Harry "The Bear" Babasin

Harry Babasin was one of the most creative and innovative bassists of all time. His musical contributions
include the style of jazz known as the Bossa Nova, being the first bassist to play pizzicato jazz cello in 1947,
and being one of the only bassists of his time to lead his own group, Harry Babasin and the Jazzpickers.
He was also a highly regarded record producer of his own short-lived jazz label called Nocturne Records.
Harry was born on March 19, 1921 in Dallas, Texas, the son of an Armenian immigrant dentist and a Texas
school teacher. His mother taught music and Harry showed an immediate affinity to all things musical,
studying many different instruments before focusing on the bass. He went to North Texas State University
and contributed to that school's excellent reputation for jazz, along with such players as Herb Ellis,
Jimmy Giuffre, Gene Roland and Tommy Reeves.

(Harry with Jimmy Giuffre, in The Bill Ware Orchestra, 1941)

In 1942, he and Herb Ellis went to see the Charlie Fisk Orchestra, and, upon hearing the rhythm section
he had, boldly told Fisk they could outplay the guys he had playing. So Charlie gave them a shot, and, of
course, they got the gig. He left school to join the band, starting Harry off on his road days, touring the country
extensively over the next five years with a number of different groups: Jimmy Joy, Bob Strong, Billie Rogers,
Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Frank DeVol, Jerry Gray, and
many others. In these groups he met, and played with, some of the finest names in jazz history. A recording of
the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra has been released on a CD called "Boyd Meets Stravinsky" on
Savoy Jazz, SV-0185, where Harry plays on six of the tracks.

(Harry with The Boyd Raeburn Orchestra, 1946)

While playing with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra in 1945, Harry moved to Los Angeles. There,
he joined the Benny Goodman Orchestra and made many recordings with that group. A couple of those tracks
appear on a CD called "Slipped Disc, 1945-1946" on Columbia Jazz Masterpieces, CK 44292. Shortly after that,
he appeared in a motion picture starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo called "A Song Is Born", for
The Goldwyn Studios. The movie was a showcase of jazz aristocracy, featuring Benny Goodman,
Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, Mel Powell, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Bellson,
Al Hendrickson, and, of course, Harry. This was an extremely significant time for him.

(Harry in the movie, "A Song Is Born", 1947)

On that movie set, he met a Brazilian guitarist who was an extra in the film. His name was Laurindo Almeida.
They hit it off and started to jam with a couple of friends, drummer Roy Harte and saxophonist Bud Shank.
Harry's idea was to see what would happen if you blended modern jazz with traditional Brazilian "baiao" rhythms.
In April, 1953, they recorded two ten inch LPs that are the true basis for the style known as the Bossa Nova. Both LPs
were reviewed wonderfully in Downbeat magazine, receiving five stars, and saying, "The blending of the two strains
in a flowing, complementary interplay provides the unique flavor that these two LPs have added to recorded
modern jazz." Both have been remastered and combined onto one CD called "Brazilliance - Vol. 1" on
World Pacific, CDP 7 96339 2. Although most people credit Getz and Jobim with it's birth, the Bossa Nova
was created by this group six years before it resurfaced and became popular. Unfortunately, Harry
was way ahead of his time and is still almost completely unrecognized for this achievement.

(The Laurindo Almeida Quartet, 1953)

Also, on that movie set, Harry started what I believe to be his most significant contribution to jazz:
his development of the pizzicato jazz cello. When touring with big bands, he found the bass was such a low register,
the audience had a hard time fully appreciating what he was trying to say on his instrument. So, while
passing time on the set, he picked up a cello that was lying around and started playing it. What he ended up
doing was tuning it in fourths and playing it in the actual role of the bass - holding down the bottom most of the time
- while allowing his soloing to be heard in a more audible range. The first-ever jazz cello tracks were recorded on
December 3, 1947 with the Dodo Marmarosa Trio. They have been remastered and included in the CD,
"Up in Dodo's Room", on Jazz Classics, CD-JZCL-6008. From there, he decided to add a bass, freeing up the
cello to play as a full-time melodic instrument. He recorded an LP with Pacific Jazz as the Harry Babasin Trio,
one with Discovery as the Harry Babasin Quartet, and a very unique and unusual duet cello session with
Oscar Pettiford that released on Imperial Records in 1952. After the Pettiford sessions, Harry began
experimenting with different instrumental combinations "...that worked well with the cello sound in the
contrapunctal style." He then recorded a ten inch LP on his own label, Nocturne Records, as the
Harry Babasin Quintet, adding vibes for the first time.

