented gentlemen well, both personally and musically. In fact, we traveled together with Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a result, I not only had the enviable opportunity of hearing them play nightly, but also was able to “hang” with them by day as we traveled from city to city on tour.
I shall always remember J. J. and his insatiable curiosity about photography - something I, too, was completely absorbed with at that time. As a matter of fact, it comes to mind that somewhere in my thousands of tour pictures I have one of J. J. and yours truly admiring my newly acquired Hasselblad camera at an airport somewhere in Europe, during a change of aircraft. His interest in photography was intense and totally directed, as was his talent musically. Playing for him as part of a rhythm section brought nothing but pure joy to his accompanists such as Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis and yours truly. I can vividly remember goading him on with "play another one, J. J." (meaning another chorus). He was an absolute joy musically, and a warm acquaintance personally. Needless to say, he is irreplaceable.
Lou Levy and I became quite close friends on the same JATP tours, when he became a part of Ella Fitzgerald's backing group. I loved Lou, and really enjoyed him musically. But I also enjoyed watching the various female members of the audience falling apart over this silver-headed, handsome accompanist. For some reason or the other, Lou himself seemed more or less oblivious to the nightly distaff drooling that took place about him. At any rate, because of this, I decided to rename him, kiddingly, after a well-known movie actor, Jeff Chandler (Chopin relived). My verbal joke resulted in his nickname becoming Jeff Chandelier, which, I think, in many ways tickled him. I shall miss you also, Lou.
Thinking of Lou and J.J., I suspect, leads us to think of others now gone. People like Duke Ellington, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Bill Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams, Charlie Parker, Sam Jones, Bill Evans and more. When we consider these names as a group, I think it makes us understand how fortunate we all have been to have had access to such a wealth of musical genius. And perhaps it also makes us conscious of the magnitude of our loss.
