Jump to content

Sal Nistico: HEAVYWEIGHTS


ghost of miles

Recommended Posts

Sal Nistico first caught my attention on Chuck and Gap Mangione's Jazz Brothers CDs. ("Jazz Brothers", "Hey Baby!" and "Spring Is Here"-all enjoyable discs and proof that Chuck Mangione could play actual jazz) Those CDs lead me to pick up the 2-fer mentioned in the original post, "Heavyweights/Comin' On Up!". I like him quite a bit and will have to try and find some more of his stuff at a reasonable price.

Edited by mikelz777
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 75
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

You guys are all over Sal.

That's great.

I remember one album "Very Live At Buddy's Place" I think.

Buddy Rich at his club in New York with Sal and Sonny Fortune on alto, Kenny Barron on piano

can't recall the other band members.

Denis

Jack Wilkins on guitar, Jimmy Maeulen on congas and Anthony Jackson on bass.

Pretty scary record. Take a look at the album cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Very-Live-at-Buddys-...e/dp/B0002VL006

Liner notes by Buddy's daughter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just pulled two very good small group CDs off the shelf with Sal Nistico. Neither has been mentioned here to the best of my recollection. Both feature a front line of Nistico with other tenor players.

Woody Herman Presents Vol.2 - Four Others - Concord Jazz

Nistico along with Al Cohn, Bill Perkins ,Flip Phillips & rhythm section

Three Generations Of Tenor Saxophone - JHM (2 CD set)

Nistico with Johnny Griffin & Roman Schwaller & rhythm section

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love Nestico's playing - heard him once in person but damned if I can remember when or how - but it was ELECTRIC - what a sound -

I never had the pleasure of hearing him live, but his solo on the recorded-live version of "Northwest Passage" from the "Woody's Winners" album on Columbia (now a Mosaic single) is to die for. He and the band are on fire in that one!

Greg Mo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Another good 'un, dang near impossible to find: "East of Isar" on the Ego label, out of Germany. I got it because Benny Bailey was along for the ride, and it really opened my ears to Sal.

Finally got to hear this one, and it's a mofo. Sal has this Wayne Shorter vibe going on on top of his own thing that gets pretty...intense sometimes...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Without going too much into detail, I've gained the impression that Nistico kinda "lost his way" once he got off the road regularly. He's not at all unusual in that regard, since there are certain guys who were just BORN to be road dogs, and Sal Nistico may very well have been one of them. They often come to hate it, but it's really what they were put here to do, and they ineveitably do it better than well.

I've got video footage of Nistico playing w/Basie (I understand that he went into that fold once or twice as a "vacation" from Herman) , and he fits in like he's been there all his life, even when trading fours w/Eric Dixon (iirc). One of the definitive "big band tenorists" of the post-WWII era. It's a whole 'nother gig than just being a "jazz tenorist" - you gotta be able to jump in and jump out at the drop of a hat, be able to play in and around ALL kinds of backgrounds (written and improvised) of various styles (not all of them - to put it mildly - sympathetic to the soling you're trying to do) without losing focus (in fact, it's your job to make those backgrounds sound like they're spurring you on when in fact they might be doing just the opposite), PLUS you gotta be able to make a meaningful ballad statement anytime the leader sees fit, often inside an arrangement that is even MORE unsympathetic than the uptempo ones. So it's a lot of "going against the grain".

In other words, it's a job for somebody who has the balls and the chops to just walk right in, say "fuck it", and just PLAY THE GIG without any hesitiaton, faltering, or self-doubt. If that sounds like it's not easy, well, hell - it's not! Yet there are guys who thrive on it, and there are guys whose playing gets bumped up a notch or three when everything IS clicking. And Sal Nistico was one of the greatest practitoners of the art. Check him out on "Keep On Keepin' On" from Woody's otherwise all-pop LIGHT MY FIRE album on Cadet - this mofo is phkkin' BURNING in the most intense way.

There's an interview w/Sal and Tubby Hayes somewhere on the Net, and in it I can sense that Sal was already getting a little tired of the "routine". And of course, he eventually left it. But like I said, I think he might have "lost his way" after doing so, because on "freelance" sides like EMPTY ROOM the Half Moon Bay thing, I really feel a guy who's standing up there playing his heart out waiting for the big band to kick in. And it never does. And, yes, I think he misses it.

You get into certain playing habits playing ANY kind of a gig night after night after night, and I would suspect that Sal did what he did so well for so long that he may very well have gotten a little "disoriented" when his life became one of not having to do endless one-nighters ranging from cornball dances to hip club dates, not having to sleep on the bus, not having jump in real quick and get off 32 or 64 bars of kickass tenor and then get right back out, of not knowing that no matter what you play or how you play it, there's eventually going to be a bunch of horns chiming in behind your ass so proceed accordingly, of not having a lot of things that he probably took for granted on a subconscious level being there w/o thinking about them.

That kind of fundamental lifestyle change can mess a man up.

Great observations Jim....as usual you get to the marrow of the bone better than most!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 years later...

Another good 'un, dang near impossible to find: "East of Isar" on the Ego label, out of Germany. I got it because Benny Bailey was along for the ride, and it really opened my ears to Sal.

Finally got to hear this one, and it's a mofo. Sal has this Wayne Shorter vibe going on on top of his own thing that gets pretty...intense sometimes...

I was lucky to hear this band live - they were smokin'!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The title of this thread tickled a long lost memory in the back of my head. Then I remembered that I bought an LP by this guy more than 20 years ago based on a review in Cadence (I think) or just by picking albums at random from the Cadence list. Then I was happy to find that the album I had bought is available for download...and on spotify. What an interesting world.

41KlgnFQhVL._SY300_.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...