(Bop, Cool Jazz) Tony Fruscella (Bill Triglia, Brew Moor, Hal McKusick, Hank Jones, Phil Urso, Phil Woods, Red Mitchell, Stan Getz) - Collection (2 Albums, 1 Box Set, 6 CD) - 1999-2011(1948-1959), MP3, 320 kbps

THE NAMES OF THE FORGOTTENJohn DuntonAll works of art are not produced by a handful of major poets, painters, musicians, or whatever, and at any time there are always hundreds of others active and often creating worthwhile, but overlooked, contributions to their chosen area of activity. It ought to be the duty of a critic to recognise those contributions, though too many take the easy way out and concentrate on a few famous names. This is certainly true of jazz writing, with the result that numerous musicians are virtually forgotten. The name of Tony Fruscella may not mean much unless you have a specific interest in the modem jazz of the l940s and 1950s, but the facts of his life, and his few appearances on records, say a great deal about the period and the musicians he worked with. A fascinating jazz "underground" comes to life when his activities are examined, and it offers,as well, a comment on the society in which Fruscella and his contemporaries sought to function.
Fruscella was born in Greenwich. Village in 1927, though his family belonged to the Italian-American working class of that area rather than to the bohemian element. His childhood years are largely undocumented, but he was brought up in an orphanage from an early age and seems to have had little exposure to music other than as it related to the church. However, he left the orphanage when he was about fourteen or fifteen, started studying the trumpet, and came into contact with both classical music and jazz. He appears to have been quick to develop his skills and was soon playing in public. When he was eighteen he went into the army and gained more experience by playing in an army band. It was around this time that Fruscella also encountered the new modern sounds of the day and the post-war years saw him mixing with the many young, white New York jazzmen who were devoted to bebop and cool jazz. They had an almost-fanatical belief in the music and had little time for anything else. William Carraro recalled: "We'd jam at lofts, or flats in old tenement houses on Eighth Avenue, around 47th or 48th Street. The empty rooms were rented for a few hours, and the musicians and the 'cats' that came by just to listen would chip in whatever they could afford at the moment to help pay the rent. Brew Moore, Chuck Wayne and many other names-to-be came by."
One of the musicians who participated in these sessions was an alto-player by the name of Chick Maures and, in 1948, he and Fruscella recorded for a small label called Century, though the records never appeared commercially until thirty years later. They are fascinating documents in terms of what they say about jazz developments. Of course, by 1946 bebop was well-established and the music shows the influence of the famous Charlie Parker quintet of those days. But the tricky themes played in unison by the alto and trumpet also suggest an awareness of the kind of approach favoured by pianist Lennie Tristano and his disciples Lee Koniti and Warne Marsh, who were cooler and more careful in their improvising. And Fruscella's trumpet playing, though superficially akin to that of Miles Davis, had its own subtelty and warmth. Fruscella was more melodic than Davis.
But what happened after the heady days and nights of the late1940s'? Fruscella and the others no doubt continued to play when and where they could, and a few even got to work professionally. But paying jobs, especially those involving jazz, were often hard to come by. Bob Reisner, a writer around Greenwich Village in the early1950s, recalled that Fruscella never seemed to have a permanent address:
"Short marriages, short stays in hospitals and jails, and he invented the crash pad. He walked the streets, an orphan of the world but with incredible dignity. He never accepted anything for free. He would cook and clean and play music if you put him up."
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."
There were a few moments of near-glory in Fruscella's career. In 1951 he was hired to play in Lester Young's group, though the job lasted only a couple of weeks and no recorded evidence of it exists. It would seem that Fruscella was ousted from the band due to some sort of rivalry which may have involved a form of reverse racism. Pianist Bill Triglia, who worked with Fruscella over the years, tells the story: -
'Fruscella was a white fellow and very friendly with Miles Davis and used to jam with him. He played with myself and Red Mitchell a lot. He had a beautiful sound. He didn't play high, he didn't play flashy, but he played beautiful low register, very modem. When Kenny Drew left and some jobs came up, John Lewis was playing with Lester. According to what I heard, and Tony Fruscella was a good friend of mine, Tony used to get drunk with Lester. Lester loved him. He didn't play the same style as Lester, but it fit nicely, it was a beautiful contrast, but John Lewis didn't like Tony. Tony said he didn't like him because he was properly white, I don't know, but John Lewis tried to get somebody else on. The next job they had Lester's manager didn't call Tony Fruscella and he was so hurt, because he loved Lester, you know. He wanted to stay with him, he was a young fellow and very tender."
