Article on Sal Mosca

[brownie]

Interesting article on a too discrete piano great!

From the Westchester Journal News today:

JAZZ PIANIST ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL

By Desiree Grand

The Journal News

(Original Publication: September 13, 2005)

It all came down to a cool breeze.

Acclaimed jazz pianist and Mount Vernon resident Sal Mosca, 78, attributes his lifelong journey with music to a breeze that blew by him as he sat at a curb near Sandford Boulevard one hot August evening.

He was just 12 at the time, interested in music but with no formal training.

It is a story he tells often, he said, "because it's true."

"I felt it and I knew I wanted to take piano lessons," he explained. "The guy who I was sitting with didn't feel the breeze. I knew that was the moment that I was visited by the forces that wanted me to play music."

Two years later, he had a weekend gig at a popular city nightclub and five students.

But many years later, Mosca, who used to play with such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Warne Marsh and Max Roach, fell on hard times. The student of jazz innovator Lennie Tristano lost all of his possessions in a city fire about 20 years ago — including his Steinway and more than 200 reels of rare recordings. From 1992 to 1998 he had several surgeries for colon cancer, suffered a heart attack and eventually gave up music.

Then last year, his health improved, he decided to play again. He is slowly edging his way back into the jazz scene.

Mosca will perform at the Mount Vernon Armory tomorrow. Tickets for the concert were reserved in advance.

During his time away from music, the closest Mosca got to a piano was a mental image.

"I didn't play. I didn't perform. I didn't teach," he said. "As far as people knew, I was gone.

"But in my mind I would play. I would picture the keyboard and a set of hands," Mosca said. "I would play chords and improvise. I would hear the music in my head."

At first, his arms and fingers rusty, it was hard. It took him a while to play for long periods, but he kept at it until he was able — like old times — to sit at the piano for hours.

Now Mosca plays out of a commercial building on Fifth Avenue.

"So I can play at night without disturbing anyone," he said. It also is where he teaches his 15 students, some pianists, others singers and trumpet players.

Recently, in his studio, Mosca said he plans to follow the path of pianist Arthur Rubinstein, who played until he was 90.

"I am going to play as long as I feel like it," he said. "It is what I have been doing all my life."

And offers are coming in.

On Oct. 15, he will perform at the University of Connecticut. He has dates lined up next year in Amsterdam and Berlin. In December, he will release another compact disc with one of his students.

Mosca performed at William Paterson University in New Jersey earlier this year as part of the jazz department concert series.

Richard DeRosa, an associate professor of jazz arrangement at the university, said Mosca's performance was special because it was one of his first since he began playing again.

"He is an elder statesman of music," DeRosa said. "A lot of the audience knows his work. It was great for the students because although he is not a household name, he is a part of history."

[JPF]

Thanks! An unjustly neglected musician. "Attention must be paid....."

[Clunky]

Thing-Ah-Majig on Zinnia Records highly recommended

Sal Mosca

Edited September 13, 2005 by Clunky

[AllenLowe]

good thing he wasn't sitting in a wind tunnel -

[jazz4u]

I've met Sal on numerous ocassions. Sweet guy and great news about his health.

-Jp (son of that guy with a tenor sax)