Lorraine Geller

[paul secor]

I've been listening to some of Lorraine Geller's music over the past few days - at least to the little I have: her trio recording on Dot, a couple of LPs with her husband, Herb Geller, and Red Mitchell's recording on Contemporary.

I read her name in the liner notes for Ornette's Tomorrow Is the Question LP long before I ever heard her play. That led me to want to hear her music. Ornette dedicated his tune "Lorraine" to her and called her "a wonderful piano player." I would agree with that. She had a great feel to her playing. Her solos had other things going on in her playing other than straight bop. She also wrote some good tunes -"Mystery Theatre", "Madame X", "Clash By Night".

I'm starting this thread to find out more about her music, about her life (she died very young), and just to hear from others who enjoy her work.

[Big Beat Steve]

It may be frowned upon by some, but in this case you will have to give a listen to the "Lorrain Geller Memorial" CD on Fresh Sound which fills a few gaps very nicely, and the booklet also sums up her life, career and tragic death.

[AllenLowe]

I once tried to ask Herb Geller about her, and I did it carefully (actually I think he rasied the subject), and though he did not seem offended by my questions he just basically said "she died by accident." I believe it was drug-related.

[paul secor]

It may be frowned upon by some, but in this case you will have to give a listen to the "Lorrain Geller Memorial" CD on Fresh Sound which fills a few gaps very nicely, and the booklet also sums up her life, career and tragic death.

One copy on Amazon for 40 bucks. I'd spend that for a legitimate issue if I wanted it badly enough, but I steer clear of Fresh Sound reissues (their newly recorded issues are a different story).

So I hope that I can get some info/opinions/appreciations here.

[BillF]

A quick look through my record collection has so far revealed only one mention of Lorraine Geller - on Lighthouse All Stars: Sunday Jazz a la Lighthouse, Vol 2 (OJC/Contemporary). Even then, there seems to be some difference of opinion as to whether she actually was the pianist on the album's three last tracks. Ted Gioia in West Coast Jazzthinks she was; Claude Williamson is also mentioned in the album's liner notes. Robert Gordon in Jazz West Coast describes Lorraine as "an important musician" and notes her "tragically early death in 1958." He includes a photograph of the Red Mitchell Quartet in 1957 with Lorraine on piano, James Clay on tenor and Billy Higgins on drums and describes their Contemporary album at some length.

Edited March 12, 2008 by BillF

[bichos]

I once tried to ask Herb Geller about her, and I did it carefully (actually I think he rasied the subject), and though he did not seem offended by my questions he just basically said "she died by accident." I believe it was drug-related.

according to herb geller in the liner notes of the "memorial" album on fresh sound she passed away from complications of asthma and a weakended heart. the geller´s friends, joe maini and his wife, sandra, found her lying beside the geller´s one year old baby´s crib.

keep boppin´

marcel

[Big Beat Steve]

So it was. And this seems to be the most detailed account of her pasing that's ever been published in any easily accessible source. Other sources just speak of heart problems. And I cannot imagine a huge, decade-long cover-up has been at work here. So no need to pin every early death of a jazzperson of those times down to drugs.

(But wasn't it the music that was to be focus of this thread? )

[AllenLowe]

well, truth is truth, though I do agree about the music coming first - but I have my doubts about that story -

[Larry Kart]

So it was. And this seems to be the most detailed account of her pasing that's ever been published in any easily accessible source. Other sources just speak of heart problems. And I cannot imagine a huge, decade-long cover-up has been at work here. So no need to pin every early death of a jazzperson of those times down to drugs.

(But wasn't it the music that was to be focus of this thread? )

I have no desire to impugn Lorraine Geller's memory, if in fact noting that her death might well have been drug-related would do so, but take a look at the crowd that she and her husband were running with at the time -- Joe Maini, Lenny Bruce, Jack Sheldon, et al., a so-called "bust out" group of people if there ever was one. Add to that that many deaths that are in some sense drug-related are not actual overdoses -- witness most famously the death of trumpeter Sonny Berman, who was shooting up when an air bubble got into the syringe and traveled to and stopped his heart. If Geller did have underlying asthma and heart problems, it takes much less trouble in that vein, so to speak, to do you in. Berman, for example, who was very heavy set at a young age, was engaging in risky behavior every time he got high. I can't prove that Geller didn't die "naturally," in a non-drug-related manner, but it doesn't seem at all unlikely to me that there would have been a "cover-up" at work here for many decades, given the behavior of the people she was hanging out with at the time on the one hand and, on the other, the apparent middle-class respectability of her social background and the fact that she was a young mother. Lord knows those would be motives, and how many people are going to be poking around to say "nay." For example, for many years, most reference sources said that Sonny Berman died of a either a heart attack or a stroke. Technically true, up to a point, but Ira Gitler finally explained what really happened (see above). Sonny not only was a great young plyer but also a very nice guy who had family, so the protective impulses that prevailed for a qood while in his case are not surprising; and they did prevail for many years.

