On the West coast Bob Cooper, Bill Holman (Affinity 65) and Claude Williamson (Affinity 62 and 70) were very active in a jazz context for most of the 50s, but then Cooper and Williamson elected to move into the plentiful but demanding work of the studio, TV and film circuit for the next two decades. Holman did the same but during those years was never far from jazz, other work schedule permitting. Fortunately Cooper has A made a recent re-appearance in the Prez Conference group and live recordings with Terry Gibbs, while Williamson seems to be enjoying a jazz resurgence with some albums on the Interplay label.
Finally Sal Salvador who has, in fact, been active continually in jazz all these years and still very much with us, is a classic case of being hard done by in the record field making him a forgotten man. That is, until 1978 when two new Salvador albums on the Bee Hive label reminded us that Sal is still very much a force to be reckoned with in the be-bop guitar stakes. The first of these albums gave a run-down of Sal's career which briefly goes as follows.
Although his family moved to Stafford Springs, Conn. where he grew up, he was born in Monson, Mass. on November 21, 1925. His father evidently started guitar lessons but did not proceed so Sal just picked it up and taught himself. We are told he did not really hear jazz until the middle 40s via Charlie Christian records but with the advent of Parker and Gillespie his future style was assured. He started professionally in 1945 playing locally, including work with Teddy Charles (another bright star of the 50s, a vibes man ahead of his time yet forgotten today), then moved to New York in 1949 where he commenced the usual gigging around. There were brief stints with Terry Gibbs, then Eddie Bert with whom he recorded for Discovery in 1952. In that year he joined Stan Kenton for 18 months during which period he became nationally prominent as a top-flight modern style soloist, one of his best known features being "Invention for Guitar and Trumpet" which incidentally was Bill Holman's first score for the Kenton orch. He left in December '53 in which month Sal recorded his first date under his own name for Blue Note, a 10" LP. As it happens there was a brief re-activation of a few of the 10" Blue Notes for the Japanese market in 1976 (including the Salvador) but these, limited anyway, have long since disappeared though at this writing it has turned up again in Japan coupled with the Blue Note Tal Farlow 10" as a 12", LP, but short-lived I have no doubt. Likewise his dates with Eddie Bert, out of print since their initial issue may well have appeared on a future Arista/Savoy reissue but alas, that marvellous series is no more. It is a similar story with Sal's Bethlehem and Decca recordings, all long since unavailable and after those his dates were for obscure labels with limited distribution. Thus his activities in the 60s, particularly with his own big band are today virtually unknown. The 70s found him mainly taken up with teaching and clinics but still plenty of jazz gigging though his area of working was in the North-eastern states.
So along with the Bee Hives it is especially welcome to have these wonderful "Kenton Presents" sessions restored in the catalogue allowing us to recall that back then Sal was one of the most accomplished and fleet guitarists when competition was strong from such as Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, Chuck Wayne etc...
Brian Davis (from the original Liner Notes)
Sal Salvador
Quartet
Boo Boo Be Doop
(AFF-68)
Tracks
1 Down Home (Albam) 2:51
2 Salutations (Albam) 2:30
3 Violets for Your Furs (Dennis, Adair) 3:25
4 Now See Here, Man (Holman) 2:51
5 Cabin in the Sky (Duke, Latouche) 3:10
6 See (Albam) 2:07
7 Nothin' to Do (Holman) 2:53
8 Boo Boo Be Doop (Holman) 2:51
9 Autumn in New York (Duke) 3:25
10 Wheels (Albam) 3:09
11 Round Trip (Salvador) 2:47
12 Yesterdays (Kern, Harbach) 3:07
*
Personnel
[# 7 & 10]
Sal Salvador - g
Eddie Costa - p & vb
Jimmy Gannon - b
Jimmy Campbell - dr
Recorded in New York ; October 8, 1954
[# 1-4 , 8 & 9]
Same place & personnel as above ; October 9, 1954
[# 5, 6, 11 & 12]
Sal Salvador - g
Eddie Costa - p & vb
Kenny O'Brien - b
Joe Morello - dr
Recorded in New York ; July 21, 1954