VIDEO - Sal Nistico Kicking Ass In A Dashiki

[JSngry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCKP_AZw2g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCKP_AZw2g

[flat5]

My something! What an awful piece of music.

The recording did not help it sound better.

No wonder Sal went back to Basie :-)

He got his "Ho Down" lick in at the end :-)

He plays that a lot on these You-Tube videos of the 1960s.

[thedwork]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCKP_AZw2g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCKP_AZw2g

balls to the wall man.

@ 2:42 he reminded me of george adams. nice...

[jeffcrom]

Yeah, Sal Nisitco was a badass. I choose to interpret his expression as he walked to the microphone as: "I can't believe Woody makes us dress this way...."

[Denis]

Thanks for this video. Awesome.

I love Sal.

[Free For All]

Sal totally kicks ass. Always.

Great video!

[DukeCity]

In addition to the Dashiki, was Sal also rockin' some braids?

[Peter Friedman]

I like Sal Nistico a lot, but didn't care for this tune or solo. Much too frantic for my taste. Lacked musicality (whatever that is?). Just playing

very fast with out telling a story. One man's opinion.

[Chuck Nessa]

Saxophonist as weightlifter. Impressive for what it is.

[Larry Kart]

Per this shared interview with Tubby Hayes:

http://www.jazzprofessional.com/Exchange/HayesNistico.htm

I think Sal had pretty much come to dislike/feel trapped by this sort of playing. And he was, in Tubby, talking to a man who knew just what the deal was there.

Added edit: In any case, when left to his own devices in later years, AFAIK Sal didn't do the rip-it-up thing that often and became a better player for it.

P.S. OK, maybe not better -- who's to say about that? -- but arguably more interesting.

[JSngry]

If I may be allowed the liberty of quoting myself from another thread:

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.

Everything about the performance on the video, from the looks to the clothes, the freneticism of the tempo, everything, hey - that's a road gig in action right there. For better and for worse. You go all over the place with the same bunch of guys night after night, sometimes off the bus just long enough to setup & play and then get back on, you crotch and ass get sweaty, you mind goes numb and brittle simultaneously, and sometimes you play faster than shit just because that's the only place left. That tempo is faster than anywhere except MaxLand, and the whole freakin' band is in there. Nobody looks really happy either...weary is more like it. But - this is what a road gig gets to. This is the seasoning that you can't get anywhere else. And now that it's not available, it's absence is being felt.

Sure Sal was feeling tired and trapped by it by this time. But there he was, and there he did.

Reality ain't always pretty, but it sure can be gripping.

[Mark Stryker]

If I may be allowed the liberty of quoting myself from another thread:

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.

Everything about the performance on the video, from the looks to the clothes, the freneticism of the tempo, everything, hey - that's a road gig in action right there. For better and for worse. You go all over the place with the same bunch of guys night after night, sometimes off the bus just long enough to setup & play and then get back on, you crotch and ass get sweaty, you mind goes numb and brittle simultaneously, and sometimes you play faster than shit just because that's the only place left. That tempo is faster than anywhere except MaxLand, and the whole freakin' band is in there. Nobody looks really happy either...weary is more like it. But - this is what a road gig gets to. This is the seasoning that you can't get anywhere else. And now that it's not available, it's absence is being felt.

Sure Sal was feeling tired and trapped by it by this time. But there he was, and there he did.

Reality ain't always pretty, but it sure can be gripping.

Lots of Truth in both these posts. Very well said.

[JSngry]

4 or 5 years earlier...same thing, only with less wear and tear on the body and soul...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbjK9TZ3vnQ&feature=related

[Larry Kart]

I think I hear what you're saying, Jim, but I'm very fond of Sal's playing on "Empty Room" (especially) and "Sonnet for Sal" (with the Porter-Praskin Quartet).

[MomsMobley]

NIstico kills and almost everyone kicks ass in a dashiki!

FACT: Nistico at his best is the closest white people have ever come to Sonny Rollins, 'flaws' perhaps included, despite their usually disparate settings.

It pains me think of but Sal destroys ALL "lotsa" tenor turds: Brecker, Berg, Fucking Joe Lovano (who'd still suck barefoot in a dashiki), etc.

