Bobby Jaspar

[Daniel A]

The first time I heard of Bobby Jaspar was in the early 90s when I got the Prestige album 'Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors' which featured Coltrane and Jaspar on tenor. I had just begun to discover Coltrane - I still restricted myself to his Prestige period after hearing one of the later Impulses which left me puzzled - and bought a lot of albums just because he was on them. I found Jaspar's playing nice enough, but it wasn't until years later when a friend played me 'I Should Care' from a J.J. Johnson LP (with Tommy Flanagan, Wilbur Little and Elvin Jones) that I really was intrigued by this figure.

Since then I've gotten one of the releases in his name in the Jazz in Paris series ('Jeux de quartes') where he sticks to flute, and two Donald Byrd live albums from 1958 featuring him mainly on tenor. While he may not be a "lost giant", I can't help to think that he gets curiously little attention nowadays. He did release a couple of albums in the US, but I have so far not found any reviews and opinions about them.

It's sad he died prematurely. In connection to some heart surgery it's been said; was it drug-related too?

Edited October 28, 2003 by Daniel A

[brownie]

Bobby Jaspar passed away much too young. He died of complications following

an open-heart surgery operation. No direct relations to the use of illegal

substances.

If you read French, there is an interesting and very complete book about him

'Bobby Jaspar, Itineraire d'un Jazzman Europeen 1926-1963' that was

published in Belgium in 1997 by Editions Pierre Mardaga.

Might be hard to get. Grabbed my copy when it showed in a couple of

Paris bookstores at the time.

There were several Jaspar CDs in the Jazz in Paris series and also in the

Vogue-BMG series about three years ago. All of them were nothing short

of excellent.

The sides he recorded with Chet Baker are also beautiful.

[brownie]

Found this web about Bobby Jaspar (in english)

bobby jaspar

[Daniel A]

Thanks for the link, Brownie! I wasn't aware of the book about him! A reason as good as any to dust off my ever-worsening French...

Edited March 27, 2003 by Daniel A

[mikeb]

I agree wholeheartedly with brownie on Jaspar's JIP discs. They are all wonderful!

[AfricaBrass]

I became aware of Jaspar throught the J.J. Johnson Mosaic set. I really enjoy his playing on that set.

:rsmile:

[king ubu]

Count me in with Jaspar!

And I'll second (or third or whatever) the recommendations for the JiP and even more so for the Original Vogue Masters discs.

ubu

[Daniel A]

I presume that the Vogue discs have been discontinued and are now impossible to find...

[king ubu]

I presume that the Vogue discs have been discontinued and are now impossible to find...

At least one of the Vogues (Bobby Jaspar & His Modern Jazz) is available at amazon.fr for the price of 13 Euro, which seems alright.

But you seem to be right, as they all seem to be out of print...

ubu

[desertblues]

One of my favorite lp's with Jaspar is his "Tenor and Flute" lp on Riverside with George Wallington, Idrees Sulieman, Wilbur Little & Elvin Jones. There was a Japanese reissue of this a while back also (on vinyl that is).

[mikeweil]

There also is Flute Soufflé, a companion disk to Flute Flight, with two more tracks from the Prestige session with Herbie Mann and another session with Jaspar, Eddie Costa and Flanagan. Bought it recently (OJC) and certainly don't regret it.

I especially enjoyed his clarinet playing, there is a track on a session for French Columbia displaying these abilities, titled Clarinescapade. Was reissued by Fresh Sound.

There was a bio-discography by Edmond Devoghelaere published in 1967, may be hard to find.

All the stuff mentioned in this thread is great; he was one of the best jazz musicians ever to come from Europe, his recorded legacy is still held in high esteem in Belgium.

