MP3 files are available now at the same link (http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/)

Check out the great playing!

-- Scooby

 

GREAT POST...and a beautiful thing to seen Jimmys name here. He is a REAL saxophone player and one of the best jazz players ever. Bar none.I'm writing a few words for Valdez as he sent me all these tracks and I am currently sitting here in bliss from the sounds. Mosher exposure to the max

It's really the committment of Jimmy that matters, he was one of the most inventive and articulate sax players in jazz. He built his choruses on each other with dizzying creativity; the flow of ideas were almost too much to grasp.

Sadly overlooked by the jazz press, and powers that_should_ be,
Moshers incredible subtlety in addition to his astonishing sound conception, set him apart from other saxophnists. Jimmy got the listener to concentrate on how he shaped musical ideas and on the way he manipulates notes with distinctive lines and a story within. The tracks Valdez sent are pure Mosher and just the inspiration and kick in the pants I need this summer. I loved Jimmy. (can you tell ) and he had hard times,but kept playing. Creating and doing the thing. Jimmy is pure genius, and the boss!

Jimmy Mosher was one of the most adventurous, cliche-free and unpredictable of all time. No one played with more impeccable logic, executed with better technique or offered a truer sound--at once pure and direct and rich, warm and soulful.He is the omega of saxophonists, but he should also be considered the alpha by anyone who hopes to play the instrument. He taught lots of folks and is fondly remembered by players worldwide.

Jimmy had a big band MOSHER-FONTAINE that had the essence of big band within an ensemble that was loose and open. ( Jimmy Derba should be thought of too ) One of the more original big bands ever!

Jimmy Mosher did it all, as few others ever have, if truth be known with originality and unique brilliance. His intensity and blues heat often transcended bebop with confidence, control, kaleidoscopic yet always relevant virtuosity, and exalting soulfulness. I'll never forget Mosher nor will I ever stop praising his gifts. I was one lucky guy to have been exposed to him back in my Boston days.

 

Jimmy was my first teacher at Berklee.

He hated Sanborn imitators and I remember him scolding me to hold my alto correctly and not with the strap pulled up high like Sanborn.
After that I was terrified before each lesson and frustrated afterwards.

At the time I thought he hated me and I was shocked when at the end of the semester for my jury (the last time I saw him) He gave me an "A" and was very complementary.

In hindsight his teaching style "kicked me in the pants" and really got me in the practice room. He also saw I wanted to play with a modern sound and introduced me to the altered scale.

He died a year later while I was studying with George Garzone.
Thanks Scooby , David and Tim for the links and great words on a great sax player and person.

 

Jimmy was my first teacher at Berklee.

I met Jimmy when I was an early teen, when I played in a "Big Band" in the basement of his dad's music store in Lynn. I played 2nd trombone. Saturdays were full of music for me First, I took the B&M from Wakefield into North Station, and then the "T" to BU, rehearsing with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (GBYSO - now Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Then I caught the B&M to Lynn, for afternoon rehearsals at Jimmy's dad's music store. We did a few on-line concerts on WLYN. At 14, I was the youngest member of the ensemble. I remember learning about playing "behind the beat" from Jimmy in a rendition of Count Basie's "Li'l Darlin'". After playing precise meter in the mornings with Hindemith, Wagner and Respighi, I had to lay back on the note at Jimmy's - kind of like the 3rd beat in a Strauss waltz. Most of us were high school students, so during the Autumn football season, most of us were marching on Saturday afternoons, so activity slowed at Jimmy's.

I bought my first non-student trombone, a King 3B there. After High School, I was accepted to several music collegiate programs, including NECM, but declined all, flew down to DC, and auditioned for the USN and USAF - was accepted for both, and chose the USN, because the Navy had a very good school.

About half-way through the US Navy School of Music, at Little Creek, Norfolk, VA, I was very disillusioned. I had enlisted to serve and found myself surrounded by students who were bragging about how they were going to sit out their military service, playing their horns. That was not what I had signed for. With a 3.8 GPA, I voluntarily dropped, requesting assignment to Riverine Forces, or as a Navy Hospital Corpsman. Both were guaranteed trips to a combat zone. (I am no hero, so don't go there!). Loud noises from artillery and small arms, as well as normal shipboard duties later on, were not conducive to a musician's hearing.

I was later assigned to the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, which was forming a music show. Instrumentalists were Navy Musicians, but vocalists were other Flag and Ship's Company sailors and dependents. I toured all over Europe singing in chorus, Barbershop Quartet, and as a soloist, before the public, as well as on various European broadcast media.

I continued on as a career Hospital Corpsman. My hearing is shot now, and I have developed Exertional Asthma, so whenever I sing or play, I go into bronchospasms. However, I still hold very dearly to memoried of Jimmy Jr, as well as his mom and dad.

 

Bob- I think Jimmy was one of the" Boston Sound" cats.
Sometimes I just _hear_that way he played while walking down the street. You can bet your life he cared about you as a teacher. Those kinda cats are long gone. Guys who could play and stand aside of a Sonny Stitt and hold their own- then teach you the STUFF without a text book. Mariano was like that, ditto Andy McGhee. Of course John LaPorta. '

I HEAR JIMMY IN MY MIND- Like his style on " Chelsea Bridge". Or the stuff he'd play on a blues- very soulful and modern. I sure think of those guys. I never took lessons with Jimmy, but did play with him and he was all about the music. In speaking to Lou Donaldson lately about Charlie Mariano, Lou expressed great respect for guys from Boston like Charlie and Serge Chaloff. Spoke very very highly of them, and I asked about Jimmy and he seemed to know WHO he was sound wise and kinda didn't know his name. (Think he heard him w/Buddy ) Lou said great stuff about all of them.

Valdez, is a cat that in this life I am glad I know. Without a doubt, a serious bada@@ on his horns, and a dilligent artist in his musical travels.

One his recent blog he linked a RICO FACEBOOK blog of mine. Its funny because I got started on this kinda thought from studying piano with Margret Chaloff ( Serges mother- who was legendary) and she'd rap to us, in her studio about thinking/playing and all that. I might of been 18 then and would walk down Commonwealth Ave in Boston high from her words and what I just learned. Sometimes I'd sit down, in a cafe, and write down the stuff she said in my books. Then later in the day- I'd have a " head band" with John LaPorta and we'd play charts that he made up on the spot. Head band style. Later in the day near 5:00 I'd have a lesson with Charlie Mariano, We'd play and he'd play piano. Every 2 bars he'd stop and show me something. At night I'd have a combat zone gig or go to the Jazz Workshop on Boylston and hear Monk with Rouse, or Hancock with Joe Henderson, or Ornette with Blackwell. We'd do sessions at guys homes and Mosher might come by and just BURN for hours. It was a part of life with Jimmy. Charlie too.

Valdez links are here;

8/19/09
Intuition and Imagination- Tim Price blogs for Rico
http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/

HTH.