CY TOUFF & SANDY MOSSE                                                                                           Tickle Toe                                                                                                                                   Delmark DE 583

Cy Touff – bs tpt; Sandy Mosse – ts; John Campbell – pno; Kelly Sill – bs; Jerry Coleman – dms. Chicago; Oct. 24, 1981.

Tickle Toe/Centerpiece/The Man I Love/Allen’s Alley/Alone Together/Secret Love/What’s New. TT: 66:00.

It’s a cliché to say that they don’t make music like this anymore, but it’s the bloody truth! Recorded in ’81 and just now released (problems getting clearances and that sort of stuff), this is a SUPERB example of Stanley Dance’s “mainstream” jazz. Good tunes played with panache and swing in a way that’s hard to find these days. OK, so theme followed by soli ain’t all that original a format, but when it’s done this well… . I’ll come back to this CD more than once – in fact, into my I-Tunes library it goes!

Cy Touff is one of those Chicago musicians who was there, but not always obvious – he made good music and filled his unique niche, the bass trumpet (he also played trombone). A man with big band credentials (Herman, Charlie Ventura, Boyd Raeburn) who became a studio favorite in Chicago, Cy managed to helm a few jazz recording sessions of his own (three for Argo, among others). Compadre Sandy Mosse is his co-horn on the date here, “home” on a visit from Amsterdam, and brings a Lestorian approach to Touff’s Brookmeyerian sound – a good mix and meld on this, one his last sessions. The rhythm section is perfect for the job at hand – Campbell takes rippling soloes and comps well; Coleman’s are short and apt while keeping things moving; bassist Sill anchors it all solidly. As Roy Eldridge used to say, “Niiice!”. Can’t go wrong with this.

PETER B. LOWRY                                                                                                                unpublished