Phil Schaap Jazz Collection

Introduction

Marjorie Alice Wood Schaap is backstage at the 1956 Randall’s Island Jazz Festival with her five-year-old son Phil. A man standing nearby is talking to the young woman, insisting that he take her to meet Joe Williams, current singer of the famous Count Basie Orchestra. She makes a snide comment to deter him:

That’s alright, I think Jimmy Rushing was a much better singer for the band anyway.

While the first man appears dejected, another man nearby agrees with her:

Madame I heard that – that was wonderful. You have excellent taste.

Marjorie responds:

You think that’s something? My little boy knows even more than I do.

The man now turns to talk to the boy:

Young man, do you know who Prince Robinson is?

The boy begins to speak, with poise beyond his years:

Yes sir, he was a tenor player for McKinney’s Cotton Pickers.

The man is amazed. He turns back to Marjorie:

Madame, you’ve got yourself a new babysitter.^{1 2}

The man was Jo Jones, world renowned drummer of the Count Basie Orchestra. At just five years old, the young Phil Schaap had made his first of many connections in the jazz world.

Early Life

Philip van Noorden Schaap was born on April 8, 1951, in Queens, New York. His mother Marjorie was a librarian and classically trained pianist with an ear for jazz, and his father Walter was a notable jazz fan and scholar.³ After gaining local popularity by bringing American jazz records to France when he began postgraduate studies at the Sorbonne, Walter became a regular on the European jazz scene and in the academic world, where he wrote, edited, and translated many important jazz scholarly texts and articles from French to English.⁴ As a friend to many important musicians, Walter Schaap celebrated holidays with Coleman Hawkins, traveled with Benny Carter, taught French to Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, and taught English to Django Reinhardt.⁵

Walter and Marjorie’s love for music, outgoing personalities, and connections to the jazz scene would rub off on Phil throughout his youth. The family moved to the house where Marjorie grew up in Hollis, Queens in 1956, where they lived in close proximity to famous musicians such as Lester Young, Buck Clayton, and Milt Hinton. Inquisitive from a young age, Phil would spend hours at the homes of these musicians, whom he would later call his “jazz grandfathers.”⁶ They admired the young Schaap for his sharp memory, ability to ask informed questions about jazz, and willingness to listen and soak up information. Walter would drop Phil off at Jo Jones’ home early in the morning on workdays, where they would watch cartoons while listening to jazz records all day, before Phil was quizzed by the great drummer on what he heard.⁷ If Marjorie ever questioned the education Jones was giving the young Phil, he would simply pull a random book off the shelf and give it to the boy to read, proving that he was learning, despite the unconventional methods.⁸

WKCR and Early Career

In 1969, Schaap began his undergraduate education at Columbia University. He found radio to be his calling very quickly, an outlet where he could share his knowledge and love of music to all who tuned in. He debuted on WKCR, Columbia’s radio station, on February 2, 1970.⁹ The station was in a period of transition in the late 60s, with the student staff attempting to break away from the academic feel of the station, giving more attention to popular artists like Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead. As an alternative, Schaap and his peers proposed that WKCR begin broadcasting jazz, as the genre had seen a significant decline in popularity. The students wanted not only to preserve jazz, but to reframe the way it was presented to younger audiences.¹⁰

Radio was not the only way in which Schaap involved himself with the New York jazz scene. He took over music programming at the West End Cafe, a borderline defunct venue near Columbia, which rapidly grew in popularity as Schaap booked the swing era musicians he grew up around, such as saxophonist Earle Warren and trumpet player Roy Eldridge.¹¹ Additionally, Schaap began managing The Countsmen – a band of Basie Band alumni, many of whom were out of work by the early 1970s – and featured them prominently at the West End.¹² Schaap maintained both of these positions from his undergraduate years until the early 1990s.

Phil Schaap graduated from Columbia University with a BA in history and a minor in music in 1973. His work in the area did not end, however, as he continued to broadcast on WKCR and book jazz at the West End, all while maintaining eclectic relationships with many important jazz musicians. Schaap was well known for his jazz knowledge and sharp memory; Count Basie notably refused to continue hanging out with him after a 1981 exchange in which Schaap reminded Basie of a conversation he had had back in the 1930s, a time at which Schaap was not alive.¹³ In another notable Schaap story from around the same time, pianist Sun Ra “kidnapped” him from the West End late at night and began driving him to Boston. The pianist explained that he needed to give a lecture at Harvard in the morning and wanted a refresher on his own life. Schaap was able to recall nearly all important details, including but not limited to Ra’s favorite ice cream flavor – strawberry banana, from Baskin-Robbins.¹⁴

