JAZZ AutoBIOGRAPHY: Tony Heath
At various times I performed on C flute, alto
flute, tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, and as a doubler
on clarinet. I also play piano. Most of my performance career was based
out of my loft at 508 Broadway in lower Manhattan, from 1976 to 1997. I
performed and recorded with my own combos and many others over the
years and was honored to have had some of the world’s best jazz
musicians as sidemen in my ensembles.
Although my academic work had involved the fine
arts for which I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), in 1973 I
decided to pursue a career as a professional jazz musician. I became a
student of Earl M. Banquer, a principal clarinetist with the New Haven
Symphony. In 1976, after moving to Manhattan, I entered jazz
studies with John Castellano at what is today the The Collective School
of Music, where I studied performance, jazz theory and flute.
I consider myself part of what some have called
the “lost generation” of jazz—those of us weaned on
the Beatles (and others) who rejected the snowballing popularity of
rock ‘n’ roll after being introduced to jazz.
Unfortunately, demand for jazz performance and recording was and still
is paltry at best. I spent years learning a craft that became
increasingly old-fashioned and too demanding for many of my peers, not
to mention consumers of popular music. Jazz requires training and does
not accommodate a “garage band” mentality. Thus I decided
early to develop other skills as a hedge against shrinking
opportunities in jazz which would have forced me to take a more
commercial path.
My first professional gig was with Lynn Oliver
and his Orchestra from 1979 to 1985. I played lead jazz-tenor
saxophone, became a member of Local 802 of the musicians union and
worked all over the New York City area with his traditional 17-piece
big band. Oliver (drums, vibraphone, trombone), had started with The
José Mellis Orchestra and others, owned a studio on Broadway and
West 89th Street which served as his base, a recording studio, workshop
setting and rehearsal space for many of the biggest acts of the 1950s,
1960s and 1970s. The walls were covered with faded black & white photographs of Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, Gerry Mulligan, Horace
Silver, Dizzy Gillespie, The Modern Jazz Quartet, to name just a few.
Lynn’s own “book” was made up
of an unparalleled collection of the actual charts from all the bands,
which some said he bartered for, others he photocopied after hours (no
harm done). They introduced me to the dance band music of the 1940s and
the rich tradition of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood. It was the
best bandstand education in Big Band Jazz one could ever hope for. I am
grateful to Oliver , a notorious taskmaster, for offering me the
opportunity to learn to play jazz on the bandstand as it was
traditionally done. Lynn was one of the few musicians I met that was as
serious about the quality of the music as I was. He lived and breathed
music every moment of his life, which I deeply respected.
About the same time, I volunteered to play down
on West 72nd Street in the afternoons in the studio rehearsal band of
valve-trombonist Marshal Brown. In each session a single student of his
would have the opportunity to play Brown’s arrangements with
professional musicians followed by an informal recording and critique.
We played in the sessions for the privilege of playing with Brown, who
had worked with Louis Armstrong, Pee Wee Russell, Ruby Braff, Bobby
Hackett, Lee Konitz and others, and who had led the Newport Youth Band
of 1959 and 1960. I would come in in the afternoon for a session
covered in dust having come from a construction job, and Marshall would
look at me and say, after we had started playing, “now
isn’t this a lot better than pounding nails?” It was nearly
impossible at that time to match the opportunity.
My early years in New York was a time which may
well have been the last gasp of the great jazz age, as swing yielded to
bebop, hard-bop to jazz-rock and the freer loft-jazz movement of the
1970s (I lived at 508 Broadway). Popular music, which jazz had
traditionally qualified as, was becoming increasingly undermined by
changing standards of popular taste.
Later, I would lead my own groups, do studio
work, club-dates, shows and cruises, as well as take brief forays into
rock. My wife, vocalist Kate
Scott, and I had our own band from
1989 to 1999. We increasingly embraced the music of Brazil. Below is a
list of some of the world-class musicians that performed and/or recorded with us during that
period, and a list of some of the better rooms we worked. Kate and I thank the musicians
wholeheartedly for their support and collaboration. An asterisk denotes
a Tony Heath & Kate Scott recording that included that musician as
a sideman.
I consider Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn,
Bill Evans and Antonio Carlos Jobim my favorite jazz composers, and in
the classical genre, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin and Leonard
Bernstein. Of course, one can hardly say enough about the
great songs of many of the composers from the
Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley periods, sometimes referred to as
the “Swing Era.”
I met my wife, Kate Scott, in New York City in
1987 while she was founding her first band, Dakota Visitor, which we
originally performed in together. That lasted until 1990, when we went
back to playing acoustic jazz exclusively. Kate credits her decision to
become a jazz singer with my introducing her to Sarah Vaughn. She went
on to attend the Mannes College New School of Music, studying with
Reggie Workman, Sheila Jordan and others.
From 1990 to 1995, we recorded five albums of
material, releasing, so far, only the well-reviewed Parallel Lives, featuring Clarence Seay, Freddie Bryant, Kevin
Burrell, Joe Strasser and Marcie Brown. The album features several of
my compositions and the outstanding ensemble work of our sidemen. It is
available through North Country Distributors.
In 1997, we left Manhattan and founded Birdland
Ranch to pursue critical conservation work in southeastern Arizona in
addition to our music and art. I continue to play piano and woodwinds
shuffling a repertoire of several hundred songs in a vigorous daily
practice schedule. Kate or I are available to teach or perform when
occasions arise. We are currently reforming our group for future
performances. Jazz will always be the fundamental inspiration for our
political action. For more, please visit BirdlandRanch.org.
–Tony Heath, April 2009
