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Home , Akira Tana, Dave Taylor (trombonist), Dexter Gordon, Eddie Gladden, Rufus Reid, Tim Hagans

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t was a singular event, even for the suite’s composer, took his place in : 20 of the coun- the back row on upright bass, a benev- Itry’s #nest musicians trying olent éminence grise watching over the to squeeze onto the stage of $e ensemble he had handpicked to per- Jazz Standard, an area about the size of form this demanding work. a Manhattan apartment’s galley kitch- Drummer and composer Dennis en. A packed house had turned out on Mackrel (Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, a stormy Wednesday night to hear this Count Basie Orchestra) conducted , enhanced with two French from the edge of the crowd. Mackrel horns and a vocalist, perform an ambi- may have been steering the ship, but tious #ve-movement jazz suite enti- “Rufus was like the ship’s captain that tled Quiet Pride: e Elizabeth Catlett night,” said , president of Project , inspired by the work of the cel- Motéma Music, who was watching ebrated African-American sculptor. from a central table. $e musicians #led in, spilling o" Speaking by phone a few days later, the stage, their front row taking up Herzen said that the main reason she some of the club’s precious *oor space. signed Reid in 2007 was for his com- Veterans like Steve Allee, , posing. “I was blown away by his large , Steve Wilson and Scott ensemble work. He is so in love with Robinson shared the stage with rising composing—he’s like a kid in a candy stars like Freddie Hendrix, Michael store.” Quiet Pride is his fourth album Dease and Erica von Kleist. Rufus Reid, for the label.