[brownie]

I will add three more items to the previously listed Jaspar albums (they may be hard

to get but are very much worth the search):

- a French Columbia LP (that was reissued on LP by Fresh Sounds) which

consisted of two 1956 New York sessions with two different rhythm sections:

Tommy Flanagan, Knobby Totah and Elvin Jones for one,

Eddie Costa, Barry Galbraith, Milt Hinton and Osie Johnson for the other one,

- a recent CD which was published by the Paris jazz records shop Paris Jazz

Corner. This was titled 'Henri Renaud, the Complete Legendary Saturne'

which gathered all the very rare tracks recorded in 1951 by pianist Renaud, many

of them with Jaspar,

- the Bobby Jaspar Quartet at Ronnie Scott, a live 1962 London session with

Belgian guitarist Rene Thomas and bassist Benoit Quersin and Swiss drummer Daniel

Humair. This was originally released on LP by Mole Jazz and was later issued on CD

with more (and some different tunes).

The first and third items have some of the best Jaspar playing ever.

[mikeweil]

It's sad he died prematurely. In connection to some heart surgery it's been said; was it drug-related too?

Edmond Devoghelaere writes Jaspar suffered from endocarditis, an infectious disease that effects the heart valves. Although he had felt sich for a while, it was diagnosed only after a heart attack on September 1, 1962. The surgeons at Bellevue Hospital in New York suggested open heart surgery as the only means to rescue him, as the valves of his heart were already damaged, but his chances to recover were considered low, and he had to wait and rest six months before the operation to gather sufficient strength, but he died shortly before. No substances involved.

[Larry Kart]

Jaspar and Blossom Dearie once were husband and wife.

[king ubu]

yep. on one of the jazz in paris releases (i think its the buddy banks jazz de chambre one), there are 4 tracks added that feature his flute with her piano trio. nice but not essential in any way.

ubu

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Many years ago, I was on a business trip to AT&T (now Lucent) in Murray Hill, NJ and while at lunch, I saw that they had a "vendor area" set up for employees. One of them had CDs for sale. I poked through the stacks and found this odd-looking thing: Bobby Jaspar with Tommy Flanagan - Nobil Totah - Barry Galbraith - Eddie Costa - Milt Hinton on the Disques Swing. It said "Recorded in New York 1956" on the cover and yet the CD's title is "Bobby Jaspar In Paris". On the back it says, "Originally released as French Columbia FPX 123 except for "Minor Drop" which was released as French Columbia ESDF 1142a". There are excellent liner notes by Dan Morgenstern which I will type up later today for everyone to read. They are wonderful. The disc was a whole $1!

A very nice disc. It sounds like JJ's band without JJ (which it basically was). Jaspar should have played more clarinet. He had a very nice sound on it.

One of the best $1 CDs... nah, make that the best $1 CDs I've ever found.

Later,

Kevin

[EKE BBB]

I enjoyed his playing in some Chet Baker sides!

And the Bobby Jaspar JIP I have (Modern Jazz au Club St Germain) sounds great, too.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Here are Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes to Bobby Jaspar's CD, Bobby Jaspar In Paris - Disques Swing CDSW-8413 issued in 1987 by DRG Records Inc. These are some of the best liners that I have ever read. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I did.

Later,

Kevin

When Belgian-born Bobby Jarpar arrived in New York in the spring of 1956, very few foreign-born-and-raised jazz musicians had been able to establish themselves in the music’s homeland. Stan Hasselgaard might have managed, but sudden death intervened. His fellow Swede Rolf Ericson, who arrived the same year (1947), did well enough in the trumpet sections of some leading big bands but hardly became a household name. Toshiko Akiyoshi preceded Jaspar by three months but had just enrolled at Boston’s Berklee School. George Shearing, to be sure, was riding high, but he was an exception – and then, he wasn’t a horn player.

Jaspar’s main horn was the tenor sax, perhaps the most competitive of all jazz instruments in the post-bebop era. He’d taken up the flute in 1954 and was already one of the outstanding jazz practitioners on it, but this instrument had not yet fully established its position in jazz. It speaks volumes for Jaspar that within two months of his arrival he had been hired by J.J. Johnson as a permanent member of the great trombonist’s new quintet, alongside bassist Wilbur Little and two recent settlers from Detroit, Tommy Flanagan and Elvin Jones. (Bobby was so impressed with the young drummer that he wrote a perceptive piece about him for the French Magazine of Jazz Hot.) In the 1956 Down Beat Critic’s Poll, Jaspar was voted New Star on tenor. He was 30, and life must have seemed full of promise.