Schaap also became known for his eccentric and youthful personality, as well as his incomparable work ethic. He ran several multi-day festivals on WKCR, each dedicated to a particular jazz musician of historical importance. 1973's Charlie Parker festival was catalytic in bringing public attention to WKCR (and to jazz as a whole), while 1980's Louis Armstrong festival raised the bar on the scope and depth of Schaap's dedication. These festivals grew in popularity, as did WKCR, and musicians and music fans alike tuned in from all over the city. During a Thelonious Monk festival, for example, Monk himself called into the show – even if only to correct a student DJ who had incorrectly claimed that Monk “created art out of wrong notes,” reminding the young man that “the piano ain’t got no wrong notes.”¹⁵ Schaap’s hard work was evident during these festivals, as well as during the rest of the year. He would often spend all afternoon on air before packing up and walking across the street to run the West End and socialize with musicians during the evenings. He would stay there until four o’clock in the morning, when he would walk back across the street and sleep for two hours before waking up to work his day job at the ID card desk at Columbia.¹⁶

Broadcast Style

In 1981, Schaap would debut his two longest-running and most impactful radio shows: Bird Flight, a weekday morning show focusing on Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Traditions in Swing, a Saturday evening show focused on the Swing era and traditional jazz.¹⁷ These shows, which ran for over thirty years, were the prime outlets for Schaap to display his deep knowledge of jazz, as well as his signature on-air style. The shows were incredibly in depth; interviews with artists could last for over three hours, and Schaap occasionally found himself delving into deep rabbit holes on air, such as an episode in which he attempted to date an unknown Charlie Parker recording by conducting an analysis of Bird’s improvisation and speculating when in his career he would have played in such manner.¹⁸ Parker was especially important to Phil because he considered Bird the “great equalizer” of the genre, a musician whom someone from any era could listen to and enjoy. Said Schaap on Parker: “If you idolized King Oliver, you could tolerate Charlie Parker, and if you think jazz begins with John Coltrane playing ‘Ascension’ you can still listen to Bird, too.”¹⁹

With the primary goal of getting people to listen to and appreciate jazz, Schaap had a unique approach to radio broadcasting. Schaap’s former student and longtime associate Ben Young described the approach as getting people to “eat their musical vegetables,” so to speak; playing music that may not feel fun or recognizable at first, but would benefit their listening abilities in the long run.²⁰ During a discussion with the authors, Young recalled an instance where Schaap played the melody and first solo of a recording by bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro on air, before picking up the needle and allowing the solo to play again. Schaap did this several times, then switched out the record for an alternate take of the same tune, encouraging the listener to find the differences between takes.²¹

Producer and Educator

Phil remained incredibly busy when he was off air. He took part in the Jazz Oral History Project at Rutgers from 1980-1983, and was an archivist and record producer for the Savoy Jazz record label from 1984-1991.²² Due to his extensive knowledge and trademark writing style, Schaap found work writing liner notes for historical jazz recordings. He was honored by the Recording Academy three times for his album notes, in 1990, 1994, and 1997.²³ Schaap also began producing historical albums, uncovering and remastering landmark recordings such as Dean Benedetti’s home tapes of Charlie Parker and the famous 1956 Ellington at Newport concert.²⁴ He would receive three more Grammy awards for his producing, in 1994, 1997, and 2001.

Schaap became in high demand as a jazz educator. He taught jazz history at Rutgers from 1992-1995, American studies at Princeton from 1994-2006, jazz studies at Columbia from 1995-2001, and graduate level classes at Juilliard from 2006 until his death, but he could also be found giving guest lectures and speaking at special events at nearly every university in the area.²⁵ Schaap had a unique philosophy towards jazz education. In an interview with Jake Feinberg, he lamented that “the… jazz education system [was] insistent on replenishing a band stand that [was] overcrowded and [had] almost no interest in replenishing an audience which [had] largely died.”²⁶ Combatting this degenerative approach, Schaap’s teaching focused on deep, informed, listening, making sure his students knew Charlie Parker’s melodies by heart, understood the historical and present-day influence of Count Basie, and could differentiate Louis Armstrong from Freddie Keppard by sound alone.²⁷ While a Schaap-led classroom could often be intense, his philosophy stood alone as one focused less on teaching musicians to play jazz, and more on the many levels and intricacies associated with listening to and appreciating the music.

