Ask the Author: Larry Kemp
Answered Questions (2)
Larry Kemp
I've been working on memoirs of my practice of law for more than three decades in Western Pennsylvania. I'm not sure it will ,ever be published. I have to wait for more people I want to defame to pass away. A couple of the judges have cooperated. I can tell the story of the case with three widows, and the products liablity case involving the 'coon dog with a fear of racoons, the the District Court judge who played the banjo in his chambers. and the twin brothers who terrorized a small town and each other.
I've also been cxonsidering writing as couple of stand alone jazz biographies of lesser known people whose careers I much admire: Jimmy Giuffre and Creed Taylor. Jimmy Giuffe was the composer of "Four Brothers" the big jazz hit for Woody Herman which made Stan Getz famous. Giuffre made a wonderful arrangement for Anita O'Day's recording of "Gone with the Wind." Jimmy went on to be an influential force in the development of Free Jazz. Creed Taylor was the producer of most of the best jazz recordings. He started in the early 1950's with Bethlehem Records producing Chris Connor's excellent early
recordings, then to ABC where he signed a young John Coltrane
and created the Impulse jazz sub-label, then on to MGM where he
created the Verve jazz sub-label and signed Wes Montgomery, Stan
Getz and Cal Tjader. Atfer that he went to A & M records and there created the CTI jazz sub -label and signed and produced recordings including George Benson, Herbie Mann, Nat Adderley and Quincy Jones. Then he took CTI independent of A&M and made hundreds of great jazz recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond, Ron Carter and Stanley Turrentine. Another project I was thinking about was a collection of profiles of jazz arrangers. But then I
though: One of the reasons for the expected success of the Jazz Trumpet Legends serikes is that trumpeters were born wild men, who led unpredictable lives, while arrangers spent a lot of time alone with a piano and sheet music and didn 't get out much or talk to others..
Another idea was to make a field guide to jazz trumpeters, so if you go to a jazz festival or a club in another city and you see some trumpeter you
don 't recognze, you can find him or her in the guide.
I've also been cxonsidering writing as couple of stand alone jazz biographies of lesser known people whose careers I much admire: Jimmy Giuffre and Creed Taylor. Jimmy Giuffe was the composer of "Four Brothers" the big jazz hit for Woody Herman which made Stan Getz famous. Giuffre made a wonderful arrangement for Anita O'Day's recording of "Gone with the Wind." Jimmy went on to be an influential force in the development of Free Jazz. Creed Taylor was the producer of most of the best jazz recordings. He started in the early 1950's with Bethlehem Records producing Chris Connor's excellent early
recordings, then to ABC where he signed a young John Coltrane
and created the Impulse jazz sub-label, then on to MGM where he
created the Verve jazz sub-label and signed Wes Montgomery, Stan
Getz and Cal Tjader. Atfer that he went to A & M records and there created the CTI jazz sub -label and signed and produced recordings including George Benson, Herbie Mann, Nat Adderley and Quincy Jones. Then he took CTI independent of A&M and made hundreds of great jazz recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond, Ron Carter and Stanley Turrentine. Another project I was thinking about was a collection of profiles of jazz arrangers. But then I
though: One of the reasons for the expected success of the Jazz Trumpet Legends serikes is that trumpeters were born wild men, who led unpredictable lives, while arrangers spent a lot of time alone with a piano and sheet music and didn 't get out much or talk to others..
Another idea was to make a field guide to jazz trumpeters, so if you go to a jazz festival or a club in another city and you see some trumpeter you
don 't recognze, you can find him or her in the guide.
Larry Kemp
The idea or the Jazz Trumpet Legends series of books came to me in September 2006. I had just retired from practicing law because the stress from practice was making my Parkinson’s Disease progress too rapidly and my PD was making my efforts feebler. My favorite musician, Maynard Ferguson had just passed away, and I was depressed at how little he was revered by jazz fans around the world. At the same time, I felt funny not having anything constructive to do. I wanted to write something that would enable his talent to be compared with that of the rest of the jazz trumpeters. Along the way, I did a lot of research. I never imagined the work would get to be so b ig Early on I decided to collect as much about anyone who played jazz trumpet and edit it down after all had been collected. I didn’t anticipate writing about more than 150 trumpeters
.. After a year or two of collecting, I stopped to look at what I had. I had collected interesting information about 350 trumpeters. Then I looked at other jazz trumpet books and found a book by wa west coast critic that had 479 trumpeters. The author had not been kind to Maynard, so I decided to build my collection to 500 trumpeters. A few years ago, I was in Las Vegas and sought out an interview with Lynn Nicolson. He graciously agreed to talk to me. I showed him my working copy. He verified that I had quoted him correctly in what I had written about Maynard and Bill Chase. Then he asked me when the book would be published. I told him I was still researching. He told me I had written enough. It was time to edit and publish. I’m glad I took his advice. Had I researched another year, I would have been still trying to get a book with a thousand trumpeters in it published. It took all my energy to get this book, now 3 volumes with over 850 trumpeters published.
.. After a year or two of collecting, I stopped to look at what I had. I had collected interesting information about 350 trumpeters. Then I looked at other jazz trumpet books and found a book by wa west coast critic that had 479 trumpeters. The author had not been kind to Maynard, so I decided to build my collection to 500 trumpeters. A few years ago, I was in Las Vegas and sought out an interview with Lynn Nicolson. He graciously agreed to talk to me. I showed him my working copy. He verified that I had quoted him correctly in what I had written about Maynard and Bill Chase. Then he asked me when the book would be published. I told him I was still researching. He told me I had written enough. It was time to edit and publish. I’m glad I took his advice. Had I researched another year, I would have been still trying to get a book with a thousand trumpeters in it published. It took all my energy to get this book, now 3 volumes with over 850 trumpeters published.
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