Tributes

Of all the many things I do financially and spiritually, the Jim Knapp Orchestra is at the top of my list. Jim Knapp — or James Knapp, as he is also known — is a writer with very few peers. He is as good as it gets in my opinion. Jim’s writing has so many unusual colors and textures, there are many treats for the ear tucked away in all of his arrangements. For a serious player it is a lot of fun to play his music because it demands near perfect tuning and dynamics, and the lines are sometimes really a challenge — and so are the rhythms. To be engaged on so many levels at once is actually what it’s all about. There is also the unquantifiable aspect to Jim’s music that is really the most important: the passion and humor and pathos — all the emotional stuff that has made music so important to me.

Jim Knapp is a very good trumpet player; actually, I would say more than good. But most know him from his composing and arranging.

The thing is, the Jim Knapp Orchestra was in the wrong city for making a big splash on the jazz scene. But it was a strong group with highly developed arranging of the first order. There is only one Jim Knapp. Jim has a theory book with his take on harmony, and many people smarter than I have embraced it. I know Seattle is known for Nirvana and Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, but the real artistic giant — Jim Knapp — has been a well-guarded secret.

Oh well, Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.

— Jay Thomas, from Life and Jazz Stories

Like so many of my Facebook friends, I was very sad to hear of Jim Knapp’s passing. A person’s current state in life is the result of the sum total of their experiences, along with their own “wiring.” Jim Knapp was a huge part of my own awakening as a jazz composer/arranger.

As a high school student I had written a few big band charts. When I heard the University of Illinois Jazz Band at the Collegiate Jazz Festival — 1967, I think — I was blown away, and decided that I wanted to go to school there. A major part of being blown away was a piece called “They Just,” written by one Jim Knapp.

I entered the U. of I. in the fall of ‘67, and Jim was still there, in the doctoral program. I got to know him over the next couple of years. He was writing beautiful music for the big band there. They would divide the brass into two sections — the “mellow brass” (two flügelhorns, baritone horn, French horn, tuba) on one side, and the “brilliant brass” (two trumpets, two trombones) on the other side, with the rhythm section in the middle. Jim could get stereo back-and-forth between the two sections. I’d never heard anything like this before. I got to know Jim better when we were both members of the U. of I. Jazz Band on our six-week tour of the Soviet Union in 1969. He was such a lyrical, thoughtful player. Nothing superfluous, no extraneous crap. I believed every note.

Jim finished his degree and ended up in Seattle, teaching at the Cornish Institute. We stayed in touch a little. In ‘81 I joined Stan Getz’s quartet. So I had a bit of a reputation, and in ‘83 Jim brought me out to Seattle as a guest with his Composers and Improvisors Orchestra. I’d written a few arrangements but was, typically, behind schedule. I remember sitting up with Jim most of the night before the first rehearsal, with him helping me copy parts. I was stressed, he was cool.

I met up with him one time when he was in residence in Berlin. His 13-piece orchestra played at the International Association for Jazz Education convention one year. It was absolutely stunning. The writing, the blend and balance were perfect. Duly humbled, McNeely crawled back to the drawing board.

I knew that Jim’s health had deteriorated. We spoke on the phone a few times in the last year. Most recently about a month ago. He seemed in good spirits. Joan had passed away not long before, so I knew that he must have been grieving. But we had a good conversation, all hopeful about the future. That’s all you can do, I guess.

One of the times he’d come down to the Vanguard, I introduced him to another member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as, “This is Jim Knapp. He is the first mother****r I ever met.” And I meant that nasty word in the best possible way. Brilliant musician, great teacher, and a humble, sweet, generous man. Rest in peace, dear friend.