COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 21

The morning kicked off with Steve Cournane’s Dancing Queen. The album is comprised of three trio sessions from September 2006, with Cournane joined by Roger Manins (ts) & Tom Callwood (b), Jonathan Crayford (keys) & Patrick Bleakly (b), and Joe Callwood (g) & Tom Callwood. Plenty of variety helped the morning cruise along - reggae grooves (“Plesmograph”), standards (“Alone Together”, “Evidence”) some calypso-type tunes of Steve’s (“There Will Always Be Rain”, “Toot & Repollo”), dark ballad (“John Karaitiana”) and even some ABBA (“Dancing Queen”.... and it actually works). Looking forward to giving this more air time.

Then it was onto disc 2 of Too Marvelous for Words – Sal at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 21 June, 1981. I like that Sal’s friends/associates write the liner notes - Dick Hyman, Jimmy Halperin, Connie Crothers, Larry Bluth and Kazzrie Jaxen take one disc each. And Don Messina’s passion for the project comes through in the introduction (great work putting this together Don – thanks!). As usual, I listen to the disc at least once before reading the notes. At lunch I read Kazzrie’s notes and the first thing she mentions is Sal’s opening line on “I Never Knew” (which opens the disc) – something that leapt out at me too (and I'm sure it would grab anyone's attention). Of course there’s the influence of Tristano and the Sal’s early influence, Art Tatum, but I also hear some of the quirky, surprising twists and turners of Earl Hines’ solo work. That said, Sal is his own man and Too Marvelous for Words is distinctly Sal Mosca.