Ron Turso - The Art of Swinging (2020)

Drummer Ron Turso was born July 29, 1948 in New York City, into a musical family. Raised in a musical family, he and well-known saxophonist brother, Turk Mauro and him both were raised by sitting in with their Italian-American dad, Don Turso. Throughout the years he worked and recorded with the likes of Albert Mangelsdorf, Bob Ojeda, Joe Newman, Dakota Staton, Eddie Jefferson, Chet Baker, Zoot Sims, Ray Nance, Al Cohn, Roy Eldridge, Al Grey, Jimmy Forrest, Bobby Forrester, Budd Johnson, Billy Mitchell, and even rock band Jay and the Americans. This session entitled "The Art of Swinging" was executive produced by his brother, Turk, and features Floridian piano and bass greats, respectively, Dolph Castellano and Don Miller. This album, while originally recorded and released in 1999, has never been digitally available so in cooperation with Ron himself, we present it to you here in 2020 on Soul Kid Jazz. We have included Turk Mauro's original liner notes within the album art, the recording quality is excellent and still stands up in today's digital world. The session is largely a straight ahead jam, both arranged and loose, and really stands as a showcase for the amazing drumming talent of Ron Turso, one of the unsung heroes of jazz drums, as we hear influences from Gene Krupa all the way to Tony Williams. The material ranges from standard show tunes to Jazz standards. There is no slacking here, as this is as high-level as it gets! We bring you this amazing album, knowing full well it will create excitement and be rediscovered by this new generation, as perhaps a new Jazz classic.