“When an old friend or family member passes away I usually go through 3 stages of mourning, grief, anger and acceptance. First I feel the weight of losing someone's spirit and soul from this earth. There are tears but also wonderful memories that come bubbling to the surface. Most of all the feeling of loss from never being able to see or speak to them again.
Then comes the anger. That stage is more complex. It can be anger at the cosmos for taking a person away who was one of the few truly good people that you knew. Someone that was kind and thoughtful to the people they knew. Someone whose music you admired and will never hear them play again.
By now I've had so many of the people I loved and admired both in and out of the music business leave the planet I'm very familiar with these stages of mourning but this time I thought I would ease my anger by writing about my dear friend Jim Rotondi the way he should have been written about during his lifetime.
First of all Jim Rotondi was a trumpet master of the highest order. He was without a doubt one of the greatest trumpet masters of this era. I remember working at Augies way back in the day and hearing some recording during the break that I knew had to be Freddie Hubbard but when I checked it was a very young Jim Rotondi. I'm no slouch when it comes to blindfold tests so it really knocked me out and I immediately had great respect for Jim. He kept himself on that high level his entire life. He had a sound that could be fire on fast tempos, get greasy on middle tempos and absolutely beautiful on ballads. He had one of the nicest flugelhorn sounds I've heard from anyone throughout the history of this music.
His writing was also on a par with his playing. He was a true melodist with a talent for thinking of just the right harmonies and rhythms to make those melodies sound both super hip and soulful.
He should have been at the top of all the polls and playing in every top venue in the world with a talent like that. Not that he wasn't doing well, but it's always a mystery when someone who is truly the real deal with such a unique style and an incredible sound gets ignored by the people that could have put him where he truly belonged. Don't misunderstand because he was very happy with his life in Graz and he loved his life with his wife Julie in France so he was not what you'd consider a suffering artist by any stretch. I'm thinking more about his earlier years because he was already fully formed at 25. That's when things start to happen and when the chosen ones, for one reason or another, get the break that places their careers in that top 1% level.
I know the term "it has nothing to do with music" is the most obvious answer but please allow me to say this, when someone like that leaves us suddenly and too soon the chance to give them the opportunities they truly deserved end. THAT is what angers me. Who are these people that are in charge and WHY DON'T THEY MAKE IT ABOUT THE MUSIC?? How long are we going to continue to shrug our shoulders at that idiotic phrase like it's somehow OK and we just have to accept the fact that ignorance steers the boat. Wouldn't it be nice if the people in charge really KNEW something about music instead of basing their embrace of new talent on a guessing game using IG metrics as their main tool? And that's only the latest "jazz for dummies" tool that's been created for them. When a true great leaves us it's too late and "they" have blown it again!
OK - that's the anger part, then acceptance sets in and I know that Jim loved his life and all of that dumb music biz stuff had no affect on his playing nor his happiness. If anything I think he far surpassed any of the expectations he had about where he'd wind up in his life and that gives me comfort when saying goodbye to him for the last time. Success is not something like playing at the Village Vanguard as a leader, it's to love and be loved. From all the posts about Jim on FB he had made it to the top of the "highest mountain" which is what Clifford Jordan called friendship. Again my heart goes out to his wife Julie who Jim loved from the very first time they met.
RIP Tunj! I bet when you saw God after walking through the pearly gates you gave him a big smile and said AND HOWAYOU!”
