i was listening to something else which was very good, but i got tired of it. looking for something to cheer myself up, i noticed this show, or rather i noticed “albany, ny” and thought to myself ah, that must be one of those fantastic shows from upstate new york that csatennis has shared! be just the thing! and indeed it was. csatennis had shared this in two parts, which i’ve combined into one folder (with combined info, ffp and md5 files also). from his comments (not to mention the line ups on other recordings he’s shared), there must have been a whole busload of italian-american hard boppers in the general new york area.
charles mcpherson
albany, ny, usa
october 26, 1975
charles mcpherson – alto
frank stagnitta – piano
mike bochichio – bass
ron davis – drums
part 1
01. billie’s bounce 15:49
02. on the trail 14:04
03. blues i 15:46
04. blues ii 1:16
05. desafinado 11:38
58:40
part 2
01. cherokee 16:55
02. body and soul 10:58
03. stella by starlight 14:02
04. closer 6:29
48:27
tt 1:47:07
comments from csatennis:
if you are a mcpherson fan, this is indispensible. i have a lot of his commercially produced cds, and this
easily ranks with the best of them and better than most. the sound quality is exceptionally good.
if you think the piano player’s name is a pseudonym, it isn’t. this guy is for real, and you’ve probably
never heard of him. stagnitta could really play in those days. a resident of syracuse and graduate of
craine school of music, he was a brilliant player and student of both jazz and classical music. he obviously
had chops to spare. unfortunately, he had some emotional issues in his life and a year or so later he disappeared
from the albany area and moved to new york. he played a lot with his friend, tenor player sal nistico. according to others who have posted on dime to volume 1 of this recording, he has returned to his hometown of syracuse.
bocchicio was a well liked bass player from the nyc area and ron davis played regularly with arnie lawrence, bill watrous
and other well known nyc boppers.
the rhythm section simply kicks butt.
as for mcpherson, he is simply on fire. i think that he realized that he was playing with a group of talented
strangers and he had every intention of keeping them in line and showing them who was boss. watching this group, it was
obvious the sidemen loved the ride. so will you.
sample: p1 t02 on the trail.mp3
download: CharlesMcPherson_1975-10-26_AlbanyNY.zip