Larry Rockwell

I fell in love with Jazz as a child, trying to master boogie-woogie bass lines on the piano. I did it by ear and by people showing me things. My high school had a dance band, but they had a classical pianist who could read fly specks. A friend of mine was the bassist with the band and showed me the bass line to Tuxedo Junction. Irredeemably hooked, I pursued a career in Jazz. Am I glad!

1955 Co-founded Northwest Jazz workshop in Seattle

1956 Joined a road band that dropped me in New York City

1957 Played with various weekend bands that worked out of New York City. Most importantly, though, I participated in the loft and club Jazz scene in the New York of that day. We could go to sessions for two or three weeks every night without repeating a place--that's where I learned Jazz.

1959 Dakota Staton at Storyville, Cape Cod

1960 Woody Herman band

1961 Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown School (The Advanced School of Contemporary Music), Toronto

1964-65 Sarah Vaughan, touring the world with the greatest singer of the century

1967-70 Manhattan School of Music, Performance Degree in bass

1971 Dizzy Gillespie Quintet

1971-82 Gigs and study around New York City

1984-89 Tres Jazz Trio, Las Vegas

1994 Page Cavanaugh Trio

1998-99 Jeter-Rockwell Jazz Junction

To sum up my philosophy of playing jazz: I'm proud to be a part of America's indigenous art form. I love the music and love playing and writing it. I find that as a bassist I sound best when doing my utmost to make the soloist or singer sound as good as possible--keep on swingin'.