Buffalo Music: Legend lived his art

By Jack Nossavage
(Image above: Sam Noto, mid-1970s. Photographer unknown)

On the morning of Thursday, Oct. 16, trumpeter Sam Noto died and so did a piece of jazz history.

Last week, after the news of Sam’s death at age 96 had rippled through the local and international music communities, Elmer Ploetz, the editor for the Buffalo Hive, asked me if I would write something. I agreed, absolutely. Why wouldn’t I? Sam has been a friend and mentor for the better part of 15 years. Of course, I could easily write something about the man, right?  But, then came the hard part. When I sat down to put pen to paper (in my case, a trusty Blackwing 602 and a yellow legal pad), I fumbled through four drafts, each turning into a flabby procedural obituary of sorts that failed to honor my friend.

Jack Nossavage’s must-listen Sam Noto recordings available digitally.

I tried retelling stories from Sam’s youth on Buffalo’s Lower Westside. He was very proud of his Sicilian-American Heritage and loved growing up in the vibrant Italian immigrant enclave of Busti Avenue. Sam’s upbringing helped to nurture the passion with which he lived his entire life.

Then I wrote about Sam’s musical accomplishments. In 1953, at only 23 years old, he was hired by Stan Kenton ahead of a European tour. Sam would spend the next 50 years touring the world recording and performing with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and Dexter Gordon — to name a few.

During Stan Kenton’s 1954 Festival of Modern American Jazz Tour, Sam and Dizzy Gillespie developed a special bond that endured even after Dizzy’s death in 1993. On a day off from the tour, Dizzy asked Sam to accompany him to the Martin Band Instrument Company in Elkhart, Indiana. While meeting with the artisans there, Dizzy produced a sketch his wife Lorraine had drawn. It was the rough image of what would become Dizzy’s bent-bell trumpet and, arguably, the most iconic image in all of jazz history. Only later did Sam realize what he had been witness to. At the time, Sam was simply overjoyed that Dizzy got the folks at Martin to give him a free Martin Committee, the Cadillac of trumpets.

At one point in the process, I made a list of my quintessential Sam Noto recordings, hoping that they would cajole my writers block. That star studded list reads of a who’s-who of jazz music. The recordings themselves are filled with the fiery playing that endeared Sam to so many musicians and fans. The four albums he recorded as a leader for Xanadu in the 1970’s are a reference library for be-bop trumpet playing.

Finally, a little dejected, I went about my week mulling the hundreds of stories Sam shared with me over and over in my head. After all, a man of such great longevity, monumental accomplishments, and larger than life persona is hard to sum up.

Then, one story grabbed me, a bawdy anecdote not for publication, about a gig Sam had played in Niagara Falls back in the 1960s with saxophonist Otis Sutton. Sutton had toured and recorded with jazz organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith. I was not sure if anyone else knew the story, so I had to tell someone who would get it. I called trombonist John Hasselback Jr.

In the late 1980s, John had moved back to Buffalo after graduating from the Hart School of Music, then headed by another jazz legend, saxophonist Jackie McClean. Back here in Buffalo, John found regular work in the pit bands of Kleinhan’s Music Hall, Shea’s Performing Art Center and the Memorial Auditorium. The silver-haired, sixty-something-year-old Sam Noto, who was living in Fort Erie, Ontario, by then, was always a first call trumpeter for those bands. The two hit it off almost immediately, despite the 40-year age gap.

During my conversation with John, we shared stories about Sam’s time with Stan Kenton and Count Basie, retold a few Sam Noto jokes (Sam had a great sense of humor and impeccable comedic timing,) and we discussed why he was such a great jazz musician.

The conclusion we came to was, outside of his obvious talent, the reason Sam Noto is one of the greatest jazz trumpeters was his uncompromising approach to life. Sam Noto has long been celebrated as a musician’s musician. He approached his instrument and his music with guts and heart, always striving to perform at the highest level. He Noto-riously had no patience for half-hearted attempts or tepid efforts. Sam simply cared too much about making the music good to capitulate to anything less.

In a poem entitled “Memoir of a One-Armed Harp Teacher,” John Ciardi wrote, “passion is a crippling hobby, a killing trade.” Sam Noto certainly lived that, but so do all the great artists. For Sam Noto, jazz was not a category on the iTunes store, or a dusty milk crate in a used record shop; it was a way of life.

I have long believed that the measure of a man is not found in his celebrity (of which Sam Noto hardly received his proper due), but instead defined by his impact. Sam Noto took a trumpet around the world, living and performing so authentically, that scores of musicians, fans and friends would not know themselves without him.

In the end, Sam Noto left us with a gift, a road map on how to live 96 and a half years, fully:

• Surround yourself with family and friends
• Travel as often as you can
• Take care of your knees (and your lip, trumpeters)
• Practice your art with uncompromising passion
• Maybe, most of all, be sure to have a lot of fun while you’re doing it

Jack Nossavage is perhaps Buffalo’s foremost jazz historian.

RELATED MEDIA:

• Joey Giambra’s biography of Sam Noto is available as an E-book and as a paperback on Amazon.
• There is an additional trove of information and Sam Noto videos available on the Jazz Giants website.