[Big Beat Steve]

Yes of course ... a doubt may remain and nobody can really prove it either way.

Though I think Sonny Berman is not the ideal example of a similar case. I remember having read countless accounts (many of them fairly old) where he was named as one of the typical and more tragic examples of somebody dying from drug abuse among the young jazzmen of that era. So what happened seems to have been a fairly open secret.

(Now how did Tiny Kahn actually die? After all he certainly was "heavy set at a young age" too. Terry Gibbs talked about him in his autobiogpraphy but I don't remember the details.)

Anyway ... what happened did happen and does not detract from the music.

[AllenLowe]

agreed - but I (like, I believe, Larry) think it is always best to be out front about what has actually happened. Incidentally, I lived in New Haven for about 20 years and worked for some time with an excellent pianist name Mark Berman, whose father was called Sonny Berman - I never made the connection (no pun intended) originally, but it turned out he was trumpeter Sonny Berman's cousin and he told me once that it was a hard-luck family with more than one tragedy, including another family member who was somehow killed after jumping off a high diving board (water may have been too shallow, I don't quite remember) - nice family, and Mark (with whom I've lost touch but who, I believe, plays the piano on the Sex in the City Theme) was a great musician -

Edited March 13, 2008 by AllenLowe

[paul secor]

Hope that there'll be a few comments on Lorraine Geller's music here.

[Larry Kart]

I'd be happy to comment on her music, but all my examples or her work are temporarily inacecssible (all packed away) because of a basement flood.

[paul secor]

I'd be happy to comment on her music, but all my examples or her work are temporarily inacecssible (all packed away) because of a basement flood.

13 years ago, I was in the same situation.

[jazzbo]

29 years ago I had that same situation!

I really have liked the Geller piano that I've heard. . . . I haven't "analyzed" it and it's been a while since I have heard any of the recordings and don't have real "distinct" memories of the work. But I liked the swing and sound. Most of what I have is her with Herb, though I think I have the "Memorial" cd as well. . . .

[Chas]

I've been listening to some of Lorraine Geller's music over the past few days - at least to the little I have: her trio recording on Dot.......She also wrote some good tunes -"Mystery Theatre", "Madame X", "Clash By Night".

Shame that record is so hard to find . It , like the Eddie Costa Dot , is very rare , and goes for huge money . Finding the Japanese CD of it is no easy thing either . Not surprisingly , there are at times touches of Russ Freeman and Kenny Drew ( especially on Clash By Night ) in her playing . Her distinctive treatment ( a blues dirge wrapped in Debussy ) of Close Your Eyes is one of the high points of the record for me .

P.S. -- Aside from Lorraine Geller , the only other notable jazz figure from Portland Oregon that I

know of is Rod Levitt . Are there any others ?

P.P.S. -- Another West Coast female jazz pianist worth checking out is Joyce Collins .

[Big Beat Steve]

Well, Gents, if you steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the existence of that "Memorial" CD on Fresh Sound you will of course deprive yourselves of that session - because it's on that very CD!

I've listened to the entire CD once again last night, and as somebody said before me, her playing is very agreeably swinging all the way through, and not feminine at all. In a way she has a somewhat harder touch than her West Coast surroundings might imply; the Feather "Encyclopedia" where Bud Powell and and Horace Silver are cited as her influences is quite correct.

BTW; as for the Dot label, I'd be interested in finding a source for an affordable reissue of Eddie Costa's "House of Blue Lights" LP too. (Or do I have to check the Fresh Sound catalog closer? )

Edited March 14, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[Chas]

Well, Gents, if you steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the existence of that "Memorial" CD on Fresh Sound you will of course deprive yourselves of that session - because it's on that very CD!

BTW; as for the Dot label, I'd be interested in finding a source for an affordable reissue of Eddie Costa's "House of Blue Lights" LP too. (Or do I have to check the Fresh Sound catalog closer? )

Fresh Sound reissues Eddie Costa's Dot but not Johnny Costa's Dot and we're supposed to pore over their catalog like they're some kind of serious "collectors' label" ?

[paul secor]

Well, Gents, if you steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the existence of that "Memorial" CD on Fresh Sound you will of course deprive yourselves of that session - because it's on that very CD!

I've listened to the entire CD once again last night, and as somebody said before me, her playing is very agreeably swinging all the way through, and not feminine at all. In a way she has a somewhat harder touch than her West Coast surroundings might imply; the Feather "Encyclopedia" where Bud Powell and and Horace Silver are cited as her influences is quite correct.

BTW; as for the Dot label, I'd be interested in finding a source for an affordable reissue of Eddie Costa's "House of Blue Lights" LP too. (Or do I have to check the Fresh Sound catalog closer? )

Not "affordable", but available - http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5796012

Oops - and not an LP. My bad.

Edited March 14, 2008 by paul secor

[Big Beat Steve]

Yes - a bit steep for a reissue CD, even with the value of the $$$ dwindling right now.

Missed original LP's of this a couple of times but will keep searching (including reissues).