Sal Nistico: HEAVYWEIGHTS

[mikelz777]

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 September 16, 2008 by mikelz777

[AllenLowe]

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 -

Edited September 15, 2008 by AllenLowe

[rpklich]

The Curtis Fuller LP on Beehive "Fire and Filligree" was a good record largely because of Mr. Nistico.

[Late]

Walmart, of all places, has the OOP and hard-to-find Nistico album "Live" from the late 80's.

They must have sold out in the last 10 minutes. It was "out of stock" online and is not sold in their stores.

Dang, I've seen that happen here once before. Those lurkers are fast!

[Denis]

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

[Larry Kart]

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.

[Denis]

Yeah that's it, thanks Larry.

Somehow I lost that record.

I am going to download the tracks right away;)

Loved the groove on that album.

Denis

[Peter Friedman]

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

[Late]

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

Nistico with Johnny Griffin & Roman Schwaller & rhythm section

Man, that looks like a good one. I dig Schwaller with the Vienna Art Orchestra.

Had never even heard of this set.

[gmonahan]

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

[RDK]

Just dropped on emusic:

Sal Nistico & Tulio De Piscopo "Just Friends"

Can't find any other info on it at the moment, but the samples sound very nice. Will probably download it later after a bit more sleauthing.

[JSngry]

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...

[slide_advantage_redoux]

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!

[Bright Moments]

"Comin' On Up" is the shit.

Take it from a Western New York boy.

Sal Nistico (tenor sax); Sal Amico (trumpet); Barry Harris (piano); Bob Cranshaw (bass); Vinnie Ruggiero (drums).

I have no idea about this one:

[Bright Moments]

Alvin Queen w/ Dusko Goykovich, A DAY IN HOLLAND (Nilva)

http://www.cosmicsounds-london.com/DUSKO/holland.htm

Yeah, add that one to the list too. It's a killer.

can someone please help me find this on cd?

much thanks!!

[Bright Moments]

Alvin Queen w/ Dusko Goykovich, A DAY IN HOLLAND (Nilva)

http://www.cosmicsounds-london.com/DUSKO/holland.htm

Yeah, add that one to the list too. It's a killer.

can someone please help me find this on cd?

much thanks!!

up - can anyone assist? thanks!

[marcello]

LINK HERE< BUT EXPENSIVE

DIRECT FROM JAPAN

From HMV (Japan)

Edited January 8, 2011 by marcello

[Bright Moments]

thanks marcello - but i don't want to have to get another mortgage to buy this cd!

[JSngry]

I've been living on borrowed computers the last few weeks.

[Bright Moments]

I've been living on borrowed computers the last few weeks.

[JSngry]

Holy shit Sal Nistico, you go ahead and drop all that Lockjaw harmonic science on the peoples and then just walk away like nothing happened. Holy shit, Sal Nistico!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx35lhlfBVg#t=13

[mikeweil]

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'!

[Head Man]

Holy shit Sal Nistico, you go ahead and drop all that Lockjaw harmonic science on the peoples and then just walk away like nothing happened. Holy shit, Sal Nistico!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx35lhlfBVg#t=13

...... love the band uniform.... matching ponchos

[psu_13]

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.

[jazzbo]

I have the cd (don't do downloads or Spotifiy). It's a nice one. Danny D'Imperio got me onto Nistico many years ago by his recommendation, and sharing some personal experiences. What a shame we lost him when we did.