GONSALVES, Paul.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Inscribed publicity photograph. The great Ellingtonian signs top left, "Best wishes to Nancy, Paul Gonsalves". This image almost certainly dates to 1963, when he signed for Impulse! The 60s exotica backdrop of an Assyrian frieze (!) has a parallel in the Egyptian monument used on the cover of his second album for the label, Cleopatra Feelin' Jazzy. Examples of Gonsalves's signature are scarce.A newspaper clipping for the 1965 Pittsburgh Jazz Festival, mounted on the verso, indicates that "Mex's" autograph was probably garnered on that occasion; the Ellington organization appearing on Saturday 19 June (Earl Hines and John Coltrane sharing the bill)."Gonsalves stands in a direct line with earlier masters like Chu Berry and Don Byas and leads to Frank Lowe and David Murray. It would be absurd to compare his influence with Coltrane's, but it's now clear that he was experimenting early with tonalities remarkably similar to Trane's famous 'sheets of sound'. It's also probable that more people heard Gonsalves. His fabled 27 choruses on 'Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue' at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 can be considered the first important extended saxophone solo in modern jazz" (Cook and Morton). It should also be mentioned that on standards such as Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge", he reveals himself to be a ballad player of exquisite sensibility.

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