Biography
John LaPorta once appeared destined to rank among the foremost clarinetists in modern jazz. His cool tonal quality and highly evolved approach, shaped by Lennie Tristano, cast him as the clarinet counterpart to Lee Konitz. Engagements with the orchestras of Bob Chester from 1942 to 1944 and Woody Herman from 1944 to 1946 formed part of his résumé, yet the 1947 sessions he cut with Tristano carried greater weight. After studying privately with Tristano, LaPorta became a member of the Jazz Composers' Workshop in 1953 together with Charles Mingus and Teo Macero, a collective intent on fusing classical procedures with jazz. He documented material alongside Mingus in 1954 before the bassist shifted course, and he himself headed dates for Debut, Fantasy, and Everest across the span of 1954 to 1958. LaPorta ultimately elected an academic route, joining the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Berklee, after which live appearances grew rare. He resurfaced in the studio for a 1999 date later issued as Life Cycle. Fantasy subsequently re-released his 1956 album Conceptions as Themes and Variations, appending more than a dozen previously unheard performances. A vanguard pioneer and a formative influence on generations of students across four decades of instruction, John LaPorta died in May 2004 at the age of eighty-four.
Albums