It was just after this experience that Fruscella again recorded some tracks which, like those from 1948. didn't appear until many years later. In February 1952, he joined forces with altoist Herb Geller, tenorman Phil Urso, pianist Bill Triglia, and a couple of others, to produce some music which ought to have been heard at the time and drawn some attention to Fruscella. Instead, it simply disappeared into the vaults and Fruscella and his companions carried on struggling to play their music and earn a living. Critic Mark Gardner noted that, although the -1950s were, for many, years of affluence, the good times did not necessarily arrive for musicians, "especially those who had rejected the commercial sop dispensed over the airways and via the jukeboxes." Gardner also said:
" Jazzmen adapted, as they always have, and found places to play the way they wanted - in basements and cellars, seedy bars, strip clubs and coffee houses. Surroundings were uncongenial but unimportant. The main thing was that in those varied environments were the patrons were either alcoholic/moronic or intellectual/revolutionary, nobody told you how to play or what to play if you were looking to dig what was happening you went to the open door in Greenwich Village or wangled an invitation to pianist Gene Di Novi's basement or to where Jimmy Knepper and Joe Maini lived The people who passed through these underground pads and dives were the jazz underground The life of prosperous, middle-class America was far removed from those basement jam sessions, those rehearsals and gigs in down-at-heel corner bars. Musicians, natural sceptics, turned their backs on McCarthyism and the rest."
A little steady work did come along now and then, and in 1953 Fruscella was hired to play with Stan Getz's group. Some poorly-recorded excerpts from a broadcast from Birdland do exist, and on "Dear Old Stockholm" Fruscella demonstrates all that was best in his playing as he shapes a solo that is relaxed, warm, melodically coherent, and in which the use of spaces between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. Some listeners might think there is a resemblance to Chet Baker in Fruscella's sound - and he did play with Gerry Mulligan's group briefly in 1954 but it is only slight, and Fruscella very much had his own ways of constructing a solo. There are interesting comparisons to be made between Baker's 1953 recording of "Imagination" and Fruscella's version from the same year. Admittedly, Baker's was a studio recording with the disciplined format that implies, whereas Fruscella 's was from a live session at the Open Door and has a relative looseness, but even so, there is greater depth in Fruscella's playing. As Dan Morganstern said of it: "It is music very much of its time - a time of scuffling, an inwardlooking time, a blue time."
The recordings from the Open Door - and, yet again, they came to light only years later - are valuable not only for the way in which they allow us to hear Fruscella soloing at length, but also for the window they provide into the modern jazz world of New York. The Open Door was a bar and restaurant frequented by jazz musicians and which they soon began to use as a place for jam sessions. Dan Morganstern remembered it as a "haven for jazz people with no money. It was a weird place. When you walked in off the street, you entered a room with a long bar that had a Bowery feeling to it. At one end of this bar stood an ancient upright piano, manned most evenings by Broadway Rose, a fading but spry ex-vaudevillian her hair dyed an improbable shade of red. She knew a thousand old songs and cheerfully honoured requests. From the bar, right next to Rose, a creaky door led to the huge, gloomy back room, sporting a long bandstand, a dance floor which was never used, and rickety tables and chairs." Bob Reisner, a free-lance writer who some years later produced a couple of short, but lively memoirs of the 1950s and also wrote a funny book about graffiti, hired the room for Sunday afternoon concerts at which Charlie Parker sometimes appeared, but other, spontaneous sessions took place, and drummer Al Levitt recalls musicians like Herb Geller, Gene Quill, Jon Eardley, Milt Gold, and Ronnie Singer, dropping in to play. Geller did go on to make something of a name for himself on the West Coast in the late- 1950s and is still around, but most of the others made only occasional appearances on record and those mostly in the 1950s. And the casualty rate amongst them was high. Quill was badly injured in a road accident and spent the rest of his life virtually immobilised, Singer committed suicide, and Eardley had an up-and-down career due to drug addiction.