To be sure, there were some good things in store. After 15 months with Johnson, Jaspar has a brief stint with Miles Davis, no less – in between Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. He does well as a free-lance, gigging and recording. There’s a successful European tour with Donald Byrd, Walter Davis Jr., Doug Watkins and Art Taylor, including three months at a Paris club and lots of reunions with old friends – from 1950 to 1955, Jaspar had been one of the City of Light’s leading resident jazzmen. Back in the States in early 1959, he continues to do well on the New York scene, where he prefers to stay, though there’s some touring with Chris Connor. Among the highlights are gigs with up-and-coming Bill Evans, and with Jimmy Raney, an old friend from Paris who’d insisted on recording with Bobby during a visit there in 1954, helping to establish the Belgian’s international reputation. There’s a short-lived “International Jazz Quartet” with Hungarian guitarist Atilla Zoller, Indonesian bassist Eddie De Haas, and American drummer G. T. Hogan, and a record date with his wife, singer-arranger-pianist Blossom Dearie; they remain good friends after their 1959 divorce. Back in Europe for an extended stay beginning in 1961, he impresses musicians and audiences with the strides he’s made, but it’s also clear to all who know him that he is not feeling well. After resting up, he joins forces with fellow Belgians René Thomas (guitar) and Benoit Quersin (bass), plus the brilliant Swiss drummer Daniel Mumair, They tour Europe to much acclaim, record in Italy with John Lewis and Chet Baker, and Bobby again takes up seriously his first instrument, the clarinet, also doubling on soprano and baritone. But not long after returning to New York he has a heart attack and is diagnosed as suffering from endocarditis. The disease and the attack have caused serious damage, and his sole and slim chance for survival, doctors say, is a bypass operation – a much more risky proposition then than now. He needs to rest for six months to gain sufficient strength to undergo the surgery. Knowing full well what confronts him, he retains the serenity of temperament that has endeared him to so many. The operation takes place on February 28, 1963 and requires 41 pints of blood. On March 4, two weeks past his 37th birthday, Bobby Jaspar dies.

As this album – never before issued in the United States, and long unavailable anywhere – amply documents, Bobby Jaspar was a musician of uncommon talent. In his formative years, he was strongly influenced by Don Byas, who settled in Europe in 1946. But he was also drawn to Lester Young’s conception, and then to Stan Getz and Zoot Sims and Lucky Thompson. But even before he settled in New York, Sonny Rollins had begun to make an impression on him, strengthened by what he heard after his arrival. Always a thinking musician, he had, by late 1956, melded these influences into a very attractive and personal style. On the flute, there were of course fewer role models, and when it comes to this instrument, Jaspar must be ranked at the very top, with a more virile and venturesome approach than customary in the pre-Eric Dolphy phase of jazz flute playing. His single appearance here on clarinet shows that he had mastered this difficult horn, not much favored in modern jazz contexts. On all his instruments, he speaks the language of jazz without a trace of foreign accent.

Jaspar was also a gifted arranger and composer, and one of his most appealing pieces is In A Little Provincial Town (a salute to Liège, where he was born). Tutti Frutti (also recorded on a 1957 Prestige session with Herbie Mann, on which Bobby carves his American colleague on both flute and tenor) and Clarinescapade are the other Jaspar originals here. Minor Drop is by Belgian pianist Francis Coppieters, an early musical associate, while They Look Alike stems from Manny Albam’s fertile pen. The remainder of the well-balanced program consists of first-rate standards and a bop classic, J. J. Johnson’s Wee Dot.

Two sessions, recorded eight days apart, are represented here. On the first, Jaspar is backed by two colleagues from the Johnson group and a ringer. Tommy Flanagan, still in the first year of his recording career, already displays the remarkable touch, impeccable taste and swinging sensitivity for which he’s long been cherished. Elvin Jones, not yet as audacious as he would become with and after Coltrane, is nevertheless his astonishing self. The ringer, with credentials including work with Charlie Parker, is the excellent Palestinian-born bassist Nabil Totah. The second date has a somewhat different flavor, mainly due to the added voice of Galbraith’s guitar. The guitarist, veteran bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Osie Johnson were them often teamed in the studios and work hand-in-glove; Johnson’s sound and accents were his own. The presence of Eddie Costa (1930-62) is an added attraction. Equally accomplished on piano and vibes, Costa was a truly outstandingly gifted player, and he’s in fine fettle here. He and Jaspar would record together again on several occasions, but this is their most unfettered and mutually inspiring meeting.

