John Daley, jazz musician
deb...@comcast.net
Connie Cone Sexton
The Arizona Republic
May. 31, 2005 12:00 AM
For those who call John Daley a great jazz musician, it isn't because
he could hit all the right notes.
It isn't because he got to play with the big names in the business.
And it isn't because he got to play at Carnegie Hall. advertisement
John Daley was a great jazz musician, they say, because he wasn't
afraid to immerse himself into great jazz, striving for the heart and
soul of the music, recognizing that it was more than what was on the
page; it was how he could fit in with the sound.
Fellow musicians loved to play beside Daley, a man who could follow a
lead and then seamlessly take control. Daley knew the workings of a
jazz group without having to see the musical charts for each player.
It was effortless. Or, at least, he made it look that way.
Friends, family and colleagues will gather Sunday to play tribute to
Daley in the best way they know how, with a jam fest.
Daley died May 22 of heart complications. The longtime Phoenix jazz
bass player, whose professional career started in New York and lasted
more than 30 years, was 74.
A public memorial will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday in the Garden
Room at the Wrigley Mansion, 2501 E. Telawa Trail. The event is free
but donations will be accepted for his family.
Valley jazz patrons may have known Daley best for the nearly 10 years
he spent performing five nights a week at Remington's at the Scottsdale
Plaza Resort.
Valley pianist Joel Robin met Daley in 1983 and they played together
ever since.
"He was a spiritual person," Robin said. "He had such a presence about
him, he just commanded respect by his nature."
Daley's approach to music was more than just notes, Robin said.
"It was about feeling and communicating with other people through the
music. From the very beginning, it was never about the notes."
Daley did very little reading of sheet music but it was impossible to
call out a tune that he didn't know. He played mostly from his heart
and his ears. He was very aware of the other players, responding to the
rise and fall of what they were playing.
It wasn't that he didn't have training. As a young man in 1950, Daley
attended the Bronx Music Center Conservatory. At the time, he played
the piano, vibes and guitar. During lunchtime, he and fellow students
had jam sessions and piano players were in plentiful supply. He
realized there were jobs for bass players, so he switched.
>From 1972 to 1975, he studied theory, composition, music history and
bass violin at Columbia University.
After playing for years in New York, Daley moved to Arizona.
Daley was married three times, the last to his current wife, Loretto.
They had been together for 15 years.
Daley had a smile that filled a room, she said.
But it was more than just that outward appearance that drew her to him.
It was his aura, she said, adding, "It's like when you fall into
somebody and you know you were just meant to be with them."