The music produced by Fruscella at the Open Door, mostly with tenorman Brew Moore and pianist Bill Triglia, sounds relaxed almost to the point of casualness, and it is played without any concessions to non-jazz tastes. Using a few standard tunes from the jazz and popular music repertoire (the popular music of the pre-rock period, that is), the emphasis is on improvisation, and Fruscella shows how inventive he could be in such a setting. He never repeats ideas and always sounds poised, no matter the tempo. He was presumably fond of the ballad, "Loverman," using it at the open Door sessions and also at an engagement at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey which must have taken place around the same period (1953). "A Night in Tunisia," the classic tune from the hop era, also crops up at both places. There are moments on the ballad performances when Fruscella can sound pensive, almost hesitant, but he skilfully uses that mood to shape his solos and his emotional sound complements it. It needs to be noted that the Ridgewood High School recordings, presumably made by one of the musicians or an interested fan were some more that only went into general circulation twenty or so years later. Bill Triglia appears to have been the man who organised the group's appearance. Interestingly, some other live recordings from the same period and with Triglia again in the group feature Don Joseph and a good alto-saxophonist, Davey Schildkraut, who was in Stan Kenton's band in the '1950s, recorded with Miles Davis, but then drifted from sight. Memoirs of the New York scene prior to 1959 or so place him in the centre of a lot of the activity at the Open Door and elsewhere.
1955 was probably the peak year in Fruscella' s short career and he was featured on a couple of recordings by Stan Getz and was also invited to make an LP under his own name for the Atlantic label, a well-established company. Fruscella chose Bill Triglia to accompany him on piano and he added tenor-saxophonist Allen Eager, a musician who had been highly thought of in the 1940s, when he was amongst the leading hop players, but who was, by 1955, slipping into a shadowy world of occasional public appearances and even fewer recording dates. With Phil Sunkel, another little-known trumpeter, acting as composer-arranger, Fruscella came up with some of his finest work, especially on "I'll Be Seeing You" and the attractive "His Master's Voice," on which he uses some of his classical background to fashion an engaging Bach-like series of variations. Fruscella and those who admired him no doubt imagined that this album would help him widen his reputation, but it soon slid from sight and was remembered by only a few enthusiasts. The mid-1950s were reasonable years for some jazzmen provided they could be identified with bright West Coast sounds or the hard hop forcefulness associated with black New York. Fruscella's music, like so much good, white New York jazz of the 1950s, didn't fit into either category.
What happened to Tony Fruscella after 1955? Very little, it seems, if the reference books are anything to go by. He probably still played at jam sessions and perhaps even did some club work in obscure places, but the "dogged will to fail" that Bob Reisner saw in him, and his drug and alcohol problems, must have held him back. And the 1906s were lean years for a lot of jazzmen, as pop music took over in clubs, dance-halls, and on the radio. His kind of music, quiet, reflective, and requiring sympathy and understanding from the listener was hardly likely to appeal to many people. It never had, it's only fair to say, but things got even worse in the 1960s. After years of obscurity, Tony Fruscella died in August 1969, his body finally giving up the struggle against barbiturates and booze. Bob Reisner, in a touching elegy written for a jazz magazine just after Fruscella died, said: "If I were an artist, I would paint Fruscella in the Renaissance manner. A side portrait of him bent in concentration over the horn which produced the flowing and delicate music. The usual background landscape would be strewn with a couple of wives, countless chicks, barbiturate containers, and empty bottles. His artistic life, however, was in sharp contrast. He was completely austere and disciplined. There was not a commercial chromosome in his body"
This short survey of Fruscella's life is scattered with the names of the forgotten. What did happen to Don Joseph and Davey Schildkraut? Where is Allen Eager these days? And a whole world of New York jazz of the 1950s comes into my mind when I listen to a few of the records by Fruscella and others. Where are Jerry' Lloyd, George Syran, and Phil Raphael and Phil Leshin? Jerry Lloyd was around in the 1940s and 1950s and recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and George Wallington, though he never became well-known and worked as a cab-driver even when he was featured on records with such artists. George Syran was on an album with Jon Eardley which also featured trombonist Milt Gold, and the two Phils worked with Red Rodney in 1951, but what else? And what happened to that fine tenor-saxophonist Phil Urso, who soloed on Woody Herman records in the early-1950s, was with Chet Baker's group a few years later, and then seems to have faded into obscurity around 1960. There were so many who had only a brief moment or two in the spotlight. Not all of them were necessarily as ill-fated as Fruscella. Bill Triglia. who figures so prominently in the Fruscella story, seems to have still been alive in the 1980s, though hardly in the forefront of jazz. Nor would it be true to say that all the musicians mentioned were victims of an unjust or uncaring society. When there were casualties they often came about through personal waywardness and self-indulgence rather than from any form of oppression. Some jazzmen may well have felt that their music was misunderstood and neglected, but that's hardly an excuse for taking drugs or drinking heavily. Dan Morganstern may have got nearer the truth, about the early-1950s at least, when he said it was an 'inward-looking time." Were drugs a part of that inwardness or simply just a social fashion?
