Jazz
Cy Touff - Trumpet (Bass)
Sandy Mosse - Sax (Tenor)
Jerry Coleman Producer, Drums, Liner Notes
John Campbell Piano
Kelly Sill Bass
Bob Koester Liner Notes
Jeff Lowenthal Cover Photo
Murray Allen Engineer
Robert G. Koester Supervisor, Producer
One of the few bass trumpet specialists in jazz history, Cy Touff (1927-2003) was a fixture in Chicago for decades. Touff recorded albums for Pacific Jazz and Chess' Argo in the '50s. He worked in the studios, performed in clubs and recorded with Chubby Jackson and Lorez Alexandria in 1957, and with the group Hyde Park After Dark in 1981. Tenor saxophonist Sandy Mosse (1929-1983) was born in Detroit but spent much of his American playing time in Chicago. He moved to Paris at age 22 and recorded historical sides in the bands of Henri Renaud and Django Rheinhardt. He returned to Chicago in '55 and recorded for Argo. Touff and Mosse co-led an octet in the late '50s/early '60s called Pieces of Eight. Mosse relocated to Amsterdam in the late '70s where he spent his last years. Tickle Toe is a swinging 1981 date with John Campbell, Kelly Sill and Jerry Coleman.
Cy Touff
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s
Born: Mar 04, 1927 in Chicago, IL
Died: Jan 24, 2003 in Evanston, IL
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Big Band, Bop, Cool, Swing, West Coast Jazz
One of the very few bass trumpet specialists in jazz history, Cy Touff, although closely associated with West Coast Jazz, has actually been a fixture in Chicago for decades. Touff played piano (starting when he was six), Cmelody sax and xylophone before temporarily settling on trumpet. He was in the Army during 1944-46 but was fortunate enough to get a chance to play trombone reguarly with an Army band. After his discharge, Touff returned to Chicago, studied with Lennie Tristano and gigged with Jimmy Dale, Jay Burkhardt, Bill Russo, Charlie Ventura, Shorty Sherock, Ray McKinley and Boyd Raeburn among others. In the late 1940's he switched to the bass trumpet, an instrument that sounds close to a valve trombone. Touff was a member of the Woody Herman Orchestra during 1953-56; he recorded during this era as a member of the Herdsman, with the Nat Pierce-Dick Collins nonet and as a leader of his own Pacific Jazz album (1955) which in 1997 was reissued on CD. Touff later recorded twice as a leader for Argo (a dixieland date from 1956-57 and a 1958 cool session). After his Herman years, Cy Touff moved back to Chicago, worked in the studios, performed jazz in local clubs and recorded with Chubby Jackson and Lorez Alexandria in 1957, with Fred Wacker in 1965 and with the group Hyde Park After Dark in 1981.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Veteran mainstream jazz purveyors Sandy Mosse and Cy Touff from the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago played together on several occasions. Mosse passed away in 1981 shortly after this date was recorded. He was born in Detroit and lived in Amsterdam, Holland, for a number of years. Touff pretty much stayed in Chicago until his death in 2003, and these sessions lay dormant for decades, surrounded in legal and contractual issues. The paperwork was finally resolved, and listeners can now hear the wonderfully smooth Stan Getz cum Lester Young tenor saxophone style of Mosse and the burnished bass trumpet tones of the singularly unique Touff, together and united in swing. Of the seven tracks here, five are overly long because they ostensibly are jam session tunes and vehicles for lengthy solo discourses. An excellent rhythm section consists of the then young bassist Kelly Sill, pianist John Campbell (who left for California after this session), and the unheralded but tasteful drummer Jerry Coleman, who also wrote liner notes for the CD booklet. Relatively concise, "Allen's Alley" (aka "Wee") is one of the all-time great bop vehicles, and done proud by this quintet, while "What's New?" is a feature for Mosse's disdain-soaked tenor and an opaque piano solo from Campbell. The classic Lester Young tune "Tickle Toe," always a favorite for swing to bop-era mavens, is lean and clean, with the frontmen fitting their sounds in unison. They switch leads during "Centerpiece" after a modified intro, and come back together on "Alone Together," both cleverly and moderately veering off the melody line. Mosse is the dominant voice for a well-swung "Secret Love" aside Coleman's heavier drum accents, while the tenor man expands the line of "The Man I Love" with Touff chiming in on the second chorus. Decorum is crucial for this band, especially from Touff's standpoint, and though this highly recommended date took forever and a day to be issued, listeners should be thankful that it finally is. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide |
