FITTING FAREWELL
What was expected to be a joyous day in the life of
legendary musician Alvin Batiste became one of
remembrance by peers and admirers stunned by his sudden
death.
Monday, May 07, 2007
By Keith Spera
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.
he 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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