Sal Nistico

Sal Nistico - Heavyweights (2002) {Milestone MCD-47096-2 rec 1961-1962}
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© 1961-62, 2002 Jazzland / Riverside / Milestone / Fantasy | MCD-47096-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

Not every young tenor saxophonist who started recording as a leader in the early '60s took the modal post-bop plunge or explored avant-garde free jazz. Sal Nistico, for example, was very much a '40s/'50s-style bebopper, and his primary influences were Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, and early Gene Ammons. Assembled by Fantasy in 2002, this 75-minute CD contains two albums that Orrin Keepnews produced for Nistico in the early '60s: 1961's Heavyweights (the saxman's first album as a leader) and 1962's Comin' on Up.

A fine swing clarinetist, an altoist whose sound was influenced by Johnny Hodges, a good soprano saxophonist, and a spirited blues vocalist, Woody Herman's greatest significance to jazz was as the leader of a long line of big bands. He always encouraged young talent and, more than practically any bandleader from the swing era, kept his repertoire quite modern. Although Herman was always stuck performing a few of his older hits (he played "Four Brothers" and "Early Autumn" nightly for nearly 40 years), he much preferred to play and create new music.

Chuck Mangione - The Jazz Brothers (1960) {Riverside OJCCD-997-2 rel 1998}
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© 1960, 1998 Riverside Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-997-2
Jazz / Bop / Straight-ahead Jazz / Trumpet

This 1960 recording, reissued on a 1998 CD, was not only the debut recording of trumpeter Chuck Mangione but has the first appearances on record by tenor saxophonist Sal Nistico, pianist Gap Mangione, and drummer Roy McCurdy; altoist Larry Combs and bassist Bill Saunders complete the group. "The Jazz Brothers" were based in Rochester, NY and recorded two further albums. Chuck Mangione's own fame was a decade away and, at this early point in time, he was a Dizzy Gillespie-inspired bebop trumpeter. The sextet performs "Secret Love," "Girl of My Dreams," and five straight-ahead group originals with spirit and swing. Pity that the group never really did catch on.

The third and final recording (originally released as "The Jazz Brothers" and now reissued on CD in the OJC series) features trumpeter Chuck Mangione, pianist Gap Mangione and tenor-saxophonist Sal Nistico in a 1961 hard bop quintet. The music is strictly straightahead with four group originals and versions of "What's New" and "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" being given winning treatments. Even if the overall results are not all that memorable (none of the musicians had distinctive voices yet), the music should please fans of 1950s jazz.