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  • Energy Fields

    MQP1116

    Artist: Ralph Lalama Quartet

    Label: Mighty Quinn Productions

    Ralph Lalama - Tenor Sax
    John Hart - Guitar
    Rick Petrone - Bass
    Joe Corsello - Drums

    The quartet of Ralph Lalama, John Hart, Rick Petrone and Joe Corsello has been an on-and-off affair for the past couple. Hopefully, this album will shift the emphasis to more on and less off. Born in 1951, 1961, 1947 and 1948 respectively, these men are of a generation of musicians who had to not only learn it all, but also play it all. All but Hart came of age in the ‘60s when the John Coltrane Quartet and the Miles Davis Quintet had a pervasive impact on any thinking young player. But once they entered the professional ranks, a broader range of skills were needed. Their collective credits cover Benny Goodman, Marian McPartland, Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Lou Donaldson, Jack McDuff, Buddy Rich and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
    From Vido Musso and Charlie Ventura to Sal Nistico and Carmen Leggio, each generation of jazz musicians has had its contingent of incredible Italian-American tenor players. The ‘50s-born crop (Lalama, Joe Lovano, George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi) is an especially astonishing lot; each has mastered and assimilated the amazing vocabulary of their instrument (which seemed to double every year in the ‘50s and ‘60s) and been able to arrive at his own sound and identity. Ralph’s playing is reminiscent of Sonny Rollins in tone and of Hank Mobley in thoughtful and precise phrasing; but he’d never be mistaken for anyone but Ralph Lalama.
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