But a lot of musicians probably just gave up playing jazz, or even playing any kind of music, and some possibly turned to commercial sounds in order to earn a living. Compromises are often necessary if one wants to eat. The point is, though, that all those I've named, and more whose names are mentioned when people reminisce, deserve to be remembered for their contributions to jazz, even if those contributions were small ones. We do the artists and ourselves a disservice when we neglect the past. A form of "organised amnesia' takes over, as is so often evident when one listens to those radio stations which purport to cater for a jazz audience but which mostly present a non-stop procession of bland sounds. There is little or no historical sense in what they do, and certainly no place for a fine, forgotten musician like Tony Fruscella.

01 - All the Things You Are (Jerome Kern) 02:26
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Charlie Kennedy - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Joe Schulman - Bass, Billy Exiner - Drums
02 - Idaho (Jesse Stone) 03:35
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Charlie Kennedy - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Joe Schulman - Bass, Billy Exiner - Drums
03 - Donna Lee (Charlie Parker) 08:04
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hal McKusick - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Joe Schulman - Bass, Billy Exiner - Drums
04 - Johnny Mandel Tune (Johny Mandel) 03:58
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hal McKusick - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Joe Schulman - Bass, Billy Exiner - Drums
05 - Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen) 04:07
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Gene DiNovi - Piano
06 - Blue Lester (Lester Young) 03:38
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Gene DiNovi - Piano
07 - Minor Blues (Tony Fruscella, Gene DiNovi) 03:19
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hal McKusick - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Joe Schulman - Bass, Buddy Lazza - Drums
08 - Broadway (Henri Wood, Teddy MacRae, Bill Byrd) 05:64
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hal McKusick - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Red Mitchell - Bass, Harold Granowski - Drums
09 - Strike Up the Band (George Gershwin) 07:42
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hal McKusick - Alto Saxophone, Gene DiNovi - Piano, Red Mitchell - Bass, Harold Granowski - Drums

01 - Blues Medium 02:50
02 - Minor Blues 03:09
03 - Bill Triglia’s Original (Bill Triglia) 05:07
04 - Slow Blues 06:42
05 - Brew’s Nightmare (Brew Moore) 02:59
06 - Fast Blues 02:40
07 - Blues Medium II 04:05
08 - Minor Blues II 03:06
09 - Bill Triglia’s Original II (Bill Triglia) 02:58
10 - Brew's Nightmare II (Brew Moore) 03:04
11 - Fast Blues II 04:50
12 - Blues Medium III 04:07
13 - Blue Bells (Phil Sunkel) 07:13
14 - Round-Up Time (Phil Sunkel) 07:11
Tracks 01-12 previously unissued Atlantic session.
Tracks 13-14 from the Verve album
"Stan Getz and the Cool Sounds" (MGV8200).
Personnel on Tracks 01-12:
The Tony Fruscella & Brew Moore Quintet
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Brew Moore - Tenor Saxophone, Bill Triglia - Piano,
Teddy Kotick - Bass, Bill Heine - Drums.
Recorded in New York, on March 22, 1954.
Personnel on Tracks 13-14:
Stan Getz Quintet
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Stan Getz - Tenor Saxophone, John Williams - Piano,
Bill Anthony - Bass, Frank Isola - Drums.
Recorded in New York, on January 31, 1955.

