Alvin Batiste-RIP

[Belle]

Bet there will be something good going on in his honor today! Jazz tent 3:30

http://blog.nola.com/entertainment/2007/05/new_orleans_morns_the_loss_of.html

[OZmacka]

I am new and not sure how this works, but have a question for anyone really.....

Desperately seeking the name of a female artist...

hi I'm from Australia and had the pleasure of being in the New Orleans Jazz fest part of the world in 2003. I have been wanting to know since then who this women was who played under the rotunda by the mississipi river in between the days of the festival...this is what i remember......

blonde hair
very classic looking
amazing voice (critics wrote that her voice was very mature for such a young women)
She wore a pocker-dot dress
Such a talent and commanded the attention of all who were there

I would love to find some of her music and take me back to such an amazing time in my life.

Please help!!!!!!!

cheers

OZmacka

[Belle]

Welcome to the bored.

It is a little slow here as the Fest is going on but someone will help if they can. Stick around this is a great group of folks.

[ibjamn]

This is so sad, he should have been alive this afternoon to get his props. Hopefully his soul will be close to the jazz tent this afternoon!

[Zydekitten]

He's a true jazztronaut now . . . RIP, Alvin - we'll miss you.

[Michelino]

I'm sad to hear of his passing. We enjoyed his set last year in the Jazz Tent. If anyone catches a second line or special set in his memory, I'll love to hear details.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i193/Michelino/NOJHF/Alvin400.jpg

Certainly, no one who wandered in to see Alvin and the Jazztronauts doubted that they were at a "Jazz" fest.

[Staxsun]

I am new and not sure how this works, but have a question for anyone really.....

Desperately seeking the name of a female artist...

hi I'm from Australia and had the pleasure of being in the New Orleans Jazz fest part of the world in 2003. I have been wanting to know since then who this women was who played under the rotunda by the mississipi river in between the days of the festival...this is what i remember......

blonde hair
very classic looking
amazing voice (critics wrote that her voice was very mature for such a young women)
She wore a pocker-dot dress
Such a talent and commanded the attention of all who were there

I would love to find some of her music and take me back to such an amazing time in my life.

Please help!!!!!!!

cheers

OZmacka

As was said, some who might remember are at the fest currently. I'll try to help, but I need some more info. Did she play an instrument? What style of music would you call it? What type of backing group was there? Did she seem to be from New Orleans? What age? Was this maybe at MoFest up on the Rivwrwalk like on a Monday?

[Orleansnj]

New Orleans mourns the loss of veteran clarinetist Alvin Batiste
Posted by By Keith Spera May 06, 2007 4:42PM

The final day of the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival celebrated the life and music of Alvin Batiste more poignantly than anyone imagined.

The modern jazz clarinetist, composer and educator was scheduled to share a two-hour set Sunday with veteran drummer Bob French at the AT&T/WWOZ Jazz Tent. Special guests Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. would sit in as a tribute to Batiste and French, two musicians whose influence far outstripped their fame.

But 13 hours before the performance, Batiste's wife and constant companion, Edith, checked on her husband as he sat in front of a television in their Uptown home. He did not respond. He had died of an apparent heart attack at age 74.

So Sunday's show functioned as a jazz funeral, but an especially joyous one.

"It's so profound that the Creator chose this day to take him," said drummer Herlin Riley, a former Batiste student. "Because now we could all get together in a celebratory fashion and pay homage to him."

Batiste was born in New Orleans in 1932. He was introduced to the clarinet by his father, who played traditional jazz. Batiste's modern approach to the instrument was derived in part from Charlie Parker albums.

He went on to largely define the improvisational role of the clarinet, an instrument generally associated with traditional jazz, in modern bebop. Along with Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste, drummer Ed Blackwell and others, he helped establish the modern jazz community in New Orleans.

He composed orchestral works and three operas, as well as the textbook "The Root Progression System." He toured with or wrote songs for Ray Charles, Billy Cobham and Cannonball Adderley, among many others.

In college, he became the first African-American soloist with the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. He earned a master's degree from Louisiana State University in performance and composition.

Enduring legacy

Student teaching as part of that program introduced him to a new calling in the classroom. His most enduring legacy may be the scores of students he instructed. He co-founded the jazz studies program at Southern University of Baton Rouge, among the first of its kind in the nation, and was instrumental in the formation of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where he continued to teach.

