Such sad news today…Larry Novak, the brilliant Chicago pianist passed away yesterday. I first heard Larry at Rick’s Cafe, a great jazz club in Chicago back in the 1980’s. Larry was playing with Louie Bellson. I was 13 years old, and I’d just started playing saxophone that very year. Little did I know that less than ten years later, not only would Larry and I be good friends, but he actually hired me to play with himself and Louie Bellson on several jazz festivals.
While I didn’t meet Larry personally that first time I heard him, about three years later, I was all of 16 years old, at his house for a jam session with his son, the drum prodigy Gary Novak. After hearing me play, Larry pulled me aside and said some encouraging words, but also told me that I was ready to go to legendary Chicago saxophonist, Joe Daly to study with him. He gave me Joe’s phone number and told me to mention that Larry said I should call. Joe took me on as a student with Larry’s recommendation.
In the years that followed, Larry and I played many gigs together at so many clubs and private events. We always had a blast together, both musically and personally.
I have many great memories of Larry visiting my gig with Judy Roberts at Chambers Restaurant during our long 22 year run there. Larry would sit in, and we’d have instant musical chemistry happening. What a blast!
In more recent years, used to go over to Larry’s house and we’d play together for hours. We also, for several years, we had a fun breakfast hang at Walker Brothers Pancake house. Larry would call me at random times at 10am and I’d say, “Hello?” and he’d say “Walker Brothers in 20 minutes,” I’d meet him over there. We’d eat too many pancakes and talk and laugh about music and all different subjects. Larry had such an uplifting vibe. I always left those breakfasts full of hope and energy. Larry was so supportive of my playing and my teaching. Being a great teacher himself, we spent many hours discussing teaching approaches and stories about working with students. It was very inspiring.
In the early 2000’s, Larry was a huge fan of my duo with Paulinho Garcia (called Two for Brazil), and Larry told me he would be honored to write the liner notes for our CD Two for Brazil Plays the Standards. For anyone reading this post, if you have that CD, check out Larry’s great and insightful liner notes.
This audio track is the only commercial recording I ever did with Larry, and it happened just by chance. I was stopping by Steve Yates recording studio in Morton Grove, IL to pick up a Two For Brazil CD master, and Larry, Nick Tountas, Rusty Jones and Vocalist Mark Pompe were recording an album at that very moment. They asked me if I had my horn with me, and if I’d like to play on a tune for the album. I said “sure” and we did this in one take, all live playing. It was so much fun, and I’m so glad to have this as a memory of playing with Larry. I’ll really miss him. RIP, Larry, and thank you for all of the great music and memories.
