The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is heading off to the West Coast to hang out with the jazz heads at The Baked Potato at 3787 Cahuenga Boulevard, Studio City, California 91604. For more information 818-980-1615 or to get a preview of the menu visit thebakedpotato.com. Of course, they offers an array of baked potatoes as indicated in its name.
This storied, pint-sized jazz club is a prominent fixture on the boulevard and has been around since 1970 when it was opened by Don Randi. The house band is Don Randi and Quest, and over the years it has hosted many live recordings from jazz fusion artists. So it’s off into the wild blue yonder headed to the rustic digs of a West Coast jazz club to see who I’ll hear.
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Ralph Pena was born February 24, 1927 in Jarbidge, Nevada and started out playing baritone saxophone and tuba before switching to the bass. At age 15 he began playing professionally with Jerry Austin from 1942 to 1944. He went to college in San Francisco and became a fixture in the West Coast jazz scene.
Among his many associations were Nick Esposito, Art Pepper, Vido Musso, Cal Tjader, Billy May, Barney Kessel, Stan Getz, Charlie Barnet, Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, Buddy DeFranco, Bob Brookmeyer. In the 1960s, Pena worked with Ben Webster, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, Joe Pass, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and many others. He recorded and released a couple of albums with Pete Jolly between 1958 and 1962.
Bassist Ralph Pena, who lead one record session, he did lead his own groups on an occasional basis before his early death at age 42 on May 20, 1969 in Mexico City, Mexico.
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John E. Carisi was born on February 23, 1922 in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. A self-taught musician early in his career began when he became a member of Babe Russin’s band, then from 1938 to 1943 he was a member of Herbie Fields’s Orchestra before becoming a part of Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band. After the war he left Miller he studied with acclaimed composer Stefan Wolpe and worked with Ray McKinley, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Barnet and Benny Goodman, among others.
His minor-blues composition Israel was quickly recognized as a unique jazz classic after it was recorded by Miles Davis at the sessions which later became known as the Birth of the Cool. Other notable versions have been recorded by Bill Evans, and the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band. Another well known Carisi piece, Springsville, was also recorded by Miles Davis and arranged by Gil Evans on the classic album, Miles Ahead.
In 1957 he arranged the music for Urbie Green’s album, All About Urbie Green and in 1959 with the music for a set by Harry Galbraith’s Guitar Choir. 1960 saw the trumpeter on a State Department tour of South East Asia and the Middle East. Visiting the Taj Mahal became the inspiration for an album he shared with Cecil Taylor that was released as Into the Hot under Gil Evans‘ name for Impulse! in 1961, and then Carisi arranged Marvin Stamm’s 1968 album Machinations.
Johnny continued to perform and arrange in both the jazz and classical fields with occasional forays into ballet and pop music. He composed and scored music for Jerry Lewis’s television show on the other. In 1969 he joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, but continued to play jazz off and on until 1984. Trumpeter and composer Johnny Carisi passed away October 3, 1992 in New York City, New York.
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Joe LaBarbera was born into a musical family on February 22, 1948 in Mt. Morris, New York, younger brother to saxophonist Pat LaBarbera and trumpeter and arranger/composer John LaBarbera. Formally educated at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts after graduation he spent two years with the Army band at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
He began his professional career playing with Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd, followed by the Chuck Mangione Quartet. Moving to New York Joe spent two years freelancing with a number of notable musicians, including Jim Hall, Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Gary Burton, Art Pepper, John Scofield, Bob Brookmeyer and Toots Thielemans.
By 1978, Labarbera had joined the Bill Evans Trio with bassist Marc Johnson. After the death of Evans in 1980, he joined singer Tony Bennett, then went on to work with pianist Bill Cunliffe and has recorded with his brother Pat. Relocating to Los Angeles, California, he has been teaching at the California Institute of the Arts since 1993. He is on the faculty of the Bud Shank Jazz Workshop in Port Townsend, Washington and has also served on the National Endowment for the Arts council in Washington, DC.
Drummer and composer Joe LaBarbera, who is a guest lecturer at colleges and universities, continues to record and perform.
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Joseph Allen Farnsworth was born February 21, 1968 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, one of five sons born to trumpeter and bandleader Roger Farnsworth. He attended high school at the Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia, then studied at William Paterson College under Harold Mabern and Arthur Taylor.
After graduation Joe played with Junior Cook and Jon Hendricks in 1991, Jon Faddis in 1992, and between 1993 and 1995 with George Coleman, Cecil Payne, Annie Ross, and Benny Green. He has played in the group One for All with David Hazeltine and Jim Rotondi, and worked with Benny Golson, Steve Davis, and Eric Alexander.
In the second half of the Nineties he also played with Alex Graham, Michael Weiss, the Three Baritone Saxophone Band, and Diana Krall. He has released three albums as a leader, has also recorded with Steve Davis and the late Cedar Walton. Drummer Joe Farnsworth is now a member of Pharoah Sanders’ band.
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