adEIdJ – Associazione delle Etichette Indipendenti di Jazz

Press Release

Rachel Gould (Camden, NJ, 1953) is one of the most gifted, brightest and sensitive jazz singers in activity for at least forty years, known to most for her collaborations with Chet Baker and Sal Nistico. She’s also a respected teacher. Classically trained (she studied cello as well in Boston), she starts performing in American clubs in the early Seventies, even though she soon moves to Europe, where she meets again and marries tenor sax player Sal Nistico, Woody Herman Orchestra’s leading soloist from 1962 to 1965. After living in Germany, where their daughter Miriam was born in 1985, the family moves to Switzerland in 1987 and Rachel immediately gets a chair at the Swiss Jazz School. After Nistico’s premature death (Bern, March 1991) the singer decides to go and live in the Netherlands, teaching at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague up to a few years ago. She now lives in the UK. Even though her first album as leader dates back to 1982 («The Dancer») the vocalist hasn’t released many albums under her name. Two of these belong to the Caligola catalogue, «Dancing on a Dime» (1999) and «No More Fire» (2005).  Therefore, the discovery of this 1984 tape, where Rachel and Sal led a quintet consisting of American jazz musicians living in Europe, is even more valuable. The recording, whose artistic and technical qualities are excellent, was made at Bayerischer Rundfunk radio’s Nuremberg studio and now it can finally be appreciated by all jazz fans. It consists of seven tracks, six original ones by Gould – but Empty Room’s music is by Nistico – while the final tune Vain Regret is an instrumental composed by Stagnitta, played in a quartet with no vocals. All tracks are performed with much enthusiasm and sensitivity and do justice to the overlooked, yet precious vocals of Rachel Gould and to the classy musical qualities of Sal Nistico, who was in great shape on this album. Their jazz is fresh and engaging, ageless music which is much appreciated even thirty–eight years later. Ultimately, what a sensational discovery!

Track List

Personnel

Rachel Gould (vocals) out on n° 7
Sal Nistico (tenor sax) out on n° 2
Frank Stagnitta (piano)
Victor Kaihatu (double bass)
Clarence Becton (drums)

Recording Data

Recorded in 1984 and mixed in July 2018 at Bayerischer Rundfunk Studios, Nürnberg, Germany by Manfred Retsch; analog remastered in May 2022 at Digitalsound Studio, Vedelago (Treviso), Italy, by Walter Bertolo.