Astaire and Rogers. Martin and Lewis. Tracy and Hepburn. Magic and Kareem. Certain people were just pre-destined to be together. So it was with the symbiotic team of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, who worked so closely together, that most scholars still can’t tell where one ends and the other takes over. Trumpeter Terell Stafford, one of the major artists around, has done a fitting tribute to Ellington’s compadre with his latest release This Side Of Strayhorn, which displays the depth and width of the bespeckled genius.
Stafford, who is one of the most in-demand sidemen around, relates that this album was not even his own idea, “It was an organization call City Folk in Dayton, Ohio. It’s a nonprofit organization arts organization. They called me, and “We’re going to have a Billy Strayhorn Celebration, and we want you to be part of it. Can you pick 7-8 of your favorite Strayhorn tunes?” We and we can fund to get them arranged, and have you come out and give a concert.” That’s how it all began; very simple. It wasn’t a new experience (to play his music). I’d played different Strayhorn tunes when I played concerts with Frank Wess, and at the University where I teach I’ve brought various ones in. I’ve done a number of Strayhorn concerts with different groups in New York, so I’m very familiar with his music. I’ve just never taken the opportunity before to arrange his music for my quintet. “
It is pretty impressive that Strayhorn’s music, almost all of it composed 50-60 years ago, still sounds fresh and vibrant. This begs the question as to why certain composers are able to have music that lasts for decades, if not centuries. Stafford is attracted to Strayhorn’s timeless writing, because, “I like his strong sense of harmony, and his incredible lyricism. Since he’s such a theorist, he can really voice chords in a way that make them sound lusher (no pun intended) than the average person. His melodies are so haunting; you can just sing them over and over and over and never get tired of them.”
Stafford also takes issue with most music fans who cannot distinguish between Ellington and Strayhorn, stating, “I can tell the difference. This is just my opinion, but I can hear more of the way the chords are voiced, and the colors in the chords are just a little bit more colorful. Not to say that I’m putting anything down about Ellington! But, that’s what I hear in Strayhorn’s music. The whole world may want to battle me for that statement, but that’s just me!”
What is startling about Stafford is that for a guy with such formidable chops, he didn’t start his attraction to jazz until relatively late in the game, as he explains, “I really didn’t start playing jazz until after grad school. I did my undergrad and my Masters in classical trumpet. Undergrad was at University of Maryland, and then grad school was at Rutgers, and it was at Rutgers that I met Kenny Barron…Ted Dunbars and my trumpet teacher there was a guy by the name of professor William Fielder who Wynton (Marsalis) recommended. I met Wynton between undergrad and grad. This guy was probably the best trumpet teacher I could ever have, as not only could he play classical really well, but he played jazz as well. It was just great to be in that environment.”
Interestingly, Stafford’s love for the trumpet is so tenacious, that if he couldn’t play his horn, “I probably wouldn’t have played. I got a minor in computers, so I did computer programming for awhile. I’m a computer nerd kind of guy. I love to cook, so I may have gone into a culinary path as well.”
After practicing and performing under the discipline of classical music, a whole new world opened up for him, “I really liked how spontaneous it was. For classical, even though I love it and am a creature of habit, and I could practice a concerto over and over again, but with jazz, no matter how much you practice something over again, it’s going to be different every time you approach it, just because it’s reflecting what’s on your heart on your mind. It’s really a reaction to what you hear around you, and I really love that. “
One of the problems, however, of changing musical courses was not musical, but cultural. Growing up in a religious family, Stafford initially received a bit of resistance at home for his alternate path. “I grew up in the church, pretty much non-denominational. Growing up, it was an AME church. When I was in grad school, that was the time I wanted to play jazz, and to play jazz was considered “the devil’s music.” My grandma said to me, “If you’re going to play jazz, just learn a spiritual for every jazz tune you learn.” That was my way to appease her and the church, and to stay in good standing with everyone. So, consequently, that’s why I owe my talent to God.”
“My parents did not object (to my changing over to jazz). I mean, they were a little nervous of the lifestyle, but everything was interwoven, because I met Bob Watson, and that was my first experience playing jazz professionally. So, with such a smooth transition, they didn’t say much about it. I wasn’t out of work at all.”
It’s Stafford’s faith that has helped him be in such high demand as a sideman. As the old joke goes, the toughest instrument to play is second violin, as you have to check your ego at the door. Terell still gets guidance from his local church, which keeps his compass in the right direction, “I think my faith makes a different in how I treat people. There are principles that we learn through faith-to treat people how we want to be treated. To love everyone; general principles like that help me in my life, and to treat people well in a sense of community, as there are some other musicians out there with faith as well. A lot of people are searching.It’s hard going to church regularly because of my travelling. Once I’m home for a couple of weeks I start going again, and I get really into it, and then I’m out on the road for 4-5 weeks. It’s hard to maintain those relationships. I feel that when I’m out around folks, I don’t push my faith in an uncomfortable way. I feel that when I want to give thanks on a cd, I have to give thanks to Who my talents come from.”
His personal and spiritual background has set the perfect foundation for being on so many artist’s projects, “I think that it’s because I’m pretty easy going, and I love different types and styles and genres of music. It doesn’t matter to me. I consider myself a strong C+ student as far as playing the trumpet, but my work ethic is so high that I’ll get the music and really work on it and learn it so they don’t have to spend time teaching it to me. A lot of being a successful sideman is simply showing up on time and being easy to work with.”
The hardest part for Stafford is finding time in his busy schedule to, so to speak, toot his own horn. “We’re doing a few concerts,” he points out. “We did a week at the Vanguard in New York, we’re going to be playing at the Vail Jazz Festival coming up, as well as a concert at Harrisburg. My problem right now is that I’ve booked myself so tightly as a side man that I don’t have any free dates until next May or June! So, hopefully I can start promoting the disc then.”
It’s the willing role of a servant that has made Stafford such a force in the current music scene. His tribute to a kindred spirit of making someone else look good is a fitting role to play. Check out this latest disc, and come see Stafford, whether up front counting off the tune, or on the side, making the bandleader proud.