Sandy Mosse/Cy Touff's "Tickletoe" on Delmark

[Larry Kart]

Both Sandy and Cy are in fine form -- the former reminding me as much of vintage Allen Eager as of Al Cohn, Cy probably a better player in '81 on a good day like this than he was 25 years earlier at the time of "Keester Parade." Sandy, who didn't have much time left, played his heart out. If you don't know him, he needs to be heard if you dig personal offshoots of Pres. Long, long, melodies, full of real choices. A few diffuse moments (some tracks, e.g. "Alone Together," are a bit too long), but lovely, soulful, swinging music.

Slight glitch in the liner notes/credits. The former refer to Cy as the composer of "Keester Parade"; it was Johnny Mandel's tune. Compounding that, the tune is on the album under its later title "Centerpiece," and credited to Harry Edison and John Hendricks. As Dan Morgenstern recently explained, Sweets, who was on the original Touff/Kamuca "Keester Parade" recording, copped the tune from Mandel and retitled it "Centerpiece" for a recording under his own name a few years later, Mandel not minding because he liked Sweets and didn't need that bit of extra dough himself. Hendricks, still later, wrote words to "Centerpiece" for a LHR version.

[paul secor]

Good to see that you're listening to music, and seem to be enjoying it, Larry.

[Dan Gould]

Good to see that you're listening to music, and seem to be enjoying it, Larry.

+1.

And I noticed this new release in the last JRM publication and was very curious about it. Looks like it goes on the list for when I have money again.

[Larry Kart]

Good to see that you're listening to music, and seem to be enjoying it, Larry.

Thanks -- yes I am. Just need to find things that catch my attention, like a 1992 Buck Hill album, "Impulse," where he plays clarinet on three tracks in a non-sensational but unique and deep manner. Hard to describe, but he sounds great and different from any other clarinetist I know, though he certainly is in tune with the character of the instrument and not just laying his saxophone conception on top of it. Does anyone know of more Hill clarinet work on record? The liner notes touchingly mention that these clarinet performances came after "fifteen years of self-taught teaching" on the instrument.

[BeBop]

Saw this at Jazz Record Mart and had a tough time keeping my pesos in my pocket. Perhaps next week, when I pass through again...

[rpklich]

After reading the L. Kart review, did Sandy Mosse record anything or lead any dates while living in Europe? How does this compare with his stuff recorded for Chess/Cadet?

[Larry Kart]

After reading the L. Kart review, did Sandy Mosse record anything or lead any dates while living in Europe? How does this compare with his stuff recorded for Chess/Cadet?

Don't know about Mosse recordings from Europe. All my LPs are inaccessible right now, but memory tells me that "Tickle Toe" is the best Mosse on record; he's fully digested and refined his second-generation Pres legacy. On his earlier recordings IIRC, on he sounds a bit shy at times, if you know what I mean. The very best Mosse I know, though, by a slim margin (or maybe it's just different, a bit more on the muscular side), is a very-good sounding cassette tape I made in a Chicago club in 1969 of him with pianist Stu Katz (on electric piano) and drummer Wilbur Campbell (this was among Wilbur's first gigs after returning to the scene from prison). Don't have the cassette in my possession right now, but it's a joy. And Wilbur is in great form too.

[Big Beat Steve]

Hey Gents, what makes you think Sandy Mosse did not record in Europe? Check your discographies under "RENAUD, Henri" and find he was on a session recorded in spring, 1951 and issued on several Saturne singles (probably exceedingly rare), then on the "New Sound at The Boeuf Sur le Toit" album on Blue Star recorded on 15 Febr., 1952 (and reissued by Fresh Sound - BTW), and then he participated in nother Henri Renaul All Stars session receorded on on 10 April, 1952 for Vogue (and also issued on Contemporary).

But these were his formative years, of course.

[Dave James]

Tickle Toe is available from CD Universe. I just ordered it.

Up over and out.