BLP 5035

Sal Salvador Quintet

Released - 1954

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 24, 1953
Frank Socolow, tenor sax #1-4; Johnny Williams, piano; Sal Salvador, guitar; Kenny O'Brien, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums.

BN536-2 (tk.3) Gone With The Wind
BN537-2 (tk.3) Too Marvelous For Words
BN538-0 (tk.1) This Can't Be Love
BN539-1 (tk.2) After You've Gone
BN540-1 (tk.2) My Old Flame
BN541-3 (tk.4) Get Happy

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Gone With the Wind	Magdison-Wrubell	December 24 1953
Get Happy	Koehler-Arlen	December 24 1953
My Old Flame	Johnston-Coslow	December 24 1953
Side Two
This Can't Be Love	Rodgers-Hart	December 24 1953
Too Marvelous For Words	Whiting-Mercer	December 24 1953
After You've Gone	Creamer-Layton	December 24 1953

Liner Notes

SAL SALVADOR, whose name suggests an Argentinian city and gauchos and Latin rhythms is, to the detriment of romance but for the betterment of jazz, far removed from all these things. Quite unromantically, he was born in Monson, Massachusetts in 1925 and spent most of his growing years in Stafford Springs, Connecticut.

And, as if preserving the New Englandish simplicity of his life's story, Sal cant recall any particular reason for his general interest in music or his particular interest in the guitar. It happened almost by accident, he explains. "Dad had taken a few lessons on the guitar at one time, and there was an instrument lying around the house, so I picked it up and began playing."

Unlike most of today's jazz musicians, Sal hardly noticed jazz as a form until he was twenty years old. About that time, he heard Charlie Christian records, which were the first indication that he had had of the guitar's possibilities. And, because he was listening to Christian at such a late date, he also began to pay some attention at about the same time to Dizzy and Bird; all three, exerting a great deal of influence on Sal, who has never studied formally, supplying him with a running leap into modern music.

He began his professional career in 1945, playing with local bands in and around Springfield, Mass. and came to New York four years later where he played with many groups until 1952, when he left the city to join Stan Kenton with whom he remained until December, 1953. From what lies between these covers, one can assume that Kenton's loss is our gain.

For here is the structure within which Sal functions best. And he is ably assisted, whether by quintet or quartet. Pianist Johnny Williams, an ex-Getz sideman, is a stand-out. His is a sparkling and swinging style which shows fine structural development. Jimmy Campbell, a steady and inventive drummer, and Kenny O'Brien, whose bass had been the steadiest of anchors for many combos, complete the rhythm section. Swinging tenorist Frank Sokolov, who used to play with such groups as Chubby Jackson's, makes the fifth man on the quintet sides.

Here, in these first records which Sal has done under his own name, he finds the opportunity to exhibit three sides of his musical personality. As he sums them up, they are: "To swing, to play simply and to pick tunes carefully,"

And all six sides contain these three qualities, plus a sense of overall continuity which makes each tune more than just a casual run-down. This is perhaps most clear in the quartet performances which, because of the intimate relatlonships between only four instruments, seem more free, more simple and more complete. This is a far departure from his days with Stan Kenton where he attempted more complex approaches; among others, Invention for Guitar and Trumpet which he recorded with the band.

Gone with the Wind has warmth coupled with drive; an unusual combination, but done with, and because of, delicacy and relaxation. This Can't Be Love is, as are all these tunes, an attractive standard, made more attractive here by the momentum which the group maintains while, eve where, giving a feeling of lightness. Too Marvelous or Words shows the lilting quality of Sal's guitar, the range of sounds that he produces with the instrument. After You've Gone, for all Its old age, is made pre here with the added attraction of a cute, from-the-land-of-dixie ending.

My Old Flame is a particular favorite of mine and the quartet plays it with a brilliance and insinuating lilt which is hard to resist. This side, more than any other, shows Sal's penchant for the simple and direct, both in the introduction of the melody and In its development. Get Happy is the second quartet offering and, at a faster tempo than Flame, it still exhibits those qualities of fleetness which make this album such pleasurable listening.

This, then, is Sal Salvador, entering a new phase in his musical development. Here is a preview of what Sal is doing now, with more than one suggestion of things to come from his subtle and selective mind and fingers.

—BILL COSS
(Assistant Editor, Metronome)

Cover Design by JEROME KUHL
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF