Remembering "Fats" Navarro

Latin Beat Magazine, Sept, 2000 by Carlos A. Iramain

Theodore "Fats" Navarro (also known as "Fat Girl") was born in Key West, Florida on September 24, 1923 of mixed Afro-Cuban-Chinese parentage. This jazz trumpeter, considered one the very best in the history of jazz music, was born into a family full of musical influence. His father, Teodoro Navarro, was a barber and amateur pianist and his third cousin, Charlie Shavers, was a swing-era trumpeter. Fats' mother was Miriam Williams.

Fats died at the young age of 26 in New York City on July 7, 1950 at Bellevue Hospital. He was inflicted with tuberculosis, which was further complicated by his addiction to heroin. He was survived by his father, who passed away in 1957, his wife Rena, who passed in 1975, and his daughter Linda K. Navarro who is still alive and living in Seattle, Washington. Fats is buried in a New Jersey cemetery, just outside New York City.

Although deceased so young, Fats left his mark on the world of jazz music. In 1982, he was elected by the International Jazz Critics into the Down Beat Hall of Fame. In 1999, Navarro and other Hall of Famers were further honored during the inauguration of CityJazz,(a jazz club and museum), at Universal CityWalk in a joint effort between Down Beat Magazine and Universal Studios Florida in Orlando.

So when did Fats embark on his legacy of music? Fats began playing piano at age six and then took up the trumpet at age 13. He played in local bands as a teenager, sometimes doubling on tenor sax, and toured with the orchestras of Sol Albright (1941), Snookum Russell (1941- 1942), Andy Kirk and The Clouds of Joy (1943-1944) and Billy Eckstine (1945-1946). In the latter, he replaced famed trumpeter "Dizzy" Gillespie.

Interestingly enough, Navarro took his first recorded solos with Eckstine on the tunes Love Me Or Leave Me (an air shot from the Plantation Club in Hollywood, CA in February 1945), Long, Long Journey (October 1945) and Tell Me Pretty Baby (March 1946).

Ira Gitler, a well-known critic, suggests, "As an influence, Navarro was important almost immediately after he first made his presence felt in the mid-'40s with the Billy Eckstine band. Kenny Dorham was affected early in his career and you could hear Fats in "Red" Rodney too. Then, of course, came Clifford Brown and through him Navarro has indirectly influenced so many of the young trumpeters playing today..." (for example: Benny Bailey, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Sam Noto, Woody Shaw and even Roy Hargrove).

At age 22, upon leaving Eckstine, Navarro remained in New York City and made that his base of operations for the next four years. At that time he stated, "I must play in small bands. You can't learn anything in big bands. I hope I never work with one again. You know -- no chance to really play, no progress." Despite these feelings, however, Navarro did work in another big band -- Lionel Hampton's orchestra in 1948.

Navarro left a legacy of about 150 recorded sides (including air shots) of phenomenal consistent quality. For example, he recorded with drummer Kenny Clarke, saxophonists Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet, Don Lanphere and Charlie Parker, pianists Tadd Dameron (a very important affiliation) and Bud Powell, and clarinetist Benny Goodman.

It must be emphasized that Navarro did not make bad records. He told critic Barry Ulanov, "I'd like to just play a perfect melody of my own, all the chord progressions right, the melody original and fresh -- my own." Critic and historian Joe Goldberg responded by saying, "That's all he wanted. Just that -- but it is everything! In jazz it is the Grail. It is why we listen. A spontaneous original melody, based on, but superior to, the material at hand."

Navarro's jazz style was both full of great influences as well as his own artistry. Dizzy Gillespie remarked, "Navarro picked up on me when he was with Andy Kirk's band in the early forties. But I think Dud Bascomb was a big influence as well."

Dizzy continued, "Fats had his own ideas, though. He could play the shit out of the trumpet...in fact, Fats probably had the best attack of all of us and attack is the nub, the essence of the trumpet." Furthermore, it is known that trumpeters Howard McGhee, Freddie Webster and Charlie Shavers all played roles in shaping Navarro's unique style.

Navarro was a sensational improviser. He was very technical, had an enormous, clear and beautiful sound, while using very little vibrato. Moreover, his phrases were swinging, soulful and highly melodic. In summary, he was a virtuoso soloist.

Excellent examples of Navarro's solos can be found on Fat Girl and Nostalgia (on Goin' To Minton's, Savoy/Atlantic) and Our Delight and Boperation (from The Complete Blue Note and Capitol Recordings of "Fats" Navarro and Tadd Dameron, 2 -Blue Note).

Fellow trumpeter Joe Newman adds this about Navarro: "He had everything a trumpet player needs -- soul, a good lip, continuity and a good sound; one of those big butter sounds. A guy with as much as he had to work with couldn't have failed if he had remained level-headed.'"