1961, fifty years ago, two of the most important, vital and imaginative young musicians were lost to us: trumpeter Booker Little and bassist Scott LaFaro. Amazingly enough, considering how short both their careers were, they share a recording, released under Little's leadership. Listening to a track like "Life's a Little Blue," with characteristically stupendous horn work from Booker and a typically pointed solo from LaFaro, only points out how much potential was still brewing in these young geniuses. I'm just glad I was too young to have registered the shock and pain of the one-two punch of their concurrent deaths.
So break out the Bill Evans trio Village Vanguard albums and Little's masterwork, "Out Front" (albums recorded just months before each man's demise) if they are not in your regular rotation already, and reflect on what these supremely talented men did accomplish in their brief moments in the sun.