34 DOWNBEAT JUNE 2014 BY ALLEN MORRISON | PHOTO BY JIMMY KATZ

JUNE 2014 DOWNBEAT 35 Still EVOLVING

One of the most proli#c jazz bassists of the last the civil rights struggle that de#ned her time. he’s got a wing at the Metropolitan Museum of 50 years, Reid has toured and recorded with a $e works that inspired Reid’s suite are titled Art. I hadn’t made the connection. My wife and long list of heavy hitters, including , Recognition , Mother and Child , Singing Head , I had been there many times. $en one time we Nancy Wilson, , J.J. Johnson, Stargazer and Glory . Introducing the Glory sec- walked under the [Sackler Wing] sign, and all of , Jack DeJohnette, , tion at $e Jazz Standard, Reid said he had a sudden, she says, “Oh, my God.” $is was a3er I , , $e $ad Jones–Mel admired this sculpture of a woman’s head, that had applied for [the prize]. Lewis Jazz Orchestra, , Benny it looked noble and proud. “But I wondered, why Golson, —the list goes on. He is also was it called Glory ? Well, when I eventually met [Reid composed Quiet Pride in 2006; it debuted an in*uential jazz educator. In 1974 he wrote a Elizabeth I asked her. She said, ‘It’s not a what —it’s at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, with the best-selling bass book (and instructional video), a who .’” Glory was the name of a woman Catlett university’s jazz ensemble, in 2007. He later met e Evolving Bassist , that is still in wide use. had met at a gallery exhibition; the artist admired Elizabeth Catlett through her son, percussion- Reid served as co-creator and director of the her beauty so much that she asked her to pose for ist-composer Francisco Mora Catlett.] Jazz Studies & Performance Program at William a bust of her head. “And, ladies and gentlemen,” Paterson University for 20 years. He organized Reid said, “Glory is here tonight.” How did you become friends with his current Out Front Trio with pianist Allee and Glory Van Scott—a former principal dancer Ms. Catlett? drummer in 2008, releasing with Agnes de Mille and the American Ballet albums in 2010 and 2011. $eatre—acknowledged the applause from a table Elizabeth lived in Mexico, but visited New Although he has issued more than a dozen where she sat with her companion, 88-year-old York. Some time a3er the premiere, she and recordings over the years as a leader or co-lead- impresario and NEA Jazz Master George Wein. Francisco came to hear me play at Sweet Rhythm er, including several in the duo Tana-Reid with “It’s such a wonderful feeling to be honored in this with Kenny Barron and . She was drummer , Reid’s emergence as a big way—twice,” she told DownBeat a3er the perfor- elderly and using a walker, but they came to the band composer is a relatively recent develop- mance. “Elizabeth was capturing the inside of me. late show. A few days later, I called her and said, ment. A3er his retirement from WPU in 1999, I felt the same way when I heard Rufus’ music; I “I’d like to invite you to the house, and I’ll cook Reid joined the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop felt spiritually renewed.” for you.” And her response was, “Can you cook?” in New York and began winning prizes and Wein shares her enthusiasm. “I had the privi- I said, “Yes!” grants, including the #rst Jazz lege of working with Rufus in the Newport All- So she came. It was thrilling to have her there, Composition Prize in 2000 for his piece Skies Over Stars in 2006,” he said. “He’s one of the greatest and she signed my book. She liked us, so she Emilia , a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Mellon bass players I ever heard, but I didn’t know he said, “I want you guys to come to my home in Jazz Living Legacy Award. could write music like that!” Cuernavaca.” We said we’d love to—but we didn’t His works for large ensembles have been A couple of days a3er the show, over a leisure- really think she meant it. We didn’t respond for praised by everyone from critic Dan Morgenstern ly lunch in Greenwich Village, Reid said, “$e live a couple of weeks. $en she called us and said, to such jazz masters as Golson, and show was a rea?rmation that the piece works.” “Well, are you coming or not?” She invited us for . “Hampton was one of the judges $anksgiving. She was maybe 92 at that time, so for the Charlie Parker Prize,” Reid recalls. “A3er How did Elizabeth Catlett’s work it was not a time to dally. So we spent a week with become a springboard for you to com- listening to my work, he said, ‘You’re serious, her, and it was unbelievable. pose? aren’t you?’ $at meant a lot to me.” Allee #rst saw Reid accompany saxophonist You’ve played in small groups and In 2006, I got an email from the University of Dexter Gordon (with pianist and big bands. As a composer, what made Connecticut about the Sackler Composition you want to write for such a large drummer ) in the late ’70s when Prize [$e Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize ensemble? they were passing through Indianapolis. Allee in Composition]. It was the #rst time they had said, “Rufus has accompanied all the greats. included jazz compositions, and it paid $20,000. I had been writing for big bands with the BMI He always makes other artists’ boats *oat high- I said, “What the hell, I have nothing to lose.” But Jazz Composers’ Workshop. And I’d been listen- er. Playing with Rufus is like having a red carpet you had to propose something. My friend Jane ing for years to [trumpeter] Kenny Wheeler’s big unfurled at your feet: [His sound] is rich, buoyant Ira Bloom had recorded an album with songs band composing. $e #rst time I heard him live and, above all, elegant. His harmonic knowledge inspired by Jackson Pollack or Miró, and it was with a big band at Birdland in New York, Luciana is so advanced that he can get inside the chords great. And then Jim McNeely [director of the BMI Souza sang wordless vocals with him. When I saw that I’m playing, and every note he plays has a Jazz Composers Workshop] got an opportuni- that, I said, “Wow, what an incredible sound.” It musical relevance that supports what I’m playing.” ty to write something for the Paul Klee Center in was always in my head—I liked the sonorities of it. Quiet Pride has echoes of 20th century in*u- Bern, Switzerland. He wrote 10 pieces. I saw some To use the voice is one thing, but to be able to put ences as diverse as , $ad Jones, of these paintings and heard the music, and I said, the voice together with bass clarinet, tenor, gui- Leonard Bernstein and the big band composi- “Whoa!” tar or piano, then it becomes like a third instru- tions of Kenny Wheeler. As twisty as its melo- ment. I loved Charenee Wade’s performance [on dies and challenging as its postbop harmonies And that’s what made you choose Quiet Pride ]. $is is a skill that not too many sing- may get, it is founded in a series of steady, swing- visual art as your inspiration? ers have. ing grooves that provide a superior platform for $is is the #rst commercial recording of my boundary-pushing solos by the ensemble, which, Well, Jim and Jane were role models—they big band stu". $at’s why I’m thrilled about the in addition to the aforementioned artists, includes did it and were successful. And I thought, “Damn, recording. A lot of people know me as a bass play- Herlin Riley on drums; trumpeters I have this book [of Catlett’s art] in my house—let er, but they don’t know that I’m writing this. and Tanya Darby; reed players Tom Christensen me look at it.” When I did, some of those imag- and Carl Maraghi; trombonists , Ryan es jumped out at me, and I said, “$at’s it!” I pro- Early in your musical life, you were Keberle and Jason Jackson; French horn play- posed a suite that would be an hour’s worth of a trumpeter in the Air Force Band but ers and Vincent Chancey; and sing- music. I had to #ll out an application and get let- taught yourself bass in your spare er Charenee Wade, who provides wordless vocals. ters of reference. I didn’t really think I was going to time. What made you want to switch $e enhanced CD of Quiet Pride includes a get it. A couple of months later I got a phone call— to bass? “making of” video as well as photos of the sculp- “You’ve been chosen”—and I almost dropped the tures by Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) that phone. $en the guy says, “You know, it’s very $e bass o"ered a unique combination of inspired the nearly hourlong suite. Catlett’s sculp- interesting. Mr. Sackler loves art, but he wasn’t things—I had to carry the rhythm, and then I had tures of the human form in clay, wood and stone aware of Elizabeth Catlett.” It intrigued them that to deal with the harmony at the same time. If you illuminated the lives of African-Americans and they didn’t know about her. [Later on I realized] slip in one, it a"ects the other. And I liked the way

