OMG, Sal Nistico Sounds Like He Was About To Crack The Lockjaw Code!

[JSngry]

That motherfucker could PLAY!!!!!

!

[Mark Stryker]

Moving into the Lockjaw neighborhood, yes. Wish he had more than two choruses to see where he might have gone here.

Who are the other soloists?

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

Bobby Burgess & Henry Hall.

[Gheorghe]

Great video ! But I had to laugh when I saw the band members in that "silly" hippie-style shirts. This must have been early 70´s, right ? And an electric bass. Well this was the time when acoustic came out of fashion.
I think during that time Woody kind of played a very mixed program, there were super old charts like "Woodchoppers Ball" and then "new" stuff, like Chick Coreas´s "Spain", I think there was also some tunes with a slight rock rhythm.

I saw them in 1979 (the Thundering Heard) and it seems it was very similar to that video. Woody was wearing a white suit, and his band members more casually dressed, and they played for example "Caledonia" that very very old stuff, and some Chick Corea compositions. I remember the 1979 band had a very very fine virtuose baritone saxophonist. I liked it very much, but anyway I was on high spirits since just before Sonny Rollins had finished his set and I thought it will be hard for the next to impress me after Sonny Rollins, but they did !

I saw Woody again in 1985 but was quite astonished that he came without his Herd, then he had an allstar small group with both Buddy Tate and Al Cohn, with I think Warren Vaché, with John Bunch on piano I think, Jake Hanna on drums and .....aaah..... a very young kid on bass who played very good. The strange thing was that on bass was scheduled George Duvivier, but I think he was dying then.....
I remember that Woody played only clarinet, played his best solo on a slow blues and did a vocal "I got the World on a String"

[sidewinder]

First time I saw Woody (either 1977 or 1978, 78 I think) they did some of the older numbers but also remember that they did ‘Spain’. One impression left was just how small a guy Woody was physically.

[JSngry]

I'm sure that they played "Caledonia" about fifty bajillion times faster than the original.

[gmonahan]

I've got a number of recordings of Sal, but I don't think he ever played better than he did when he was in Woody's band.

 

 

 

gregmo

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I enjoy Sal Nistico's playing (have a few of his leader dates and I think a couple sideman appearances), but probably need to spend more time with prime Herd. Indeed, would be great to hear where he could have gone with the material here.

[JSngry]

 

[AllenLowe]

first time I ever noticed that he has a Von Freeman-ish intonation. 

[JSngry]

I've always heard a bit of Johnny Griffin in his tone, which is more or less somewhat the same thing.

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, AllenLowe said:

first time I ever noticed that he has a Von Freeman-ish intonation. 

Von was energized by talk of his tone.

[Michael Weiss]

That would have been the time John Hicks was in the band. Is that him in the video?

[jazzcorner]

On a Woody Herman Tribute with the WDR big band you could hear on tenor sax

Bill Holman / Al Cohn & Sal Nistico really doing the thing.

WDR Bigband    RB WDR    1987/06/12         120    Köln(I), Stadtg    D    Holman/Nistico/Cohn
WDR Bigband    RB WDR 5    1987/06/12         120    Köln,Stadtg.    D    Holman/Cohn/Nistico