Studio Recordings
CD 1
01 - Foo's (Unknown) 02:50
02 - Flues (Unknown) 02:45
03 - Oh Yeah (Unknown) 03:26
04 - Little Orgg (Unknown) 02:53
05 - Out of Nowhere (Johnny Green / Edward Heyman) 03:21
06 - P.U. Stomp (Phil Urso) 03:08
07 - Darn That Dream (Jimmy Van Heuse / Johnny Вurkе) 02:59
08 - Tangerine (Victor Schertzinger/ Johnny Mercer) 02:47
09 - Loopadoo (Bill Triglia) 02:58
10 - Blue Bells (Phil Sunkel) 07:13
11 - Roundup Time (Phil Sunkel) 07:11
12 - Flues* (Unknown) 02:34
13 - Little Orgg* (Unknown) 02:09
14 - Out Of Nowhere * (Johnny Green / Edward Heyman) 02:52
CD 2
01 - I'll Be Seeing You (Sammy Fain / Irving Kahal) 03:19
02 - Muy (Phil Sunkel) 05:41
03 - Metropolitan Blues (Phil Sunkel) 05:05
04 - Raintree County (Phil Sunkel) 05:15
05 - Salt (Phil Sunkel) 04:40
06 - His Master's Voice (Phil Sunkel) 05:31
07 - Old Hat (Phil Sunkel) 03:18
08 - Blue Serenade (Harold Adamson, Burton Lane) 05:14
09 - Let's Play The Blues (Phil Sunkel) 04:04
Live Recordings
CD 3
01 - Bernie'sTune (Bernie Miller, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) 09:16
02 - Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Roger “Ram” Ramirez, James Sherman) 06:42
03 - A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli) 08:35
04 - Sometimes I'm Happy (Vincent Youmans / Irving Caesar) 09:34
05 - Blue Lester (Lester Young) 10:35
06 - Hackensack (Thelonious Monk) 10:21
07 - Imagination (Jimmy Van Heuse / Johnny Вurkе) 05:36
08 - Donna (Jackie McLean) 05:18
CD 4
01 - Tony's Blues (Тony Fruscella) 05:40
02 - Get Happy (Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler) 06:21
03 - Dear Old Stockholm (Traditional) 07:12
04 - Pernod (Stan Getz) 04:41
05 - Scrapple From the Apple (Charlie Parker) 13:16
06 - Night Train (Jimmy Forrest) 11:25
07 - A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli) 14:45
08 - Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Roger “Ram” Ramirez, James Sherman) 03:27
* Bonus tracks
Studio CD 1
Tracks 01-05,12-14:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Chick Maures - Alto Saxophone, Bill Triglia - Piano, Red Mitchell - Bass, Dave Troy - Drums. New York City, December 10, 1948
Tracks 06-09:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Herb Geller - Alto Saxophone, Phil Urso - Tenor Saxophone, Gene Allen - Baritone Saxophone, Bill Triglia - Piano, Red Mitchell - Bass, Howie Mann - Drums. New York City, February 16, 1952
Tracks 10-11:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Stan Getz - Tenor Saxophone, Johnny Williams - Piano, Bill Anthony - Bass, Frank Isola - Drums. New York City, January 31, 1955
Studio CD 2
Tracks 01,03-04,06-09:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Allen Eager - Tenor Saxophone, Bill Triglia - Piano, Bill Anthony - Bass, Junior Bradley - Drums. New York City, April 1955.
Tracks 02, 05:
Same personnel except Chauncey Welsch - Trombone, Danny Bank - Baritone Saxophone, added. New York City, March 1955.
Live CD 1
Tracks 01-03:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Bill Triglia - Piano, Teddy Kotick - Bass, Art Mardigan - Drums. The Open Door Club, New York City, mid. 1953.
Tracks 04-08: Same personnel and location except Brew Moore Tenor Saxophone added.
Live CD 2
Track 01:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Hank Jones - Piano, Wendell Marshall - Bass, Shadow Wilson - Drums. Pithyan Temple, New York City, November 7, 1955
Tracks 02-04:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Stan Getz - Tenor Saxophone, Johnny Williams - Piano, Bill Anthony - Bass, Frank Isola - Drums. Birdland, New York City, January 23, 1955
Tracks 05-07:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Phil Woods - Alto Saxophone, Bill Triglia - Piano, Bill Keck (g), Paul Chambers - Bass, Roy Hall - Drums. Ridgewood High School, New Jersey, November 1955 or 1959
Track 08:
Tony Fruscella - Trumpet, Bill Keck - Guitar. August 3, 1955 or 1959Includes albumsAtlantic — Tony Fruscella, Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999), Jazz Factory CD: 22802 — A Night at the Open Door, Jazz Factory CD: 22805 — Tony's Blues.

Tony Fruscella Discography
by Michael Fitzgerald
________________________________________
Date: December 10, 1948
Location: Vocarium Studios, New York City
Label: Century
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Chick Maures (as), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Red Mitchell (b), Dave Troy (d)
a. Body And Soul (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton)
b. 151A Foo's - 2:47 (Composer Unknown)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
c. 153B Flues - 2:43 (Composer Unknown)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
d. 154B Oh Yeah - 3:24 (Composer Unknown)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
e. 155A Little Orgg - 2:51 (Tony Fruscella)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
f. 155B Little Orgg - 2:07 (Tony Fruscella)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
g. 156A Out Of Nowhere - 3:18 (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
h. 156B Out Of Nowhere - 2:52 (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
i. 163A Flues - 2:32 (Composer Unknown)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
Oh Yeah is a D minor bebop tune, starting somewhat like A Night In Tunisa.
