email: themenschmidt@t-online.de
© Hans-Joachim Schmidt, themen Verlag Köln
OSCAR 1922-1945 | OSCAR 1946-1949 | OSCAR 1950-1955 | OSCAR 1956 |
Coover Gazdar wrote the very first OP discography. It was called "First Bass. The Oscar Pettiford Discography", and published in Bangalore, India, in 1991. I asked George Chacko for his memories of Coover Gazdar. He sent a fine personal portrait. Here is what George wrote:
Dear Hans-Joachim:
I have been struggling for the last few weeks to think of what I could write about Coover Gazdar that would not be trite and I have to say that I feel unequal to this task. I contacted Mrs. Gazdar and she was enthusiastic about the idea but I still feel that I would not do him justice. This is all I could some up with. It may not be suitable for distribution or of interest to other collectors and I apologize for my poor writing. Of more interest to you may be that his collection of music was donated to East Stroudsberg Univ on the East Coast of the US.
best wishes
George Chacko
My interactions with Coover Gazdar were in two different dimensions; as the family veterinarian in Bangalore, India, and as a fledgling listener of jazz. I first met him on a visit to inspect the dachshunds, Pino and Jethro. This would have been in 1986 or early 1987...I was a young veterinarian just out of college.
Coover was distinctive in appearance almost intimidating. I remember that he was usually clad in white shorts which was not typical of the times and style. He moved in a distinctive way- much like a long-legged bird such as a crane. He had a clear rasping voice, seemed to smoke Marlboros incessantly, and appeared accustomed to giving orders. I don't think I really registered in his consciousness the first time we met and I felt no compulsion to engage him in conversation. However, he seemed latently likeable.
A few weeks later, a friend of mine mentioned during idle conversation that he had heard of a jazz discographer with a huge collection of music called Coover Gazdar. This prompted me to rather diffidently mention on my next visit that I had some interest in jazz. Coover mentioned, quite casually too, that he 'had a few records himself' and took me down to his basement where he spent the next hour playing carefully selected track after track for me and explaining what he liked about each one. I sat there in delight saying very little.
This was a wonderful introduction to analytical jazz listening. My previous exposure had been limited to a lecture by Willis Conover, reading the Sound of Surprise by Balliett, and trying to listen to jazz on shortwave radio. The visit to the basement was the first of several such delightful visits- there would have been more except that the dogs were quite healthy. I left India in 1989 to attend graduate school in the US where I live now. I kept in touch with Coover by mail. I think he was always slightly amused by the musicians I'd recently listened to. Frank Morgan - a mere Parker clone to him. Frank Vignola - never heard of him and so on. When I told him I'd started listening to Art Pepper he seemed to heave a sigh of relief and sent me a tape of Pepper he'd made in Copenhagen in 1981. He wrote of how he'd found himself next to Pepper in the mens room in a club in New York. He suggested to me that I start listening to Fats Navarro and Oscar Pettiford. I visited India in 1996 but he was abroad on one of his trips. We kept in touch after that and then I heard that he'd most unfortunately passed away. I wrote to his wife shortly after and she told me that she was amazed how many people's lives he'd touched and I think that is a wonderful description of him. I think of him as an immensely likeable man of of extraordinary kindness and sensitivity. I hope this very approximate description adds a human touch to the Pettiford discographer. There are obviously those who knew him far better such as his family and I don't claim to be a close friend or a confidant of his. I was merely one of those he touched.
OSCAR 1922-1945 | OSCAR 1946-1949 | OSCAR 1950-1955 | OSCAR 1956 |
email: themenschmidt@t-online.de
© Hans-Joachim Schmidt, themen Verlag Köln