Indicative of his legacy, all three NOCCA seniors who performed as Batiste's band on Sunday have received scholarships to music conservatories.

"He was the ultimate educator, performer, mentor," said Astral Project saxophonist and Loyola professor Tony Dagradi. "He was all that rolled into one. There's nobody else in the world who did it as well as Alvin."

At Southern, Batiste's students included future "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, pianist Henry Butler and saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. Batiste famously dismissed Branford Marsalis from the Southern jazz band, believing he had not yet committed himself to the music. Marsalis later credited that dismissal with helping him focus on his career.

Batiste taught Riley, who went on to play with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, at Carver High School.

"He was a perpetual student and a perpetual educator," Riley said. "He would practice every morning when he woke up. He was still searching, still looking for something new in the music. And when he found it, he passed it on."

Connected to the music

Both French and Batiste recently issued CDs through Branford Marsalis' record label. Batiste took great pride in his new CD, "Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste." Consisting mostly of his original compositions, it features Marsalis and Riley. Riley recalled that, after the band recorded the song "Clean Air," Batiste shed tears of joy.

"The music touched him that way," Riley said. "He had that kind of connection to the music."

Word of Batiste's passing spread quickly among musicians. WWOZ-FM dedicated much of its Sunday broadcast to his music. Artists ranging from Allen Toussaint to modern jazz trumpeter Maurice Brown acknowledged Batiste's legacy on stage at Jazzfest.

The day's ultimate tribute turned out to be the show he would have starred in.

When he first received the news early Sunday, Jazz Tent coordinator Greg Davis briefly considered canceling the show. Then Davis, the co-founding trumpeter of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, just as quickly realized that the show must go on, if with a slightly different tone.

"Some folks were making contingency plans about whether we should go on," Davis said. "But this was going to turn into a real tribute to someone people genuinely loved. These musicians really loved Bat."

'We decided to keep on'

Batiste's band of NOCCA students -- bassist Max Moran, 18, pianist Conun Pappas and drummer Joe Dyson, both 17, and NOCCA graduate and alto saxophonist Khris Royal, 20 -- received word of his passing early Sunday.

They assembled in a trailer behind the Jazz Tent and rearranged their set to proceed without their instructor.

"Mr. Batiste would have wanted us to play, so we decided to keep on moving," Pappas said.

They had performed with Batiste on Saturday at a festival in Baton Rouge. Batiste rarely shared a stage with his son Maynard, a piano player and attorney. But on Saturday, Maynard joined him on stage in Baton Rouge for what proved to be his final concert.

On Sunday afternoon in the Jazz Tent, Maynard delivered a brief eulogy for his father. Then his students went to work, opening with the Batiste composition "Picou." Branford Marsalis soon joined in.

Batiste's niece and nephew, vocalist Stephanie Jordan and her trumpeter brother Marlon Jordan, teamed up for the ballad "Here's to Life." Both were in tears by the song's conclusion.

Then drummer Bob French and his band took over, with Harry Connick Jr. on piano. French focused on the second part of a jazz funeral, when the tempo picks up and the musicians set free the spirit of the departed.

Forty minutes later, long past when Connick was scheduled to leave for his headlining set at the Acura Stage, he delivered his own eulogy. With Marsalis on soprano saxophone, Connick sang a slow, mournful "Just a Closer Walk With Thee."

Then they celebrated one last time with "Didn't He Ramble."

Later, during the all-star jazz jam that closed the Jazz Tent, nearly two dozen musicians and singers gathered onstage for a joyous "I'll Fly Away." Jazz Tent decorum was set aside as people danced in the aisles and stood on chairs.

Onstage, Riley danced with a snare drum around his waist. Tony Dagradi, trombonists Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and "Big" Sam Williams, trumpeter Maurice Brown and singer John Boutte all joined in the Jazzfest send-off for Batiste.

"Although he's physically not here, I really believe this is what he would have wanted," Greg Davis said. "This way, his fans got to share in the tribute."
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[Zydekitten]

That describes it incredibly well and movingly - it's returned the tears to my eyes that were there at a few times during the set yesterday, but mainly after the number from Stephanie and Marlon.

It was totally worth disrupting my Steely Dan plan for.