Jazz at Lincoln Center

In 1991, trumpet player Wynton Marsalis became director of the newly formed Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). Marsalis quickly expanded its performance and educational outreach, and in 1996, JALC was introduced as the newest official branch of Lincoln Center.²⁸ Marsalis was focused on traditional jazz, the feeling of swing, and a public understanding of jazz music and history. With this as his goal, inviting Phil Schaap to join the project was inevitable. Schaap worked with JALC from 2001 until his death, under numerous roles and titles. He was the dean and a primary educator at Swing University (a public class system run by JALC) and curator of jazz and jazz archives, but his role was much deeper than that.²⁹ Schaap was viewed as a beacon of knowledge by those within the JALC system, and they often went to him for definitive answers on contested pieces of historical jazz information. Additionally, individual performers in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra would turn to Schaap for advice on the historical context and stylings of their repertoire.³⁰ Above all, though, Schaap was a close friend and confidant of Marsalis, who often went to the man he thought of as an older brother for advice on programming, education, performance, and life.

Later Years

Schaap was no stranger to mortality; he had seen many of his mentors and "jazz grandfathers" pass away unceremoniously through the years, and wanted to avoid the same fate. He had always kept a record of his life's work, but in his later years, Schaap began organizing and codifying his collections, establishing how they would be preserved after him. Schaap knew his time on this planet had a limit; in 2020, due to deteriorating personal health and the COVID-19 pandemic, he ended all radio broadcasting.³¹ In 2021, he was honored as an NEA jazz master.³² As the year went on, Phil was getting sicker, and those around him knew it. Marsalis, as well as other jazz musicians and scholars, began visiting him to pay their respects in his final months, and on September 7 2021, Phil Schaap died of lymphoma in Manhattan, New York.³³ He was 70 years old.³⁴

Schaap is survived by his longtime partner of 17 years, Susan Shaffer.³⁵ Schaap also leaves behind a substantial and deeply educational archive, under the stewardship of Vanderbilt University, and generations of students dedicated to spreading his joy and knowledge of jazz music.

Perhaps most important of all, however, Phil Schaap leaves behind an immeasurable impact on public perception, knowledge, and appreciation of one of America’s greatest art forms.

Endnotes:

1. David Remnick, “Bird-Watcher: Thinking about Charlie Parker, Every Day,” The New Yorker, May 12, 2008.
2. Jazz at Lincoln Center, "RECOLLECT Featuring PHIL SCHAAP," YouTube, September 9, 2016, video, 3:13.
3. Neil Genzlinger, “Phil Schaap, Grammy-Winning Jazz D.J. and Historian, Dies at 70,” The New York Times, September 8, 2021.
4. Susan Shaffer, Zoom discussion with authors, February 2, 2024.
5. National Endowment for the Arts, "2021 NEA Jazz Masters Virtual Celebration: Meet the Jazz Masters Conversation," YouTube, April 29, 2021, video, 47:41.
6. National Endowment for the Arts, “NEA Jazz Masters: Phil Schaap (2021),” YouTube, April 22, 2021, video, 4:27.
7. Remnick, "Bird-Watcher."
8. National Endowment for the Arts, "2021 NEA Jazz Masters Virtual Celebration."
9. Alexis Boncy, “Radio Days,” Columbia College Today, n.d.
10. Ibid.
11. Genzlinger, "Phil Schaap Dies at 70."
12. Remnick, "Bird-Watcher."
13. Corey Kilgannon, “In a Life of Jazz, a Jarring Note,” The New York Times, May 27, 2001, sec. 14.
14. Ibid. 
15. Remnick, "Bird-Watcher."
16. Shaffer, Zoom discussion.
17. Michael Zirpolo, "Phil Schaap... at the Epicenter of Jazz," IAJRC Journal 47, no. 1(03,2014): 22-28.
18. Phil Schaap, “Bird Flight,” WKCR (New York, June 16, 2016).
19. Remnick, "Bird-Watcher."
20. Ben Young, Zoom discussion with authors, March 27, 2024
21. Ibid.
22. Phil Schaap, “Phil Schaap,” CV, January 1, 2012.
23. Ibid.
24. Jan Hoffman, “PUBLIC LIVES; Jazz Detective Unravels an Ellington Puzzle,” The New York Times, May 19, 1999, sec. B.
25. Schaap, "Phil Schaap," CV.
26. Jake Feinberg, "The Phil Schaap Interview," YouTube, September 8, 2021, video, 57:14.
27. Remnick, "Bird-Watcher."
28. "The History of Jazz at Lincoln Center,” Jazz at Lincoln Center, accessed April 2, 2024,
29. Schaap, "Phil Schaap," CV.
30. Young, Zoom discussion.
31. Tim Page, “Phil Schaap, Jazz Scholar, Historian and Broadcaster, Dies at 70,” The Washington Post, September 8, 2021.
32. Martin Johnson, “Phil Schaap, Iconic Jazz DJ And NEA Jazz Master, Dies At 70,” NPR (blog), September 8, 2021.
33. Shaffer, Zoom discussion.
34. Page, "Phil Schaap Dies at 70."
35. Genzlinger, "Phil Schaap Dies at 70."