There is no jazz label out there that consistently resurfaces unjustly obscure and overlooked artists than Spain-based Fresh Sound Records. What? You get maybe 1-2 things a year from Mosaic and 3-4 from Resonance, but Fresh Sound puts out swinging things you’ve never heard of before every month. Each time I hear something like this 2 disc set by baritone saxist Virgil Gonsalves (1931-2008) who started his career with the orchestras of Alvino Rey and Tex Beneke, but eventually became a devotee of West Coast Cool, although a few hours north of Los Angeles in the Bay Area.
Gonsalves had a warm tone on the bari, a bit lighter than Mulligan and bopping more lithely than Pepper Adams. There’s a 1954 session in Hollywood with the likes of California boppers like Lou Levy/p, Bob Enevoldsen/vtb, Larry Bunker/dr, Harry Babasin/b and Getz-infused Buddy Wise/ts for a sleek “Bounce” hip “Too Marvelous For Words” and a nice vibrato’d and darkly hued “Yesterdays”. Another Septet from 1955 in Hollywood includes another Getz fan in Dan Patiris/ts for some Shorty Rogers-inspired charts like “White Wash” with Gu Gustafson’s cymbals in overdrive on the dancing “Viva Zapata”. Both Gonsalves and Patiris glow on Lost World and they swing hard on “Fascinating Rhythm”. The 1959 sestet from SFO fsounds a bit more modern, jamming through Jackie McLean’s “Little Melonae” bopping on “Sharon” and Gonsalves getting blue with pianist Merril Hoover on “Lover Man”.
There are a pair of big band sessions from Oakland and San Francisco, with the first one having Gonslaves part of the reed section in Rudy Salvini’s Big Band, for a Basie-muscular “Wail For Patrick” and a California Cool “Topsy Returns” . Gonsalves’ own big band has alst s axist Leo Wright floating on “Stablemates” while the team swings hard on John Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” and sways with a bluesy noir alley atmosphere on the aching “Blue Bird”. Included is a hip little book with inside info as well as notes on all of the s essions. The Golden Gate was swinging!