[Dixielandjazz] JIMMY KNEPPER

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates:

Some on the list may not know, about Jimmy Knepper, however the obit is
a good read. He made his living playing jazz trombone and that is a
supreme accomplishment. (Ask Jim Beebe) Knepper was a wonderful man,
great player, and for one reason or another, became inexplicably tied to
the music and persona of Charles Mingus.

He also played in Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Claude Thornhill, Benny
Goodman and Stan Kenton Bands, which are familiar to many on the list.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


June 16, 2003 - New York Times

Jimmy Knepper, Versatile Jazz Trombonist, Dies at 75

By PETER KEEPNEWS

    Jimmy Knepper, a jazz trombonist best known for his productive but
stormy association with Charles Mingus, died on Saturday in Triadelphia,
W.Va. He was 75.

The cause was complications of Parkinson's disease, his wife, Maxine,
said yesterday from their Staten Island home. Mr. Knepper was living
temporarily at the home of his daughter, Robin Rios, in Triadelphia,
Mrs. Knepper said.

Over the course of a career that began when he was in his teens, Mr.
Knepper was a featured soloist in countless bands, big and small. But
his reputation as one of the most original trombonists of his generation
rests largely on the music he made with Mingus from 1957 to 1962.

Mr. Knepper's distinctively gruff sound and loose-limbed phrasing were
essential elements in some of the most celebrated albums by Mingus, the
great bassist and composer, including "The Clown," "Tijuana Moods" and
"Mingus Ah Um."

The jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that Mr. Knepper's "solos with
Mingus are intricate, beautifully structured and complete statements."

But relations between the plain-spoken Mr. Knepper and the notoriously
volatile Mingus were often tense, and they came to an abrupt and violent
turning point during preparations for a New York concert in 1962. Mr.
Knepper recalled in a 1981 interview with Lee Jeske of Down Beat
magazine that in the course
of an argument about Mr. Knepper's role as music copyist for the
concert, Mingus "just kind of slapped me in the mouth," and the blow
"just happened to break off my incisor."

The injury seriously affected Mr. Knepper's embouchure; it took him
several years to regain his full range on the trombone.

Mingus was convicted of third-degree assault (his sentence was
suspended), and a fruitful collaboration was seemingly ended forever.
Surprisingly, though, Mr. Knepper worked with Mingus again in the
1970's, appearing on the album "Let My Children Hear Music" in 1971, at
a Carnegie Hall concert in 1976 and on the last three albums Mingus
recorded before his death in 1979.

Mr. Knepper characterized his return to the Mingus fold as a kind of
grim inevitability.

"It was very depressing to think that I'm linked with this guy for the
rest of my life," he told Down Beat in 1981, referring to his earlier
days with Mingus. "And now I feel the same way."

The link proved enduring: he spent much of the 1980's as a member of
Mingus Dynasty, a group devoted to playing Mingus's music and made up
primarily of former Mingus sidemen.

James Minter Knepper was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 22, 1927. Although
he was not yet 30 when he first worked with Mingus, he was already a
seasoned veteran, having spent time in several big bands, including
those of Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman and Claude Thornhill. During his
five years with Mingus, he continued to work occasionally for other
bandleaders, most notably Stan Kenton. In 1960 he went to Africa with a
small group led by the flutist Herbie Mann, and in 1962 he was a member
of the Benny Goodman ensemble that toured the Soviet Union.

Mr. Knepper recorded only occasionally as a leader or co-leader, and he
never led a band of his own. But if he was something less than a star,
he was greatly admired by fellow musicians for his skill as an
improviser and for his ability to function comfortably and creatively in
any context. He played in the pit bands of several Broadway musicals
and, from 1968 to 1974, with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.
Throughout the 80's and 90's he regularly toured Europe as a freelance
soloist.

In addition to his wife, Maxine, a former jazz trumpeter, and his
daughter, Ms. Rios, he is survived by four grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs.
Knepper's son, Timothy, died in Los Angeles in 1991 at age 34, she said.

Mr. Knepper once said that jazz "shouldn't be taken very seriously" and
that "in a lot of ways, it's just shallow, superficial and
pyrotechnical." But whether or not those words were a true reflection of
his feelings, he always played jazz with great passion and fervor — even
if he found it a less-than-ideal way to make a living.

"It's hard for a jazz musician to live a rational life, unless he has an
independent income or a busy maximum of work," he said in 1977. "You
really have to be dedicated to the music to be able to survive."