Trumpeter Tony Fruscella(1927-1969) with tenor saxophonist Allen Eager(1927-2003) - two forgotten names from the 1950s:
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Thanks JR - Allen Eager just a name until now, and apart from Mr Triglia (Getz-associated) all the others previous unknowns to me. West Coast school? -
"The chaotic nature of Fruscella's life wasn't
improved by his use of alcohol and drugs.
He wasn't alone in this. Chick Maures, his
companion on the 1948 record date, died
from a drugs overdose in 1954. and Don
Joseph, a trumpeter who was not unlike
Fruscella in his playing and was close to
him as a person, had a career that was
marred by drug addiction. Both were
wayward to the point of self-destruction.
Bob Reisner once got them an engagement at
the famous summer festival at Music Inn in
the Berkshires, but Fruscella, when asked
by a polite listener what he would play
next, replied "We want whiskey Blues", and
refused to carry on until a bottle was
provided. And Joseph somehow managed to
insult the son of the owner of the place.
Bassist Bill Crow, who was around New
York at the time and later wrote a fine
book, From Bird/and to Broadway, about his
experiences, remembered Fruscella almost
losing them a rare job in a club with his
response to a customer's invitation to have
a drink: "Well, I'm already stoned, and the
bread is pretty light on this gig, so would
you mind just giving me the cash?" Crow
said that he "loved the way Tony played in
a small group, but noted that he didn't fit
into a big-band format. His low-key style
needed a small group and an intimate club
setting to allow it to flourish.
It's perhaps indicative of Fruscella's life-
style, and his liking for a bohemian
environment that Beat writer Jack Kerouac
knew him in the 1950s. In his "New York
Scenes," a short prose piece included in
Lonesome Traveller, Kerouac writes:
"What about that guy Tony Fruscella who
sits crosslegged on the rug and plays Bach
on his trumpet, by ear, and later on at
night there he is blowing with the guys at a
session, modern jazz." Kerouac also
mentioned Don Joseph in the same piece:
"He stands at the jukebox in the bar and
plays with the music for a beer."..........
Very good article by John Dunton on the web..."The Names of the Forgotten"
BN.
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According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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The tenor playing really reminds me of the maligned Paul Quinchette whilst Fruscella's trumpet is like a less-wan version of Chet Baker. I quite like the music on Jazzrook's link which seems to fit in to the niche between the intense be-bop of the late 1940's and the rather more conservative styles which became popular in the early 1950's when some aspects of the music seemed to take the foot off the pedal. It's amusing to realise that this jazz was seen to be at the forefront of jazz at the time - it now seems pretty polite but it dispels the perception I had of Eager being a bit of a "plastic Prez."
I think there is a problem with writers like Kerouac romanticising about so much of the jazz at the time but no really getting to the nub of who the true movers and shakers were at the time. There were plenty of white drug addicted musicians ready to live up to the bohemian mythology of writers like Kerouac yet the music doesn't square up to , say, Miles' first classic quintet of the same time.Comment
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Interviewed Bob Weinstock about Eager and his playing on the Mulligan Plays Mulligan album on Prestige:
Was on the Jazz File series I did called Jeru. Some of Eager's best playing on the 17 minute "Mulligan's Too". That would probably dispel Ian's ideas of Eager being Prez-lite...Comment
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“Bird and I used to play at the Open Door in
Greenwich Village and I also used to hang out
there with Tony Fruscella because we were
living together for a while. In 1955 we did a
record for Atlantic (JFCD 22808) and just like
me, he was a free spirit but we were hardly
playing at all at the time. I hadn’t worked in
months and we both had to take our horns
out of hock the day before the session which
was a nice date, not great or anything but
Tony always sounded good. He was a sweet
player but a little strange and difficult to be
with. I also worked quite a bit with Buddy
Rich who was one of the great natural talents.
He wasn’t a real swinger like Philly Joe but he
had fantastic co-ordination, playing things
that nobody else could even if they practiced
for a hundred years. I was also very friendly
with Miles who really liked the way I dressed.
I introduced him to cars and clothes although
I never found out what he thought about my
playing. He was sure lucky with all those
great players..."
Allen Eager - last interview by Gordon Jack.
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Miles lucky with his choice of sidemen!Comment
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On The Road was first published in 1957; given that the album [in The Land of OObla Dee] was recorded between 1947 and 1953 your case is not even tenuous Ian; even if Eager lived on to 2003 and did appear in a Kerouac novel in 1958 he had retired from jazz by then and was avoiding his heroin habit, skiing and driving fast cars and 'borrowing' money from heiresses &c .... the mythologies come after the life mostly and he was a broke junkie by the sound of it in his jazz days - a familiar enough community of legends in no need of literary aggrandisement to pursue their life choices ... [see also Sonny Stitt the subject of Geoffrey tonight] ... Jack Kerouac iirc was high on the mountains open air and macro biotics, actually more of a hippy than a beta; and his ecstasy fueled account of George Shearing has a certain veracity, he was about life much more than music and non too reliable in either case ...According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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"The changes were difficult and I was expected
to be at home with all this tough material but
it was terrible. I don’t think I coped very
well because I didn’t know what was going on
and we didn’t communicate at all. Chet
sounded great and he knew all the stuff and
anyway, he had a great ear. Al, Zoot, Gerry
and Stan Getz were all like that too because
they could hear anything and play it. I have
to really know a tune, which is why I am not
in their league I suppose. I’m probably up
near the top of the second division.
“Looking back on my career, it all came so
easily in the beginning because I was an
exotic-looking guy. People were attracted to
me and that was my trouble. Everything came
without trying and I never had to promote
myself, but then heroin came into the picture
and the gigs seemed to stop. Right now, I’m
broke and I’m sick of living here and not
working. I have no credit cards and I’m on
Social Security - what the government call
‘Assisted Living’. I really want to move to the
West Coast where Dick Bank says he can get
some work for me and Freddie Gruber, who is
a great guy and a drum teacher there, says I
can stay with him. I played in LA recently
with Sir Charles Thompson and Barry Harris
and everyone was surprised to see me. They
treated me real well although I had trouble
on the first couple of tunes but finally it all
came back and I started to play. I know I
could work at least once a week there which is
more than I’m doing in Florida"
- Yes, in fairness to Eager he didn't over rate himself but lived a fairly exotic life...from Bird to cars to LSD with Leary and gigging with Zappa. Not Guildhall/JLU material at all.
BN.Comment
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indeed El Senor, and he was an inspiration for the fiction not a follower of it ....According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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There's a short but very nice solo by Allen Eager on the Saturday Night Swing Session album, which includes a very good Fats Navarro solo:
Incidentally, I saw it said somewhere that Buddy Rich didn't swing: this disc shows up that claim!Comment
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