Tony Fruscella

Description

Waxtime 500 Collection. The history of jazz is filled with enfants terribles, mythical characters, cursed individuals who seem to have been born to embody tough and dark stories. Tony Fruscella was one of these characters. His life was prematurely cut short due to what were then called "personal problems." He played in an Army band early in his career and served as a sideman for many jazz musicians in the 1950s, including Charlie Barnet, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan (1954), and Stan Getz (1955). Later in the 1950s, he also played with Don Joseph. But by the early 1960s, his drug and alcohol problems removed him from the scene. His dense, muted, velvety sound expresses a poetry full of "literary" references, in a rich variety of tones that make his solos sensual, profound, and somewhat melancholic. This sound is vividly represented on this vinyl.