"At this moment I'd like to pause for station identification. Station SOUL and LOVE. Charles Mariano, lead alto and alto solos."
This is Mingus, in his liner notes to The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. Mariano is the leadoff soloist, and sets up the entire record with his open, heartrending sound -- you all know the moment:
MP3: Track A - Solo Dancer (Stop! Look! And Listen, Sinner Jim Whitney!) (excerpt)
Mariano's playing is all over The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady and it is glorious. Especially his blazing extended solo on "Track C - Group Dancers - (Soul Fusion) Freewoman and Oh, This Freedom's Slave Cries." This record is justifiably beloved -- it's some of the most amazing music ever recorded, and it's unimaginable without Charlie Mariano.
Other places:
Ethan Iverson (Do The Math) highlights a lesser-known Mariano session.
Carl Abernathy (Cahl's Juke Joint) gives The Toshiko Mariano Quartet some love.
David Valdez (Casa Valdez Studios) posts a rare collection of Mariano compositions from the 1960's.
Michael Carlson (Irresistable Targets) has some invaluable info about Mariano's European years.
John Dilberto's reminiscence at Echoes is interesting (a ski mask? Really?) but his lede undersells Mariano considerably: "a second tier bop saxophonist"? You'd find an awful lot of alto players who'd take serious objection to that characterization!
Peter Hum (jazzblog.ca)
Boston Globe (Joan Anderman)
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