Sal Nistico

This is a good live septet session recorded at Buddy's Place in the early 1970's. Rich's drumming is so powerful on the opener, "Donna Lee', that he virtually renders the sax soloist superfluous, as Buddy and Anthony Jackson could have carried the tune on their own. "Chameleon" finds him also pushing the band from behind, though the funky electric wah-wah on Jack Wilkins' guitar chords offers a stronger counterweight. Unfortunately, this track ends in a truncated fashion after only about 4 minutes of grooving. The recording is also a little murkier than the best technology of the day might have offered. Nevertheless, there are solos from Wilkins, Kenny Barron, Sonny Fortune, and Sal Nistico worth hearing, in addition to the leader's virtuoso performance.

On four songs (three swing standards plus Lionel Hampton's "Ham Hock Blues"), drummer Buddy Rich has fun jamming with vibraphonist Hampton, pianist Teddy Wilson, tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims and bassist George Duvivier. Nothing all that significant occurs but these versions of "Avalon," "Airmail Special" and "Ring Dem Bells" are real fun. However the second session, which has Rich and Hampton playing two forgettable funk originals with a larger group featuring Sal Nistico on tenor, guitarist Jack Wilkins and Joe Romano's soprano, is much less interesting, making this album definitely a mixed bag.

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.~ Scott Yanow

Pony Poindexter was a sporadically recorded bop saxophonist who played on sessions by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross as well as Wes Montgomery; his long unavailable 1962 debut as a leader, originally on Epic, finally was reissued as a Koch CD in 2001. With arrangements by Gene Kee, Poindexter leads several all-star ensembles, which include Phil Woods, Gene Quill, Sonny Red, Eric Dolphy, Dexter Gordon, Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath, Sal Nistico, Billy Mitchell, and Pepper Adams.

Johan Clement was born in Antwerp on August 20, 1955 as the third son of a Belgian mother and a Dutch father. At the age of 10 he moved with his parents to the Netherlands. Since 1982 Johan mainly is active as a professional pianist in Belgium in the New Look Trio Roger Vanhaverbeke (1982-2011). Over the years, he accompanied many top musicians such as Toots Thielemans, Deborah Brown, Art Farmer, Scott Hamilton, Georgie Fame, Mark Murphy, Sal Nistico, Jerome Richardson, Johnny Griffin, Dave Pike, Clark Terry, Benny Bailey, Ed Thigpen, Lou Tabackin, Madeline Bell, Harry Allen, Peter King, Rita Reys, Jean François Prince, Judy Niemack, Philippe Catherine, Ali Ryerson & Slide Hampton.

Klaus Koenig studied at the Acoustic Institute of the University of Music in Detmold, which he left in 1962 with a degree in sound engineering (with a distinction). He worked as a recording manager for the Swiss radio station SFR in Zurich until 1997. Alongside this he developed several hundred shows for the jazz department. In 1964 the radio station made him responsible for accompanying guest soloist in the radio concert series "Jazz Live".

Lionel Hampton was the first jazz vibraphonist and was one of the jazz giants beginning in the mid-'30s. He has achieved the difficult feat of being musically open-minded (even recording "Giant Steps") without changing his basic swing style. Hamp started out as a drummer, playing with the Chicago Defender Newsboys' Band as a youth. His original idol was Jimmy Bertrand, a '20s drummer who occasionally played xylophone. Hampton played on the West Coast with such groups as Curtis Mosby's Blue Blowers, Reb Spikes, and Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders (with whom he made his recording debut in 1929) before joining Les Hite's band, which for a period accompanied Louis Armstrong. At a recording session in 1930, a vibraphone happened to be in the studio, and Armstrong asked Hampton (who had practiced on one previously) if he could play a little bit behind him and on "Memories of You" and "Shine"; Hamp became the first jazz improviser to record on vibes.

Johan Clement is a Belgian/Dutch pianist, who was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 20-08-1955. At the age of ten he and his parents moved to Holland. Since 1983 he is a professional musician, who worked with a large number of musicians, like Toots Thielemans; Dee Daniels; Deborah Brown; Art Farmer; Scott Hamilton; Cecil Payne; Georgie Fame; Mark Murphy; Sal Nistico; Jerome Richardson; Johnny Griffin; Slide Hampton; and many, many others………..