36 DOWNBEAT JUNE 2014 it felt. I liked playing a note and feeling the reso- I’ve learned a great deal from him. But to play Composing has taken me to a whole other place. nance against my body when I held it. $e trum- with him—he seems to caress everything I play. It’s changed my bass playing, too. I don’t think pet was cold and hard. And he’s always consistent. But we literally have a so much about what notes I’m going to play. I’m I went to Japan in 1964 with the Air Force for thing together. It’s special for me. I had that kind thinking more about “shapes” than data. two years. $at’s when I began to really dig deep of chemistry with George Cables, too, when we You have to think about shapes and transi- with the bass. I was still playing trumpet in played with Dexter Gordon; and with Akira Tana, tions to be a good composer. $e scenery chang- the Air Force Band, but the band wasn’t play- and with Kenny Barron and Victor Lewis. But of es, and you didn’t even know it until it happened. ing that much. I had a car and drove into Tokyo all the great piano players I’ve played with over Someone like Bartók, or Stravinsky or Ravel— almost every night, either hearing jazz or play- the years, there have only been a few like Steve, it’s done so slick, and suddenly you’re in anoth- ing it—playing bass; I never played jazz on trum- where we got to the point where we didn’t have to er room; you were transported somewhere else. pet. Tokyo was full of jazz. I saw the Modern think—it’s just natural. What an incredible gi3. To make you forget that Jazz Quartet and . I saw Duke you’re listening; to take you away from your regu- Ellington’s band live and even got to hang out a Are you surprised to be still grow- lar daily stu" and get you out of your head. $at’s bit with Cootie Williams and Cat Anderson. I saw ing as a musician after such a long what profound musicians do. DB Oscar Peterson’s trio with Ray Brown. When I saw career? Ray play, well, that was it. I knew what I wanted to do—end of discussion.

You have been a mentor to a lot of players. Who were your mentors?

When I got out of the service and moved back to [my hometown of] Sacramento, in the sum- mer of ’67, I got a chance to play with Buddy Montgomery for two weeks. I sold my trumpet and bought a bass. He was very supportive. He said, “Keep it up, you got something, man.”

[A>er two years in , during which he studied with the principal bass of the Seattle Symphony and went to jam sessions, Reid applied to in the suburb of Evanston, Ill., where he would ultimately gradu- ate with a degree in music performance.]

$e bass was in my hand at least 17 hours a day—whether I was in school, playing in the Civic Orchestra, playing in clubs until 2 a.m., then back in class. Chicago was vibrant. I became the house bass player at Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase. $at’s where I met Kenny Burrell, played with Kenny Dorham, James Moody, . And of course, that’s when I #rst met and played with Eddie Harris. Eddie was my mentor, probably more so than any one person. When we traveled, he said, “You know, we’re a family now, we’re away from home, so we have to look out for each other. Memorize everybody’s suitcases, so nobody steals them.” $is was about 1972. He was about 15 years older than me, but he was like a father #gure. He used to say, “All I need you to do is two things: be on time and be able to play.” Eddie would pay me every Friday like clockwork. He was a great busi- nessman; he had one company for his perform- ing and another for his publishing. We’d make up songs , then record them. And he’d put all our names on the copyright, and to this day I get a little check, 40 years later. He taught me how to handle business and how to be a bandleader.

Your current Out Front Trio with Steve Allee and Duduka Da Fonseca has great chemistry.

Yeah, both those guys are amazing. We do have chemistry. Steve Allee is so underrated; he’s not as well known as he should be. We’ve become close and dear friends. He’s a really good com- poser, too. We show each other our scores, and

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