[FestNut]

Rope forwarded this to me, so we're sharing it with you. It's really touching:

Below is a story about the death of a man that most people have never heard of...even those of us that have been plying our trade as musicians for far longer then we might be inclined to admit. Take a moment and read what this lady has to say and then let me borrow just another minute to share a quick story...one that will hopefully do for you what it did for me...

New Orleans Clarinetist Batiste Dies
By MARY FOSTER
AP
NEW ORLEANS (May 8) -- Clarinetist Alvin Batiste, who toured with Ray Charles, recorded with Branford Marsalis and taught pianist Henry Butler, died Sunday of an apparent heart attack. He was in his 70s.

Batiste died only hours before he was to perform with Harry Connick Jr. and Marsalis at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, festival officials said.

Marsalis' record label released Batiste's latest CD, "Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste," just a few weeks ago. Marsalis also played on the album.

Batiste, a jazz clarinetist, was considered one of the founders of the modern jazz scene in New Orleans. While his exact age was not immediately known, festival officials said he was born in New Orleans in 1932.

Batiste also wrote for and toured with Billy Cobham and Cannonball Adderley.

A longtime teacher at Southern University in Baton Rouge, he created the Batiste Jazz Institute - one of the first programs of its kind in the nation - and taught jazz at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

His students included Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Kent Jordan, Michael Ward, Herlin Riley, Charlie Singleton, Woodie Douglas and others.

"He was not only a teacher, he was my father away from home," Butler said. "He taught us about music, the history of music and the business of music. The ones who had the benefit of learning from him are better musicians and better people today."

Batiste toured with Charles in 1958, but remained largely unknown to the general population until he recorded with Clarinet Summit in the 1980s. The quartet also included John Carter, David Murray, and Jimmy Hamilton.

Batiste recorded an album, "Bayou Magic" in 1988, and made the 1993 album "Late." "Songs, Words and Messages, Connections" appeared in 1999.

The show at the jazz tent of the festival - "Marsalis Music honors Alvin Batiste & Bob French" - went on as planned. "The show will go on," festival spokesman Matthew Goldman said.

So, as most of you know, aside from the other things I do in my life, I production manage various music festivals throughout the year. One of them is Fest For All in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over the past few years, I had the honor of twice introducing Mr. Batiste. The last time was this past Saturday. I am writing to share my last moment with him and the gift he gave me...and all of us.

When he was done with a most astounding set of music, I told him how honored I was to be able to see him perform yet again, and thanked him for all that he had done. He smiled that huge smile, took my hand and said, "No, thank you, sir, for helping me!" He called me 'sir!' This impeccably dressed, totally articulate, elegant, icon of all that is great in jazz in the later half of the Twentieth Century, calling a most scruffy looking stage manager 'sir?' Then, he turned away and called his band together:

"If you all could be available, I would really like to get together and rehearse a little before we perform tomorrow (the tribute at The New Orleans Jazz and Hertage Festival). Lets see if we can make it a little better!"

Understand, this was a seventy-five year old man. A living legend. Still playing as well as he ever played...and the last thing I heard him say was "Lets see if we can make it a little better!" Alvin Batiste had nothing to prove. He had already done 'his thing' to a level way above that which most of us can even imagine. This terribly hot, humid day, he yet again finished his gig. He could then go home with his beautiful wife of 53 years, Edith Chatters Batiste, and relax before performing for his tribute the next day. Easy as pie. Instead, he wanted to get his band together and rehearse. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life. To aspire to his level of commitment to excellence. To feel his level of passion for his craft. To be willing to share it all with whomever had 'the dream.' I never knew Alvin Batiste. I never had the honor of studying with him...I met the man twice. Yet in a couple sentences overheard, he did more to reinforce all that I have been taught, all that I have known, all that I have believed in my 55 year love affair with music, than any other person I have ever known. As the great Henry Butler said.... "The ones who had the benefit of learning from him are better musicians and better people today."

Thinking back on all this, I guess maybe I was wrong. This past Saturday afternoon, I actually did have a chance to study with Mr. Batiste. I promise him now that I will do as he would expect us all to do. That being to ALWAYS aspire to become just a little better.

Thank you and God bless you Alvin Batiste.

Your friend,
Merel
Merel Bregante - ASCAP, BMI, NARAS, AFofM
The Cribworks Digital Audio
Austin, Texas

[marignygreg]

Nice story. You heard the last note he blew.