Q&A With....

“SO HERE'S TO YOU, MR. ROBINSON...”

by Carol Comer

Scott Robinson has packed a decade of dues into the three year interim since last you read about him here. Scoot (forgive me – I've called him that since he was 10) and his wonderful parents dined with us recently during an all-too-brief stopover between gigs, at which time he caught me up. (Is that allowed at my age?)

Less than a month post-JAM cover story he trekked to famed Avatar studios in NYC to record, after which the internationally acclaimed best-seller Pat Martino – Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery was released and sailed out of the shelves and off the charts - the #1 jazz album (receiving the most airplay on radio) for a full year. (Why didn't I take him up on his offer, age 11, inscribed on a picture of the baby-faced prodigy – “To Carol, With love from your future husband, Scott”?)

He's been a VERY busy man since then. This was Scruffy Scoot sitting across from me; no need to shave when one's taking a break from the spotlight. He is still with Pat, enjoying every moment, although traveling the width and breadth of the globe does take its toll. Festivals they've played rattle off his tongue like a tasty perididdle – North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Europe, Japan – his beloved leader keeps him busy. At home in Philadelphia , with wife Kim (2nd principal violinist, Philadelphia Symphony) and 14-year-old son, Corey, a talented juniors tennis player (advanced beyond his bracket in doubles) he's still at a trot. He teaches at the internationally acclaimed Curtis Institute; plays studio jobs – everything from jingles to Christian Pop Rock; makes it to NYC occasionally although there are so many musicians there that by the time he returns the leaders call, the gig is usually booked. No matter. He'd rather spend what time he can with Kim and Corey. I can assure you, he's an exceptional dad. I missed out on the husband deal (see paragraph 2) – but his wife is terrific and they appear to be as well matched as proverbial peas.

In addition to his superlative parents and their professional as well as personal guidance, Scoot has always credited his musical family in Kansas City with having nurtured his talent, befriending and supporting him literally since childhood. (We did good!!)

Larry Williams: From Kansas City to Los Angeles , and Around the World

by Roger Atkinson

It was a good year ago when Tommy Ruskin suggested that I talk to a guy in Los Angeles . “Larry Williams, his dad is Tommy Williams, he played a lot of tenor saxophone in Kansas City . Larry has been in Los Angeles for years, plays with some pretty heavy guys.”

Indeed, this versatile reed and keyboard player has and has continued to play with some “heavy guys”. And it all started in Kansas City .

“I was born in 1950, and was playing professionally by the time I was ten years old”, Larry shared from his LA studio in a recent phone conversation. “I took lessons from some great teachers. Dad sent me to Bob Luyben for clarinet, and I studied flute with Jim Hamilton, the first chair flautist in the Kansas City Symphony. I was also fortunate to study piano and theory with John Elliott.”

John Elliott, of course, was the Madame Chaloff of Kansas City for a generation of great Kansas City musicians. You almost cannot have a conversation with musicians from this era without quickly moving to John Elliott.

“John Elliott codified a system, and was a great teacher who could impart that system to his students. It was half piano and half theory. I really do not know if I would have been a serious piano player without him. I took to it very quickly.

“He had marvelous systems for playing in the real world, this enabled me to be able to put a lot of things together at an early age. He taught me how to listen to music, that it is all built off the bass, the bass is the base! It dictates everything. This was revolutionary.

“On top of everything else that made him an amazing teacher, he was also gentle and inspiring.

“Actually, by junior high school I had a pretty good idea that this was what I wanted to do. My dad was really against it. He told me that as a professional musician, you wind up playing music that you don't like, that it would take the love of music away. He wanted me to become a surgeon. But I was determined, and told him that I'd sell shoes before I would play lousy music!”

Larry went to New Mexico State for a year, and met Jim Grieshiemer, his roomie at the Allegheny music camp, and he was going to Indiana University and the program led by David Baker. Larry transferred to Indiana , which at that time – the late 1960's – was one of the few university jazz programs. “This was a very competitive program, with folks from around the world. I was one of many talented. But the Kansas City background put me way up the ladder.”

It did not take Larry long after college to land in Los Angeles . “I was obsessed. I practiced eight to ten hours a day through my mid twenties. I remember literally living under a drumset in Hawaii for two years… and loved it! The payoff is being able to play great music with great people.”

He had early success during the disco craze, but found the music to be unfulfilling. “I started to say ‘no', and took on more control over gigs and creativity.”

But it was during this time that the fusion band Seawind was going. “We were like pop meets Miles Davis”, says Larry. Larry was one of the Seawind Horns, along with Jerry Hey and Kim Hutchcroft. When the band moved to LA from Hawaii , they were one of the hottest bands around, recording for CTI , touring with George Benson, and the Seawind Horns were hired for every R&B and fusion gig around. Quincy Jones heard the band, and that led to a long relationship with Jones. Larrry and the Seawond Horns are on Quincy 's Back On the Block, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and George Benson's Give Me the Night (both Quincy Jones productions) . He has noted solos on Shiela E and Prince recordings. Seawind broke up in 1982, but have had recent reunions and have a neared the completion of a reunion CD.

Larry also has a long relationship with Al Jarreau. Particularly satisfying was the 2004 recording Accentuate the Positive, in which Larry plays piano in the backing quartet and did all of the arrangements on a program of standards, more jazzy than anything Jarreau has done since his early success in the late 1970's. Of course there is much travelling with Jarreau, including a recent European tour where he and Al joined the NDR Big Band to perform Poryg and Bess. There were eighteen concerts over six weeks in places like Norway , Sweden , London , Paris , and Germany . Says Larry: “Working with Al is great, just comping for the best is a thrill”. There was also a tour last year with Jarreau and Benson, with a record just out on Concord/Monster that Larry helped put together.

Larry also has his own recordings, including the highly regarded The Beautiful Struggle on the Sony label but only available in Japan (although the Seawind Web site www.seawindjazz.com suggests you email them for information, and I do see it on Amazon). Larry plays horns and keys on this, and it includes some great jazz standards like “Soul Eyes”, “Straight No Chaser”, “Inner Urge” and “Round Midnight” in addition to some Williams originals.

Larry is also producing more, and says “I love the studio. I know how to make things sound great in a studio.”

Larry has not played in Kansas City since a show with Jarreau at the Uptown four years ago. He does stop into town to visit his dad. Ruskin is trying to arrange for a show, and hopefully will have some success.

Larry summed up his career to date pretty simply: “It's been a charmed life, playing with great musicians and playing around the world”.

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