Herman Riley - R.I.P.

[Valerie]

Tenorman, Herman Riley's passing yesterday was an enormous loss for the entire jazz community but to Los Angeles even more so. He was/is one of our very favorite musicians as he excelled, beyond par, on his instruments and was a warm, loving, sweet, generous human being. And no one was a more soulful musician. Herman was only 73 and had been battling various medical problems for quite awhile, but even within the last month was still playing his butt off!!

I will post the obit when it is available.

[Ron Thorne]

Curiously, AMG lists Herman Riley's DOB as August 31, 1940. I'll never understand why some music sites can't seem to get important data correct. Regardless, this is an especially painful loss for the jazz community in Los Angeles.

I'm sorry that I never had the pleasure to hear Herman in-person.



R.I.P., Herman Riley~

[Valerie]

Saxophonist Herman Riley died this weekend.

My favorite ever piece of writing I ever did in the Weekly was about Herman Riley. Thought I'd repeat it here. It was the result of an incredible half hour interview, Herman just spinning out his life story. It was so hard to boil down to its very essence. But then I thought about how he did that in his playing, and the words just rolled out. When he read it he told me that it was one of the first times he had ever seen anything in print about him. Just about him. I couldn't believe that this man, this extraordinary saxophonist, had been ignored by the jazz media who really ought to know better. This man deserved reams of coverage. But getting 200 words and a picture made him happy. He left a phone message I still treasure afterward. I don't think a writer knows what to do then. You dash off a few words about a man, a man's artistry, a man's life and more people read that than have probably ever heard this man front a quartet. A couple hundred words are absolutely nothing. Not a damn thing. They didn't even draw a crowd....Charlie O's was sparse that night. I didn't even show. This town never did realize just how extraordinary Herman Riley was. How he could move you. How you could get utterly lost in his ballad playing. His notes fade away into memory. And when we go, the memories go.

God damn I am bummed. I once I asked him when he was going to record again. He only had a single album released sometime in the '80's and impossibly to find. He said he was thinking about it, but wanted to wait until he was ready.

Oh well.

Rest in peace, Mr. Riley. I can hear you now in my head, stretching out the notes of a ballad, till nothing remained but air and a room stilled, listening, feeling your feelings in their bones .

Brick
LA Weekly


HERMAN RILEY

Lockjaw and Prez made him pick up the saxophone. That was in New Orleans, back when “Iko, Iko” was new. By ’63 he was in L.A., playing Marty’s every night, with players — Sonny Rollins, everybody — dropping by, sitting in. Steady work with Basie and the Juggernaut and Blue Mitchell. Twenty years with Jimmy Smith. A million sessions for Motown and Stax, and first call for a slew of singers — that’s where you refine those ballad skills. Live, he slips into “In a Sentimental Mood,” and everything around you dissolves. There’s his sound: rich, big, full of history — a little sad, maybe — blowing Crescent City air. He gets inside the very essence of that tune, those melancholy, ascending notes, till it fades, pads closing, in a long, drawn-out sigh. You swear it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard, that song, that sound, and you tell him so. He shrugs. “It’s a lifetime of experience,” he says, then calls out some Monk and is gone.

-Brick Wahl

http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/music-picks/14237/

[clinthopson]

I am very sad at this news.

I got to know Herman a bit over the years. He was a lovely fellow.

Once we had Herman, Plas Johnson and Art Hillary at a charity fund raiser. Herman and Plas tore up the place. They even did a bari duet.

One of my favorite recordings with Herman was Vol 1 & 2 of Lorez Alexandria doing the Johnny Mercer Songbook.. Herman was the horn man along with Guildo Mahones on piano, I can't recall the bass and drum players. Lorez, of course, was outstanding and Herman was fantastic.

I talked to Herman about this set and he recalled it very fondly but said he never got a copy of the records. I burned copies and sent them to Herman. The next time I saw him, I think it was with Gerald Wilson's band, he expressed his gratitude and acknowledged that he did kick some butt on those sessions.

Au revoir, Herman.

[Valerie]

KJZZ announced this morning that services will be held on Wed., 4/25, at the Crenshaw Christian Center at 12 noon. i believe the address is 7901 South Vermont.

[Chris Siebert]

We knew and loved Herman Riley, and decided to register for this site when we saw the loving tributes posted here. We'd like share our thoughts about this wonderful man with those of you who loved him and his music. Herman was one of our favorite people on the planet, and one of the most soulful musicians that we've ever heard. It is an honor to have known him and been onstage with him.

In the mid-1990's, Chris saw Jimmy Smith at a free outdoor concert in San Francisco organized by the SF Jazz festival. Jimmy's band included Christian McBride and Mark Whitfield, but it was the Tenor player who stole the show. Chris didn't catch his name, and for years, he wondered who the Tenor player was who had burned down the house that afternoon.

Some years later, in the late '90's, we were looking for a good Tenor player to work with us in LA, and Lavay called up Johnny Otis for a recommendation. Johnny gave us Plas Johnson's number, and Plas, not being available, gave us a phone number of a Sax player named Herman Riley who was originally from New Orleans. We showed up for the gig, at the Derby in Los Feliz, and Chris was floored when he realized that Herman was the Sax player that he had wondered about for years!