WHITE TENOR TOP TEN

1. Marsh

2. Getz

3. Nistico

4. Bud Freeman

5. Eddie Miller

6. Richie Kamuca

7. Zoot

8. Farrell

9. Babe Russin

10. Sam Butera

Honorable Mention: Cohn, Tubby Hayes, Plas Johnson, (best of) Jan Garbarek, early Gato, Bob Cooper.

Not interested: Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann etc etc. Ken Vandermark! Hah...

[Chuck Nessa]

[jeffcrom]

If I may be allowed the liberty of quoting myself from another thread....

I started several lengthy responses to this, but they weren't coming out right, and now this thread is going somewhere else. So I'll just say that I thought that this was a great post.

And that one of the most ecstatic hours of music I've ever experienced was one spent listening to Evan Parker play solo in a church a few blocks from my house.

[thedwork]

NIstico kills and almost everyone kicks ass in a dashiki!

FACT: Nistico at his best is the closest white people have ever come to Sonny Rollins, 'flaws' perhaps included, despite their usually disparate settings.

It pains me think of but Sal destroys ALL "lotsa" tenor turds: Brecker, Berg, Fucking Joe Lovano (who'd still suck barefoot in a dashiki), etc.

WHITE TENOR TOP TEN

1. Marsh

2. Getz

3. Nistico

4. Bud Freeman

5. Eddie Miller

6. Richie Kamuca

7. Zoot

8. Farrell

9. Babe Russin

10. Sam Butera

Honorable Mention: Cohn, Tubby Hayes, Plas Johnson, (best of) Jan Garbarek, early Gato, Bob Cooper.

Not interested: Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann etc etc. Ken Vandermark! Hah...

Not interested: anything else you have to say - ever.

[Larry Kart]

[ Plas Johnson

Excuse me, but...

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jimmywinokur.com/ImagesFromAgora/Music/Jazz/Mainstream/PLasJohnson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jimmywinokur.com/AAPages/MusicArtistsMainstreamJazz.htm&h=282&w=328&sz=20&tbnid=t2sh9f0AIfxLYM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplas%2Bjohnson%2Bphoto&zoom=1&q=plas+johnson+photo&hl=en&usg=__v-m3hSM8UAviuS2B8N7D3nalGaM=&sa=X&ei=0KQFTYzrJNSPnwehkrHlDQ&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAw

Or are you trying to make some kind of joke?

[Larry Kart]

4 or 5 years earlier...same thing, only with less wear and tear on the body and soul...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbjK9TZ3vnQ&feature=related

And with a much better edition of the band -- Jake Hanna and (I think it was) Chuck Andrus especially.

[JSngry]

I think I hear what you're saying, Jim, but I'm very fond of Sal's playing on "Empty Room" (especially) and "Sonnet for Sal" (with the Porter-Praskin Quartet).

Empty Room is aptly named to me, makes me sad. Sonnet For Sal, otoh, is marvel-inducing.

There's also East of Isar, led by Benny Bailey. That one's a real eye-opener.

[JSngry]

4 or 5 years earlier...same thing, only with less wear and tear on the body and soul...

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

And with a much better edition of the band -- Jake Hanna and (I think it was) Chuck Andrus especially.

Better,,,,yes,,,but... the later video was a band of much younger kids, some just out of the college band scene, ready to nail all balls to all walls, for sport or for profit.

I've long dug the recorded version of Keep On Keepin' On, and/but this one is different...this is like the white late-60s version of Dixxy's prime late 40s big band, shooting that skeet all over the place because they GOT that skeet to shoot all over the place, and oh by the way, if they run out...don't worry, they won't. Probably Woody's rudest band since the First Herd...too bad the records weren't usually reflecting that.

[flat5]

Sister Sadie is a MUCH better chart.

Even the chord progression of the first one is a turnoff to solo on.

The harmonic rhythm and flow is meandering.

So happy that Porter\Praskin got a mention!

I met Sal in 1983 at a rehearsal in the Bimhuis, Amsterdam.

He was very tired then, in the afternoon :-)

I walked with him to a "smoke" shop.

Complimented him on his tonguing at fast tempos.

He said, "I don't do that anymore".

[JSngry]

A clue (or perhaps more..) as to the weary violence manifested in "Keep On Keepin' On":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFPhsXu8EWo