Notes to Spotlite LP describe Body And Soul as "lengthy."
________________________________________
Date: February 16, 1952
Location: Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Label: [private recording]
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Herb Geller (as), Phil Urso (ts), Gene Allen (bar), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Red Mitchell (b), Howie Mann (d)
a. P. U. Stomp - 3:06 (Phil Urso) / arr: Bill Triglia
b. Darn That Dream - 2:58 (Jimmy Van Heusen, Edgar DeLange) / arr: Bill Triglia
c. Tangerine - 2:46 (Victor Schertzinger, Johnny Mercer) / arr: Bill Triglia
d. Loopadoo - 2:57 (Bill Triglia) / arr: Bill Triglia
All titles on: Xanadu LP 12": 172 — Bebop Revisited, Volume 3
Xanadu CD: FDC 5175 — Bebop Revisited, Volume 2 (1990)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22805 — Tony's Blues
________________________________________
Date: September 1952
Location: Gene DiNovi's house, Brooklyn, NY
Label: [private recording]
Charlie Kennedy, Hal McKusick (as), Tony Fruscella (t), Gene DiNovi (p), Red Mitchell, Joe Shulman (b), William Exiner, Harold Granowski, Buddy Lazza (d)
a. 01 All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II)
b. 02 Idaho (Jesse Stone)
c. 03 Donna Lee (Miles Davis)
d. 04 Johnny Mandel Tune (Johnny Mandel)
e. 05 Over The Rainbow (Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg)
f. 06 Blue Lester (Lester Young)
g. 07 Minor Blues (Gene DiNovi, Tony Fruscella)
h. 08 Broadway (Bill Bird, Teddy McRae, Henri Woode)
i. 09 Strike Up The Band (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
All titles on: Marshmallow CD: MYCJ-30124 — Brooklyn Jam 1952
Charlie Kennedy (as) on a-b; Hal McKusick (as) on c-d, g-i; Red Mitchell (b) on h-i; Joe Shulman (b) on a-d, g; William Exiner (d) on a-d; Harold Granowski (d) on h-i; Buddy Lazza (d) on g.
Bruyninckx gives date as September 1952.
Uncertain whether all performances are from the same date.
Some sources list Turk Van Lake on guitar for this material.
________________________________________
Date: ca. 1953
Location: Tony Fruscella's home, New York City
Label: Royal Jazz
Dave Schildkraut (as), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p)
a. You Stepped Out Of A Dream - 9:46 (Nacio Herb Brown, Gus Kahn)
b. Now's The Time - 9:11 (Charlie Parker)
c. Emanon - 11:09 (Dizzy Gillespie)
All titles on: Royal Jazz CD: RJD 506 — More Unissued, Vol. 2 (1990)
Date unknown. Location speculative. RJD 506 (issued under Charlie Parker's name) says "some musician's apartment" in New York City.
Unknown bass and drums. RJD 506 says "possibly" Bill Triglia and lists Charlie Parker as alto saxophonist, but Lord discography identifies Schildkraut instead. This is confirmed by Bill Triglia (who also confirms his own presence).
________________________________________
Date: mid 1953
Location: Open Door, New York City
Label: Spotlite
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Brew Moore (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Teddy Kotick (b), Art Mardigan (d)
a. Bernie's Tune [aka Bobby Sox] (Bernie Miller, Bobby Lehman)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
b. Lover Man (Roger 'Ram' Ramirez, Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Sherman)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
c. A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 126 — Debut
d. Sometimes I'm Happy (Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 151 — Fru 'n Brew
e. Blue Lester (Lester Young)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 151 — Fru 'n Brew
f. Rifftide [aka Hackensack] (Coleman Hawkins)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 151 — Fru 'n Brew
g. Donna [aka Dig] (Jackie McLean)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 151 — Fru 'n Brew
h. Imagination (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke)
Spotlite LP 12": SPJ 151 — Fru 'n Brew
All titles on: Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22802 — A Night At The Open Door
Brew Moore (ts) on d-h.
