Music Scene: In memory of brilliant CNY jazz musician Sal Alberico Jr.
I was in the Devereux one night listening to a blues band from Chicago with a killer horn section.
In comes Sal Alberico Jr., probably from an earlier gig because he had his horn. He had been, shall we say, seriously over-served. So had his companions, and they kept stoning the band to get Sal up to play. Sal was reluctant, because he knew he wasn’t in the best shape to play, but finally relented and got on stage.
What happened then was one of the amazing musical performances I’ve ever seen. The horn section played their parts, which were very intricate. The next time the part came around, Sal nailed it after having heard it once. Perfectly, and then again, every time. I watched these top horn players (who had surely doubted the wisdom of letting this over-served stranger on stage in the first place) stare at him with respectful amazement.
That was Sal.
Sal Alberico Jr. one of the truly great jazz musicians to ever come from Central New York, passed away Jan. 6.
Sal’s brilliant sax playing is what comes to mind when most hear the name. His dexterity, his imagination, his phrasing, all told you immediately you were in the presence of something special. But more than anything else it was his tone: part velvet, part honey and – when he wanted it to be – part gravel.
“The veteran jazz artists are adamant that every player should develop their ‘own sound’,” notes local saxophonist Monk Rowe. “Sal surely had that.”
Matt Mielnick, who dealt with Sal at numerous venues, had a similar recollection.
“Not all sax players have that unique sound, even some of the great ones,” Matt remembers. “You could recognize Sal’s sax ‘voice’ even if you were blindfolded.
“And it made his audiences so happy.”
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Sal grew up surrounded by music. His grandfather, uncle and brother Joe were accomplished drummers, and his father and cousin Rick renowned saxophonists.
It also will come as no surprise to those that knew him that Sal’s first brush with music revolved around getting into mischief.
“At our house, there was always our dad and his friends jamming,” brother Joe recalls. “At the age of 6, Sal got in trouble with Dad for playing around with his clarinet and broke it. That was the start of his interest in horn playing.”
Sal got his own sax a couple years later, starting a lifelong journey that would land him in a national touring band, as well as winning him stints with the top local bands like Holiday, Target, Mr. Gone, Sail, and his own band, to name a few.
But for those who knew him, it was his personality we remember most. In addition to his prodigious talent, he was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. If we were sitting around a bar (hey, it could happen) and Sal walked in, a boring night just became legendary.
And as funny as he could be telling stories about others, he was just as quick to turn it on himself. Here’s my favorite:
“I was filling in with this band at the Metro. I’d had a few cocktails and during the break this young kid comes up and asks me if I really knew Phil Woods and David Sanborn and some of the great players I had mentioned. I told him, yeah, I know these guys well. Then I asked, ‘why, do you play?’ He’s quiet for a minute, then gives me this withering look and says, ‘I’m the drummer in the band you’re playing in.’ Oops.”
That was Sal.
Mark Sisti is an experienced musician who writes about local music for the Observer-Dispatch. Email him at msist1@roadrunner.com.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Music Scene: Sal Alberico Jr. Central New York jazz musician tribute
