Sicilian-born pianist "
George Wallington" (his given name was
Giacinto Figlia) had more than ethnicity in common with
Dodo Marmarosa. Both men were active in the burgeoning bop scene of the early and mid-'40s, both made important contributions to the evolution of modern jazz, and both withdrew from public activity for protracted periods of time. Most importantly, both of these excellent pianists left enough great music in their wake to warrant a reappraisal of their legacies.
Wallington named
Mel Powell,
Al Haig, and
Bud Powell as his favorite contemporaries; primary influences were
Art Tatum,
Count Basie, and especially
Earl Hines. He collaborated and consulted with
Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Oscar Pettiford, and
Max Roach during bop's formative years; later he would befriend young
Mose Allison and help him to get established as both recording artist and jazz essayist. Recorded in early April 1957 and released on the East West label the following year,
Wallington's album
The Prestidigitator is an excellent example of his creative approach to the art of jazz. His quintet/quartet on this album consisted of bassist
Teddy Kotick, drummer
Nick Stabulas, Detroit-born tenor saxophonist
J.R. Monterose, and bass trumpeter
Jerry Lloyd, who sounds for all the world like a valve trombonist. Three of the seven pieces were composed by
Mose Allison, two by
Monterose, one by
Lloyd, and only one -- the quirkily titled "Composin' at the Composer" -- by
Wallington himself. This was the first time that anyone besides
Mose Allison recorded
Mose Allison's original compositions. Even
Allison hadn't yet recorded "Rural Route" when
Wallington worked it into this pleasantly bop-based album of early modern jazz.
Allison's "Promised Land" is particularly soulful and straight-ahead. Stylistically, this stuff lands somewhere amongst
Art Blakey's early
Jazz Messengers,
Hank Mobley,
Sonny Stitt,
Johnny Griffin, and some of that mid-'50s
Mingus with
John LaPorta. That means it's really good and maybe you ought to check it out. For those who are squinting at a digitally condensed thumbnail reproduction of the album cover and trying to decipher what's going on, it depicts a magician (or prestidigitator) as seen from upstage rather than from the audience's point of view. As he prepares to pull a rabbit out of his inverted hat, the animal is clearly visible inside of a wooden box on a collapsible stand, held in readiness by a child or midget concealed within. ~ arwulf arwulf