________________________________________
Date: March 22, 1954
Location: New York City
Label: Atlantic
Brew Moore (ldr), Brew Moore (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Teddy Kotick (b), Bill Heine (d)
a. 1243 Bill Triglia's Blues (Bill Triglia)
b. 1246 Brew's Nightmare (Brew Moore)
Private tape still exists. Reportedly, Fruscella does not play on all selections. Specifics unknown.
Additional selections: 1241: Blues Medium; 1242: Minor Blues; 1244: Slow Blues; 1245: Fast Blues; 1247 [no information] by unknown composers. Composers for 1243 and 1246 are speculative.
All titles on: Fresh Sound Records FSR-CD 660 - Tony Fruscella & Brew Moore Quintet - The 1954 Unissued Atlantic Session
________________________________________
Date: July 17, 1954
Location: Newport Jazz Festival - Newport Casino, Newport, RI
Label: [radio broadcast]
Gerry Mulligan (ldr), Gerry Mulligan (bar), Tony Fruscella (t), Red Mitchell (b), Frank Isola (d)
a. 01 Bernie's Tune [aka Bobby Sox] - 4:42 (Bernie Miller, Bobby Lehman)
b. 02 The Lady Is A Tramp - 6:11 (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
c. 03 Lullaby Of The Leaves - 4:22 (Bernice Petkere, Joe Young)
A spoken introduction by Stan Kenton (3:18) precedes the first selection.
On only known source, New York radio announcer interrupts the final selection to conclude the live broadcast.
________________________________________
Date: December 10, 1954
Location: Fort Myers, VA
Label: [private recording]
Stan Getz (ldr), Stan Getz (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Johnny Williams (p), Bill Anthony (b), Frank Isola (d)
a. Tangerine (Victor Schertzinger, Johnny Mercer)
b. Blue Moon (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
c. Anthropology (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie)
d. Wonder Why (Nicholas Brodszky, Sammy Cahn)
e. Tony's Blues (Tony Fruscella)
f. Bernie's Tune [aka Bobby Sox] (Bernie Miller, Bobby Lehman)
Private tape exists.
One additional selection (first): B-flat Blues by unknown composer.
________________________________________
Date: ca. 1955
Location: Open Door, New York City
Label: [private recording]
Tony Fruscella (t), Don Joseph (c)
a. 01 Now's The Time - 4:32 (Charlie Parker)
b. 02 Embraceable You - 5:47 (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
c. 03 I Got Rhythm - 3:10 (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
d. 04 'S Wonderful - 4:36 (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
e. 05 What Is This Thing Called Love - 7:19 (Cole Porter)
f. 06 Ash Wednesday Blues - 3:31 (Don Joseph)
Unknown guitar, bass, drums. Solos by these players have been edited out on only known source.
________________________________________
Date: January 23, 1955
Location: Birdland, New York City
Label: [radio broadcast]
Stan Getz (ldr), Stan Getz (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Johnny Williams (p), Bill Anthony (b), Frank Isola (d)
a. Get Happy - 6:21 (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler)
b. Dear Old Stockholm [Ack Värmeland, Du Sköna] - 7:12 (Traditional)
c. Pernod - 4:41 (Stan Getz)
All titles on: Queen-Disc LP 12": Q 013 — Stan Getz
Cicala LP 12": BLJ 8036 — Yesterdays
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
Q 013 gives incorrect date as 1953.
