Sal Mosca - R.I.P.

[stevebop]

http://www.salmosca.com/

[me wag]

Truly one of the all time greats. He will be heavily missed.

[Tom Marcello]

I heard the Sal Mosca/Warne Marsh Quartet several times at the Vanguard. Those were always very interesting evenings.

[justinruins]

That's too bad. I always meant to check his stuff out. Any recs?

[alligator69]

Originally Posted by Tom Marcello

I heard the Sal Mosca/Warne Marsh Quartet several times at the Vanguard. Those were always very interesting evenings.

I also attended many of those wonderful shows. Sal and Warne at their best in their natural environment.

R.I.P. Sal

May his spirit live on!

[Derek Taylor]

Sad, sad news, but as I understand it he had been ailing for some time.

Far as recs, there’s a bunch of great stuff on the Zinnia imprint:

Thing-ah-Majig [trio w/ Don Messina & Bill Chattin]
Psalm [w/ Jimmy Halperin]
Warne Marsh/Sal Mosca Qt – Village Vanguard 1981, Volumes 1 & 2

And there are also some nice duets on Lee Konitz’s - Spirits

Haven’t heard Recital in Valhalla, but it looks good too.

The man didn't record enough.

[clinthopson]

I saw him many times with the Vanguard band. A great player.

[Mike Schwartz]

Is he the father of trombonist John Mosca (Thad & Mel Orch/Vanguard Orch)?

[alligator69]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

Is he the father of trombonist John Mosca (Thad & Mel Orch/Vanguard Orch)?

No

[alligator69]

Check this out:

http://www.jameslesterfilms.com/shorts/salmosca.mov

Filmed at Sal's Mt. Vernon, NY studio and Trumpets Jazz club in New Jersey

[clinthopson]

Oops, I was thinking of John.

[Nate Dorward]

In terms of recommendations the two solo albums Trickle and Live at Valhalla are probably the best place to go. They are well-recorded & Sal's playing is at its peak.

[Lois Gilbert]

the wake is at yannatuono burr davis funeral home at
584 gramatan avenue, mt. vernon, NY
it's on wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9pm.

the funeral mass will be at sacred heart church in mt. vernon, (2nd
Street and Fifth Ave) on thursday morning at 10am. burial to follow at gate of
heaven cemetery in valhalla.


Sal's website has more info, phone numbers, and suggestions for
donations in Sal's memory.

http;//www.salmosca.com

[rollhead]

August 6, 2007
Sal Mosca, 80, a Jazz Pianist and Teacher, Dies
By COREY KILGANNON (NYT)
Sal Mosca, a jazz pianist whose career began playing with giants like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan only to take himself out of the public eye in later life, died on July 28 in White Plains. He was 80.

The cause was complications from emphysema, said his daughter, Kathryn Mosca.

Mr. Mosca was one of the main protégés of Lennie Tristano, the jazz pianist known for his rigorous approach to improvisation and his cult following among students and fans. A lifelong resident of Mount Vernon, Mr. Mosca grew up emulating the stride of Fats Waller, the swing of Teddy Wilson and the technical and improvisatory mastery of Art Tatum. By the time he was a teenager he was backing up famous players in Manhattan nightclubs.

In the 1950s he played on several watershed early cool-jazz recordings, like “Ezz-thetic,” with Miles Davis, and “Subconscious-Lee,” with the saxophonist Lee Konitz, another Tristano student with whom Mr. Mosca played in clubs like Birdland.

Mr. Tristano later wrote in the liner notes for Mr. Mosca’s 1977 album “Mosca Music” that “of all the great people in jazz since the 1940s, Sal Mosca is one of the greatest.”

Mr. Mosca adopted Mr. Tristano’s curriculum of marathon practice sessions and studying the solos of a small pantheon of jazz improvisers. He stuck to a select repertory of standard songs, usually playing only extreme abstractions of the original melodies or substituting complex melodic lines over a song’s original harmonic structure.

Mr. Mosca played on the bill with Lenny Bruce at the Den in Manhattan in the 1950s and led a quartet along with the saxophonist Warne Marsh at the Village Vanguard in 1981.

But after that he largely avoided performing and recording, seeing it as a threat to the integrity of his intense practicing, playing and teaching, he said in interviews with The New York Times in recent years. He lived in a commercial building he owned in downtown Mount Vernon, where he could teach up to 60 students a week and practice late into the night.

After a series of operations he grew depressed, he said, and in 1997 he stopped playing altogether for four years, refusing to leave home or touch his Steinway concert grand, even as recordings of his earlier performances were being released. Eventually he returned to teaching, jam sessions and public performances. In January he played five solo concerts in Europe and taught several workshops.

In addition to his daughter, his survivors include his sons Michael and Steven and seven grandchildren.

Mr. Mosca credited his seclusion with giving deeper meaning to his music.

“I was only away from music physically,” he explained. “Even while I was away from the piano, I was always playing in my mind, going over chord changes.”