A Common Thread?

[Late]

Not a rhetorical question. I've just been seeing their names in close conjunction lately, and was wondering if there was any cosmic connection. Beyond that, whom do you prefer, and who would you like to hear more of?

• Ronnie Ball

• Joe Albany

• Sal Mosca

• Amos Trice

• Joe Castro

[The Mule]

Unjust obscurity?

[JSngry]

1-3 have a Warne Marsh connection, and all but Mosca are/were Californina-based for quite a while, as of course was Marsh.

Want more Mosca? Try this one:

Edited July 16, 2003 by JSngry

[Jim R]

...who would you like to hear more of?

All of the above! I'm loving the piano these days (especially digging Eddie Higgins, and Bill Charlap right now).

As you may know, Trice, Castro and Ball all appear on Teddy Edwards' SUNSET EYES.

[paul secor]

I particularly enjoy Joe Albany's playing. The Right Combination and Portrait of an Artist, his last LP, are two favorites.

There is a William Claxton photograph of Albany that's one of the most frightening portraits of a human being that I've ever seen. I don't have the means to post it, but perhaps someone else can.

[Jim R]

I was just doing some searching online for photos of Joe Albany, and although I haven't really found anything yet, I did come upon some information about a new book that was written by Albany's daughter. It looks pretty interesting (if potentially a bit gruesome):

AJ Albany book review

[Late]

Jim, Sunset Eyes is probably my favorite Edwards record. I wasn't even thinking of that connection when I posted this topic — strange! What happened to Trice and Castro?

I think Ball could sound most like Tristano than the rest of the group listed (maybe with the exception of Mosca), and, when he wanted to, could play some swingin' blues changes. I sometimes wonder why his star didn't rise as high as, say, Victor Feldman's: a contemporary of Ball's, and also from the UK.

I actually know the least about Albany, and will have to check out more of his work.

[jazzbo]

I was going to say that Tristano was a common thread between several of these pianists. I like Ronnie Ball, all that I have heard of him, and what I have heard of the others too. I'm not too surprised that Ball never became a big name. . . he didn't really have enough exposure, and he looked goofy! Just kidding on the goofy part. . . somewhat.

[Late]

Goofy? The guy set the mold for male Abercrombie & Fitch models! Just look at the get-up, I tell ya.

Here are the AMG notes to that album, written by a former BNBB member:

Not exactly a household name, Ronnie Ball is probably best known for his charts on the Warne Marsh LP Jazz of Two Cities (available on the Capitol Jazz Tristano/Marsh two-fer, Intuition). While "Ear Conditioning" could be considered an underground classic and perhaps his vision at its most fully realized peak, this underappreciated session from earlier in 1956 is very enjoyable in its own right. Like Jazz of Two Cities, Ball is joined by tenor saxophonist Ted Brown. Otherwise the cast includes Willie Dennis on trombone, Wendell Marshall on bass, and the versatile Kenny Clarke on drums. Listeners familiar with better-known sessions from the Tristano school probably know what to expect on this date. Many of the tunes, especially the two Ball originals, feature rapid-fire heads that, like "Ear Conditioning," don't resolve themselves for several bars at a time, making them rather like transcribed Charlie Parker solos that have been appropriated into altogether new themes. Particularly of interest is Ball's decision to employ the exact same dissonant three-against-four bridge before returning to the respective heads of both the first and second tunes on the record, prompting one to question whether or not the first song is simply repeated. While on the surface this music might seem (and probably is) like overly academic bebop, it doesn't pretend to be anything else and should be accepted for what it is: a style that is as seemingly light and carefree as it is harmonically dense and aesthetically probing. — Brandon Burke