Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro

Appendix III. Prescott Restoration: The LaFaro Legacy

235 •฀ appendIx III • Prescott restoratIon: the laFaro legacY by Barrie Kolstein On the tragic early morning hours of July 6, 1961, the bass world lost a true jazz innovator and legend. Rocco Scott La Faro was the victim of a senseless automobile accident, depriving the jazz world of unforeseen musical accomplishments,but leaving an unprecedented style of playing, setting the standards that all bassists have strived to attain since Scott’s untimely passing. In the automobile was Scott’s most prized possession: his bass. The instrument,the work of Abraham Prescott in Concord,New Hampshire, circa 1825, was obtained by Scotty through the efforts of the legendary Red Mitchell, a close friend and colleague. Red found both his cutaway Lowendahl bass and the Prescott in Stein on the Vine, in Los Angeles, California. Red immediately contacted Scotty, who came out to see the Prescott and subsequently purchased the bass. The bass was perfect in design for Scott. Not only was this bass a rare example of the work of Abraham Prescott,but it is of a most unique,smaller Busetto-cornered design, unlike most larger examples by Abraham Prescott. This design drew Scotty to this bass immediately. 236  JadeVisions:The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro In mid-1959, the late George Duvivier met Scott LaFaro at a joint musical project involving Gunter Schuller. George immediately recognized and was amazed by Scotty’s talent. George, who was a lifelong friend and client of my father, Sam Kolstein, insisted that Scott meet him. George brought Scott to Sam’s establishment , then located in Merrick, NewYork. Sam and Scott developed an immediate mutual admiration, respect, and friendship. Two decisions were reached between them in their discussions. First,the Prescott bass was to be fully restored,enabling LaFaro to play it at its full potential.The second decision was the meeting of Scott with the revered Frederick Zimmermann,whereby a formalized approach to the bass would be introduced to Scott in order to embellish his phenomenal natural talents. Unfortunately, only one of the two decisions were fully accomplished,that being the restoration of the Prescott bass. The original restoration accomplished by Samuel Kolstein included completely replacing all cross bars on the back table of the bass, repairing all damage to the ribs of the bass, fully restoring the top table including the installation of a new seasoned bass bar,and the full cosmetic restoration of the bass and of the instrument’s varnish. Samuel Kolstein was further challenged with a new concept in setup for this bass,thus allowing Scott to accurately play the Prescott with his gut string setup of Golden Spiral gut bass strings at an unprecedentedly low string height.The success of this restoration can be attested to by the quality of sound produced on Scott’s last and perhaps most acclaimed recording,Live at theVillageVanguard,with Bill Evans on piano and Paul Motian on drums, recorded at the famedVillage Vanguard in NewYork City,June 25,1961.A few days later,the creative genius of Scott La Faro abruptly ended. After the reality of the tragedy of Scott’s death was accepted,Scotty ’s mother, Mrs. Helen LaFaro, had to consider the only remnant of Scott’s shattered career: the Prescott bass. Since it was her desire to Prescott Restoration:The LaFaro Legacy  237 have the instrument resurrected as she felt Scott would have wished, she offered the Prescott to Sam at an equitable price comfortable in the knowledge that he would be the best caretaker of the instrument in the future.The bass had suffered terrible damage to both the body chamber and scroll.The damage was primarily caused by the impact of the collision and the ensuing fire.Both the neck and the scroll were completely charred and shattered,as was the upper left bout of the top table and the upper left rib bout (photosA,B,and C). A B C In addition, the top table of the bass sustained extensive damage in the left F-Hole area. Internally, all cross bars were loosened from the top table, as was the bass bar. Extensive damages were incurred to four of the six rib sections of the bass, with the most 238  JadeVisions:The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro extensive damages sustained by the upper left rib bout, which endured the brunt of the exposure to the intense heat of the fire following the auto...