Herman became one of our favorite people and musicians from that moment on. He and his wife Thelma, who insisted that we call her "Mama T", had huge hearts, and they invited our entire band over to their home for dinner. Their generosity and hospitality were boundless.

Much to our delight, Herman played many shows with us when we would go on tour in Southern California. We were very fortunate to have Herman play on our last album. We flew him up to San Francisco, and he left a lasting impression on all of the musicians at the session with his gracious, supportive, charming manner and his unbelievably soulful playing. We still listen to his solos on that album all the time. He was as good as it gets, and his playing sums up what we love about music.

We'll miss you, Herman.

Sincerely,
Chris Siebert and Lavay Smith

[Valerie]

chris and lavay: thank you so much for posting. it warmed my heart. all i can say is a very hearty "amen" to what you've said about our beloved herman. i've also had the pleasure of hearing you guys and you're pretty soulful yourselves. i think it was a couple of festival productions events i heard you at most recently. you even very kindly gave me a cd of yours when i was your driver at a pre-playboy gig in beverly hills.

thank you again for sharing your love of herman. it is such an enormous loss for our jazz community - his unbelievable talent and the exceptionally beautiful person he was.

best,

valerie bishop

[clinthopson]

Thanks Chris and Lavay for that wonderful tribute to one of our local treasures.

It's unfortunate that Herman wasn't better known. He was a great talent who always connected with the audience.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks to Chris and Lavay for their eloquent testimony to the man, Herman Riley, and his passion for people and music.

[Allears]

I had the opportunity to enjoy one of Mr. Riley's last performances in Pasadena, CA a couple of months ago. Sorry to hear of his passing. He played great.

However, his passing also provided me the opportunity to discover this forum.

Here's a photo for posterity.

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by Allears

I had the opportunity to enjoy one of Mr. Riley's last performances in Pasadena, CA a couple of months ago. Sorry to hear of his passing. He played great.

However, his passing also provided me the opportunity to discover this forum.

Here's a photo for posterity.

thank you so much allears. glad you got to experience this very wonderful musician.

reminder to all: herman's service is tomorrow.

[clinthopson]

Herman Riley, 73; jazz saxophone player was a favorite of vocalists
By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Times Staff Writer
April 25, 2007

Herman Riley, the jazz saxophonist whose hard-driving, soulful playing as a sideman and accompanist with such artists as Count Basie and Jimmy Smith earned him critical acclaim, died of heart failure April 14 at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City. He was 73.

Riley was a favorite of vocalists because of his ability to play well without overpowering singers.

"There are some musicians … who certainly shine as soloists out front," said musician and longtime friend George Bohanon. "But when you have to support someone — not get in their way but enhance what they're doing — that's a special talent. He's the greatest at that. He'd play one or two notes and you'd beg him to play another."

In the mid-1990s Riley began playing with jazz vocalist Lavay Smith and recorded on her 2000 album "Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout Miss Thing!" For Smith, Riley's playing represented a rare link to a generation of musicians whose music she was too young to have heard performed live.

"The way he played was everything I love about jazz," Smith said. "He was so unbelievably soulful. When I listen to the record he recorded with us, I love it. It's just as good as it gets."

Born Aug. 31, 1933, in New Orleans, Riley grew up with jazz. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., and performed with the marching band until his draft notice came. While serving a two-year stint in the Army, he played with a military band.

After leaving the Army he attended what is now called San Diego City College and later moved to Los Angeles. In 1956 he married Thelma Mitchell, who survives him along with daughter Shenell Riley Boone, grandson Ethan Boone and two brothers. Riley and his wife also had a son, Patrick Riley, who died.

Riley was playing with trumpeter Bobby Bryant's band at a Los Angeles club on Broadway in the 1960s when he met Fred Jackson, a fellow musician who would become a lifelong friend. The two played at the Cocoanut Grove and later with the band that played for "Sammy and Company," a television show featuring Sammy Davis Jr. that aired in the 1970s. The two shared many late night meals and conversations about music.

"His primary goal was to attain that level of spontaneity, that comes from building the vocabulary in jazz," Jackson said. "He loved Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane. We talked about the dues that they paid and our willingness to pay dues like that to get to that level."

Over the years, Riley recorded one album as leader, "Herman," released in 1984. He played on the albums of several other artists, including Smith, singer Etta James and guitarist Kenny Burrell. Riley played all the saxophones, flute and clarinet. Because of his commitment to the music, Riley not only had the skills but also knew the history of the music.

"He had strong New Orleans roots, but was very broad in his concept," Bohanon said. "He could play the blues or very straight-ahead jazz, and very soulful music. You couldn't stereotype him. Any music he was involved in — he would enhance it because he had such a strong personality."

With Bohanon's mentorship program, "The Cultural Link," Riley visited schools and taught students about the music.

"He loved the music so much," Bohanon said. "He made the students understand, it's not just the notes. It's all about a feeling, a culture, that all this music comes from."

A service for Riley will be held at noon today in the main auditorium of the Crenshaw Christian Center, 7901 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

[Valerie]

thanks so much for posting the obit, clint. i was just about to do it.

can't help but think about kenny burrell who has experienced at least three huge losses recently with his son's passing, sherman ferguson and now herman. and so it goes.