Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sal Mosca: Thing-Ah-Majig

227

Sal Mosca: Thing-Ah-Majig

By

View read count
Sal Mosca: Thing-Ah-Majig
Often referred to as Lennie Tristano's prime pupil, 78-year-old Sal Mosca has spent the greater part of the last half-century teaching rather than performing or recording, so any new disc by the low-profile pianist is immediately something of an event. Thing-Ah-Majig, recorded in 2004 and especially noteworthy as Mosca's first trio recording since 1959, does not disappoint.

The program is what you'd expect from a Tristano disciple: five warhorse standards (plus one Mosca original, the leisurely "Nowhere ), picked apart and rigorously examined for everything they're worth. (By Mosca, that is; though bassist Don Messina and drummer Bill Chattin perform admirably, this is without apology the pianist's showcase.)

First and foremost, it must be said that Mosca's talents are as prodigious as they are uniquely indescribable; the man is full of surprises. Most astonishing is that Mosca accomplishes his magic without heavy pyrotechnics or flash (most of the tunes rarely rise above a thoughtful mid-tempo)—it's his choices that seem so remarkable. Fractured half-runs give way to scrunchy, crinkled chords, strange spaces open up in the middle of solos which abruptly trail off to nothing, single-note Monk-like playfulness morphs into lushly romantic voicings, repeated notes are hammered with locomotive-like intensity, time bends and shifts, right and left hands suddenly seem oblivious to each other—and all this without ever losing the melody.

That Thing-Ah-Majig is so good seems all the more amazing since Mosca, having just recently recovered from a long illness, underwent heart surgery only a year before the disc was waxed. But there's no sense of frailty on the record, and though Mosca certainly looked his years at a rare, one-night-only Birdland stand in NYC in late June, he seemed as vital as ever at the piano in the night's second set. Backed by tenorist Jimmy Halperin, bassist Joe Soloman, and drummer Skip Scott, he improvised his way through a collection of hoary standards ("Prelude to a Kiss, "She's Funny That Way, "Sweet Georgia Brown ) and, with disarming casualness and great good humor, found startling new colors in every one. Even his comping was idiosyncratic—sometimes lighthearted and lively, sometimes like a small symphony, frequently way off the beat and, like the entire evening itself, endlessly fascinating.

Track Listing

I'm Getting Sentimental Over You; Nowhere; I'll Remember April; I Can't Get Started With You; How High The Moon; If I Had You.

Personnel

Sal Mosca
piano
Don Messina
bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Thing-Ah-Majig | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Zinnia Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante
All In Motion
Dave Redmond
Cat & The Hounds
Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine...

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.