(Harry with Oscar Pettiford playing duet cellos, 1952)

At this time, I must also mention his association with drummer Roy Harte. Harry had met Roy on the road in New York in 1944. They remet on the
West Coast and played frequently with everyone you can think of. In 1952, they got together with a few of their friends (Bud Shank, Marty Paich,
Bob Enevoldson, Howard Roberts, Herbie Harper, et al.) and decided to make records. They weren't getting the responses they wanted from the big
record companies (where have we heard that one before?) and thought they might as well start doing it themselves. So, Harry and Roy started
Nocturne Records. They produced ten 10" LPs, each being reviewed with four- and five-star ratings in Downbeat, applauding the state-of-the-art
hi-fidelity recording quality and excellent musicianship. This set of LPs was called the "Jazz in Hollywood" series and has been remastered now,
re-released on CD by Fresh Sound Records in Barcelona, Spain, and Fantasy Records. EMI in Japan has also released four of them in their
original vinyl formats. After Nocturne, Harry continued his passion for the cello. He started the group, Harry Babasin and the Jazzpickers
and recorded and released three 12" LPs, two for Mercury/EmArcy and one for Mode Records. One album added Buddy Collette on flute,
the other two featured Red Norvo and Terry Gibbs on vibes, respectively. Again, these albums were highly regarded
in reviews, declaring the sound to be truely unique with a general feeling "...of warm, swinging chamber music made for evening ears."
The Mode album has been re-released by V.S.O.P. Records on vinyl and is slated for CD release sometime in 1998.
Currently, there is no definite plan to remaster the other Jazzpickers tapes, although there will be a release of a
complete compilation of those recordings on CD sometime in the future.

(Harry with Shorty Rogers, Shelley Manne and Marty Paich, 1952)

The sixties were unkind to jazz musicians. With the advent of rock 'n roll, jazz was taken off the popular charts and driven underground.
Harry continued to play with such names as Skinney Ennis and Charlie Barnet, touring once with Bob Hope to entertain troups in Alaska,
but gigs became fewer and farther between. Harry and Roy tried to resurrect Nocturne Records but it didn't garner the respect of old.
In the seventies, they started the Los Angeles Theaseum, a non-profit archive of West Coast jazz history, and acquired one of the first
Sony digital audio systems in Los Angeles. They transferred much of their library of recordings to a digital format for preservation
purposes and even pressed a series of records under the Jazz Chronicles name. One recording of note was made in 1952 at the
Tradewinds nightclub in Inglewood. It features Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Sonny Criss, Al Haig, Lawrance Marable, and Harry
in one of Bird's only West Coast appearances. It has since been released on CD by Fresh Sound Records, FSR-CD 17.

(Harry with Charlie Parker and Chet Baker, 1952)

Harry made one last tour to New York in 1985 with pianist John Banister, the man who gave Harry his nickname, "The Bear",
for his imposing presence on stage as he "clawed" at his bass. He was greatly encouraged by the reception they received and was
looking forward to going back. But soon after he returned, he was diagnosed with emphysema that eventually took his life in 1988.
Although not as publicly well known a name as Ray Brown or Charlie Mingus or Oscar Pettiford, Harry Babasin is an
unsung hero of jazz bass. He had estimated he'd appeared on 1,500 records as a bassist alone, not counting his cello work.
He was always the staunch defender of the West Coast jazz movement while he actually helped to define it. He was indeed
a musician's musician and he commanded the respect of those who heard him and those he played with.

Own the Nocturne collection!

Jazz In Hollywood - Roy Harte

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