________________________________________
Date: January 31, 1955
Location: Fine Sound Studio, New York City
Label: Verve
Stan Getz (ldr), Stan Getz (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Johnny Williams (p), Bill Anthony (b), Frank Isola (d)
a. 2229-2 Blue Bells - 7:08 (Phil Sunkel)
b. 2230-1 Round-Up Time - 7:07 (Phil Sunkel)
Verve CD: 314 517 330-2 — The Artistry Of Stan Getz, vol. 2 (1993)
Verve CD: 517 330-2 — The Best Of The Verve Years, Volume 2 (1993)
Both titles on: Verve LP 12": MGV 8200 — Stan Getz And The Cool Sounds
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22804 — Pernod (1999)
Verve CD: 314 547 317-2 — Stan Getz And The Cool Sounds (2002)
________________________________________
Date: March 29, 1955
Location: Capitol Studios, New York City
Label: Atlantic
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Allen Eager (ts), Danny Bank (bar), Tony Fruscella (t), Chauncey Welsch (tb), Bill Triglia (p), Bill Anthony (b), Will Bradley, Jr. (d)
a. 1466 Muy - 5:42 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
Atlantic LP 12": 1220 — Tony Fruscella (1955)
Atlantic LP 12": 7 90463-1-Y — Tony Fruscella (1985)
London LP 12": 15044 — Tony Fruscella
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Atlantic CD: 75354 — Tony Fruscella (2000)
Atlantic CD: WPCR 25153 — Tony Fruscella (2007)
b. 1467 Salt - 4:40 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
Atlantic LP 12": 1220 — Tony Fruscella (1955)
Atlantic LP 12": 7 90463-1-Y — Tony Fruscella (1985)
London LP 12": 15044 — Tony Fruscella
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Atlantic CD: 75354 — Tony Fruscella (2000)
Atlantic CD: WPCR 25153 — Tony Fruscella (2007)
c. 1468 Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay (Henry J. Sayers)
________________________________________
Date: April 1, 1955
Location: Capitol Studios, New York City
Label: Atlantic
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Allen Eager (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Bill Anthony (b), Will Bradley, Jr. (d)
a. 1469 Metropolitan Blues - 5:03 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
b. 1470 Raintree County - 5:15 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
c. 1471 Blue Serenade - 5:14 (Harold Adamson)
d. 1472 Old Hat - 3:19 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
e. 1473 His Master's Voice - 5:32 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
f. 1474 I'll Be Seeing You - 3:20 (Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal)
Atlantic CD: 81704-2 — Atlantic Jazz: Mainstream
g. 1475 Let's Play The Blues - 4:03 (Phil Sunkel) / arr: Phil Sunkel
All titles on: Atlantic LP 12": 1220 — Tony Fruscella (1955)
Atlantic LP 12": 7 90463-1-Y — Tony Fruscella (1985)
London LP 12": 15044 — Tony Fruscella
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Atlantic CD: 75354 — Tony Fruscella (2000)
Atlantic CD: WPCR 25153 — Tony Fruscella (2007)
________________________________________
Date: November 7, 1955
Location: Pythian Temple, New York City
Label: Decca
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Tony Fruscella (t), Hank Jones (p), Wendell Marshall (b), Shadow Wilson (d)
a. 88973 Tony's Blues (Tony Fruscella)
Coral LP 12": CRL 57035 — East Coast Jazz Scene
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22805 — Tony's Blues
The East Coast Jazz Scene album was from a concert with groups selected by the New York City DJ Al "Jazzbo" Collins.
Should third digit of master number be 4?
________________________________________
Date: August 3, 1959
Label: Honey Dew
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Keck (g)
a. Lover Man - 3:36 (Roger 'Ram' Ramirez, Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Sherman)
Honey Dew LP 12": HD 6609 — Bebop Is Where It's At, Volume 1 (1977)
Stateside LP 12": ISJ-80117 — Tony Fruscella-Phil Woods Quintet
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22805 — Tony's Blues
Stateside (Jap) ISJ-80117 gives the date of August 3, 1969 for "Lover Man." This date does not seem correct to the compiler and is probably 1959. However, Stateside is correct in noting the fact that "Lover Man" is a duo with Bill Keck while the other three titles are by the quintet. Lord and Bruyninckx both listed the collective personnel which, in effect, suggests to the reader that the four titles are played by a sextet.
________________________________________
Date: ca. November 1959
Location: Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood, NJ
Label: Honey Dew
Tony Fruscella (ldr), Phil Woods (as), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Paul Chambers (b), Roy Hall (d)
a. A Night In Tunisia - 14:41 (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)
Honey Dew LP 12": HD 6609 — Bebop Is Where It's At, Volume 1 (1977)
b. Night Train - 11:24 (Jimmy Forrest, Oscar Washington)
Honey Dew LP 12": HD 6610 — Bebop Is Where It's At, Volume 2 (1977)
c. Scrapple From The Apple - 11:12 (Charlie Parker)
Honey Dew LP 12": HD 6610 — Bebop Is Where It's At, Volume 2 (1977)
All titles on: Stateside LP 12": ISJ-80117 — Tony Fruscella-Phil Woods Quintet
Cool 'n Blue CD: C&B 107 — The Unique Tony Fruscella: Tony's Blues (1992)
Jazz Factory CD: JFCD 44401 — The Complete Works (1999)
Jazz Factory CD: 22805 — Tony's Blues
Date sometimes given as c. 1955. Confirmation needed.
Contrary to some listings, guitarist Bill Keck does not appear on any of this material.
The performance of "Night Train" includes an interpolation of the melody commonly known as "Walkin'."