One of the most important collections of Sal Mosca's piano work has just hit the market. The five-CD package—Sal Mosca: Too Marvelous for Words (Cadence)—includes 56 tracks of the the pianist performing on tour in the Netherlands in June 1981. The material features five solo concerts by Mosca between June 19 and June 24 and gives us an opportunity to hear him at his finest.
For those not in the know, Mosca was probably the purest exponent of the Lennie Tristano school of jazz piano—an ever-shifting and highly original improvisational approach that borrowed liberally from bebop and modern classical forms to establish the cool style of jazz in the late 1940s. In the process, Tristano, who was blind, developed a dry sound that tamped down emotion and swing in favor of a more tightly structured, metronome-like counterpoint attack that offered its own flash and daring.
Mosca studied with Tristano (above) in the 1940s and played with saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, two other Tristano master students and exponents. Mosca spent most of his career picking up where Tristano left off, teaching Tristano's approach but adding elements of his own personality to his curriculum and performances.
Resisting what he called “the web of commercial success," Mosca steered clear of studio recording. His early, sporadic recordings for Prestige between 1949 and 1956 are essential listening for those who favor cool jazz. His recordings with Peter Ind and Warne Marsh in the 1950s and 1990s, respectively, also are important. My most recent post on Mosca looked at his recent previously unreleased solo recordings in the Netherlands in 1992, another strong album.
The material on the new Cadence set also are previously unreleased recordings. These CDs offer a treasure trove of Mosca works and are among the most enjoyable collections of piano jazz issued this year. The music was discovered after Mosca's death in 2007, when bassist Don Messina, a former Mosca student, was preparing Mosca's collection for the archives at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. In a box labeled “1981 European Tour," Don found seven tapes.
As Don (above) writes in his liner notes, Mosca likely recorded these concerts himself. Others who helped make this release possible include Cadence owner Bob Rusch, the Mosca family, Dick Hyman, Kazzrie Jaxen, Larry Bluth, Connie Cruthers and Jimmy Halperin.
Most of the music was well recorded and offers a clean, live sound. Mosca is in complete command of his improvisational adventures and offers robust renditions without wheel-spinning or repetitious figures. The result is pure brilliance and beauty. From a tender Time Was at the Hague on June 19, 1981 and Moonlight in Vermont in Amsterdam on June 21 to an off-to-the-races Donna Lee in Utrecht later the same day, Gone With the Wind in Rotterdam on June 20 and a whirling Lennie-Bird from Maastricht on June 24, the listener is given a wide range of songs covered in a compact period of time.
The only slight drawback is the hollow hall-like backdrop on the material from Maastricht. But even with this vault-y sound, I'd still opt to have the material. Ultimately, the tracks take little away from the music's clarity or sensuality, only some of the color.
JazzWax clips: Here are five tracks, one from each of the discs, so you have a sense of the music and sound:
“Time Was“
“Moonlight in Vermont“
“Donna Lee“
“Give a Rag a Ride“
“Talk of the Town“
For those not in the know, Mosca was probably the purest exponent of the Lennie Tristano school of jazz piano—an ever-shifting and highly original improvisational approach that borrowed liberally from bebop and modern classical forms to establish the cool style of jazz in the late 1940s. In the process, Tristano, who was blind, developed a dry sound that tamped down emotion and swing in favor of a more tightly structured, metronome-like counterpoint attack that offered its own flash and daring.
Mosca studied with Tristano (above) in the 1940s and played with saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, two other Tristano master students and exponents. Mosca spent most of his career picking up where Tristano left off, teaching Tristano's approach but adding elements of his own personality to his curriculum and performances.
Resisting what he called “the web of commercial success," Mosca steered clear of studio recording. His early, sporadic recordings for Prestige between 1949 and 1956 are essential listening for those who favor cool jazz. His recordings with Peter Ind and Warne Marsh in the 1950s and 1990s, respectively, also are important. My most recent post on Mosca looked at his recent previously unreleased solo recordings in the Netherlands in 1992, another strong album.
The material on the new Cadence set also are previously unreleased recordings. These CDs offer a treasure trove of Mosca works and are among the most enjoyable collections of piano jazz issued this year. The music was discovered after Mosca's death in 2007, when bassist Don Messina, a former Mosca student, was preparing Mosca's collection for the archives at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. In a box labeled “1981 European Tour," Don found seven tapes.
As Don (above) writes in his liner notes, Mosca likely recorded these concerts himself. Others who helped make this release possible include Cadence owner Bob Rusch, the Mosca family, Dick Hyman, Kazzrie Jaxen, Larry Bluth, Connie Cruthers and Jimmy Halperin.
Most of the music was well recorded and offers a clean, live sound. Mosca is in complete command of his improvisational adventures and offers robust renditions without wheel-spinning or repetitious figures. The result is pure brilliance and beauty. From a tender Time Was at the Hague on June 19, 1981 and Moonlight in Vermont in Amsterdam on June 21 to an off-to-the-races Donna Lee in Utrecht later the same day, Gone With the Wind in Rotterdam on June 20 and a whirling Lennie-Bird from Maastricht on June 24, the listener is given a wide range of songs covered in a compact period of time.
The only slight drawback is the hollow hall-like backdrop on the material from Maastricht. But even with this vault-y sound, I'd still opt to have the material. Ultimately, the tracks take little away from the music's clarity or sensuality, only some of the color.
JazzWax clips: Here are five tracks, one from each of the discs, so you have a sense of the music and sound:
“Time Was“
“Moonlight in Vermont“
“Donna Lee“
“Give a Rag a Ride“
“Talk of the Town“
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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