Scott LaFaro bass. He played in groups at the College Spa and Joe's Restaurant on State Street in downtown Ithaca. Beginning in 1955, he was a member of the Buddy Morrow big band. He left that organization to work in Los Angeles. LaFaro spent most of his days practicing his instrument. He practiced with a clarinet book to improve his facility. Bassist Red Mitchell taught him how to pluck strings with both the index and middle fingers independently. For much of 1958 he was with Victor Feldman's band. In 1959, after working with Chet Baker, Stan Kenton, Cal Tjader, and Benny Goodman,
Benny Goodman reports spread word of the exciting music and enthusiastic dancing. The Palomar engagement was such a marked success that it is often described as the beginning of the swing era. According to Donald Clarke, "It is clear in retrospect that the Swing Era had been waiting to happen, but it was Goodman and his band that touched it off." The reception of American swing was less enthusastic in Europe. British author J. C. Squire filed a complaint with BBC radio and to demand it stop playing Goodman's music, which he called "an awful series of jungle noises which can hearten