Pat LaBarbera, Saxophonist/Jazz Educator
Pat LaBarbera is a well-known saxophonist who has played with Elvin Jones, the Buddy Rich Band, Woody Herman, Louie Bellson and his own groups. He taught at Skidmore College in New York and Humber College in Toronto. He was a faculty member at Jamey Aebersold’s summer jazz camps for nearly 20 years.
His brothers John LaBarbera (arranger/composer) and Joe LaBarbera (drummer) are also familiar fixtures in the world of jazz.
LaBarbera has lived in Toronto since 1974 and is an active recording/performing artist there. He most recently served as the Musical Director for the 2021 Juno Awards, Canada’s Grammy Awards.
How did you learn about the Aebersold Play-A-Longs?
I was one of the ones who got one of the first recordings, because I was on Buddy Rich’s band in 1968, and the piano player was the first piano player on that Play-A-Long record.
He told me, ‘You know, I have just recorded this thing with a guy named Jamey Aebersold called a Play-A-Long where you can actually play this record and then play along with it.’ He was really enthused about it.
So he called Jamey—we were playing in Chicago—and Jamey and David Baker drove to Chicago with a bunch of these books and records, and I bought one. At that time, I used to carry a record player on the road—a small record player—so I could kind of play along with it in the hotel room.
Then we (Jamey and I) struck up a friendship and anytime I was on the road I would call him, we would send each other things, I would talk to him about certain records I had listened to. Then after that, he started hiring me for his summer jazz camp. So I did that for 15 or 20 years.
How have you used the Aebersold Play-A-Longs?
I went through the whole history of teaching with those things. First, it was the LP—you’d drop the needle for a student. Then came the (cassette) tape, which was even harder, because you had to run through the thing, and then when CDs came in…they were perfect.
I bought a Play-A-Long every year, and then, because I worked for him, when a new one came out, Jamey would send one to me in the mail. The (Aebersold jazz camp) faculty would get one for free. He knew we would be using it in our teaching.
And now, I’ve got them all on my phone, so if I want to play along with it I just put my headphones in, if I’m on the road.
I also have this. (He pulled out a big leather binder with a master sheet listing all the tunes and every Play-A-Long CD volume.) If I’m looking for a certain song, the master sheet tells you which CD it’s on. They’re all in numerical sequence, so I just pick them out.
Do you have certain favorites among the Aebersold Play-A-Longs?
I like the Bill Evans one and I like the standards one. I use the Charlie Parker one and the Coltrane. But I tend to favor the ones that are more chord change-oriented, like his Volume 1. There’s one called “Miles of Modes,” which I really love.
What should people who are not jazz educators and performers understand about the value of the Aebersold Play-A-Longs?
First of all, everything is correct, so you’re not learning something that’s incorrect.
Jamey has done a really good job of finding, usually, the best keys, the correct melodies, for a lot of these intricate charts like Charlie Parker, and the correct chord changes. So that if you’re learning from that sheet, you’re going to learn a very good set of basic chord changes that everybody is using.