Throughout. This music is consistently excellent, and it speaks for itself. Bobby’s tenor on I Won’t Dance is particularly nice, and it should be noted that he takes up the alto flute on Spring Is Here; somewhat larger than the customary soprano flute, it has a warmer sound, which Bobby explores to good advantage. But then, he was warm on all his horns. Thirty years after it was recorded, this fine memento of Bobby Jaspar’s brief career has finally found its way home. It should help us remember well a musician who had the courage to challenge the citadel of jazz and the resources to succeed – as long as fate allowed.

Dan Morgenstern

Director, Institute of Jazz Studies,

Rutgers University

(For details of Bobby Jaspar’s career, I gratefully acknowledge Edmond Devoghelaere’s definitive Bobby Jaspar: A biography, appreciation, record survey and complete discography – a labor of love – dm)

Edited March 31, 2003 by Kevin Bresnahan

[Late]

Up for some refreshing reading. Here is the cover of the Columbia session in question:

And Jaspar's RCA date with René Thomas:

Can either of these be found on disc nowadays?

The Jaspar Vogue sides reissued by BMG Japan back in 1998 (original cover art, no bonus tracks, very short running time) are some of best sounding Jaspar recordings I have — but, truth be told, I don't have many. I love Jaspar's playing with the trombonist Nat Peck, particularly on Andre Hodeir's "Paradox" — and there aren't even any "solos" on this track! His session with Henri Renaud recording Gigi Gryce tunes is also priceless.

[JohnS]

- the Bobby Jaspar Quartet at Ronnie Scott, a live 1962 London session with

Belgian guitarist Rene Thomas and bassist Benoit Quersin and Swiss drummer Daniel

Humair. This was originally released on LP by Mole Jazz and was later issued on CD

with more (and some different tunes).

I'll second the recommendation for this one, Jasper and Thomas have plenty of room to stretch out.

[mikeweil]

That Jaspar In Paris (what a misleading title!) stuff is some of the most rewarding I know among his many albums. He excelled in the company of American musicians.

[king ubu]

...

And Jaspar's RCA date with René Thomas:

Can either of these be found on disc nowadays?

...

This one is available in the French RCA Gold series. Got it recently, and it is indeed very fine! The two of them are accompanied by italian players, all unknown to me, but the man on piano, Tommaso, does some good solos!

You can find the disc on French Amazon.

ubu

[brownie]

Where is Late?

He seems to be MIA. His last post is a month old. Hope he is all right!

[Leeway]

I posted this earlier in the Vinyl Thread. Couw, is this the album you were referring to?

"Oh yes, one more jazz LP I listened to Friday- Hank Jones- "Relaxin' at Camarillo"- all-star lineup- with Kenny Clarke on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, and, the reason I really picked this LP up-- Bobby Jaspar on flute. Hard to define Jaspar's sound. I've only heard it once, I like it, need to give it more listens to get a better sense of Jaspar's style on flute."

What do you all think of Jaspar's flute playing versus his tenor sax playing?

[king ubu]

I posted this earlier in the Vinyl Thread. Couw, is this the album you were referring to?

"Oh yes, one more jazz LP I listened to Friday- Hank Jones- "Relaxin' at Camarillo"- all-star lineup- with Kenny Clarke on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, and, the reason I really picked this LP up-- Bobby Jaspar on flute. Hard to define Jaspar's sound. I've only heard it once, I like it, need to give it more listens to get a better sense of Jaspar's style on flute."

What do you all think of Jaspar's flute playing versus his tenor sax playing?

I haven't heard much of Jaspar on flute, exsecpt for his JiP "Jeux de quartes" - I quite like the sound on that one! Jaspar's flute is coupled with the vibes of Michel Hausser, and this creates a rather unique band sound.

ubu