THE MIKE FALCONE QUARTET: Playing Live

The Mike Falcone Quartet

Playing Live

© 1997 Mike Falcone (634479394140)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

SPECIAL: 20% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!

(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)

Live jazz improvisation featuring standards and original. Tenor sax playing at the highest level by one of Philly's all time greats.

notes

The Mike Falcone Quartet - Playing Live

Mike Falcone - Tenor and Soprano Saxophones

Ron Thomas - Keyboards & Piano

Paul Klinefelter - Acoustic Bass

Glenn Ferracone - Drums

Additional Musicians
Mike's Song - Don Glanden/Piano
Some Other Spring - Mike Falcone &
The West Chester University Jazz Band

Produced by Mike Falcone & Glenn Ferracone

Double CD
Vectordisc 101 & 102

The last recordings of the late great
saxophonist, Michael Falcone. It documents
Mike's last Quartet with Ron Thomas, Glenn
Ferracone and Paul Klinefelter. I often
worked with Mike Falcone in the 1980's in
duo, quartet and septet settings. He was
a great friend, teacher and musical leader.
His presence on the bandstand commanded
the highest respect of his fellow musicians.
His sound always seemed to bring great joy
to everyone who would listen to him.

Richard Burton

Information about Richard Burton can be
found at www.richardburtonmusic.com and
www.vectordisc.com.

I first saw Mike Falcone play at the
Oyster Bar near West Chester back in 1980.
It was a steady Thursday night gig, and I
went to hear him regularly. This was the
first live jazz I'd heard, at a time when
I was just becoming seriously interested
in the music. The bar was a rebuilt barn
out in rural Chester County. The musicians
played up in a loft, with a raggady upright
piano. There was an atmosphere of relaxed
intensity. This mixture-The casual, intimate
surroundings and unpretentious, relaxed
attitude of the musicians combined with
their serious approach to the music- has
become the standard by which I judge live
music as a listener and a player.
Mike's playing has always been warm,
direct and from the heart. It is fitting
that Mike's first CD is a compilation of
his live performances, where his spontaneity
and expressiveness can be truly appreciated.

John Swana

Information about Criss Cross Jazz
recording artist John Swana can be found at www.crisscrossjazz.com and www.johnswana.com.

Tenor saxophonist, Mike Falcone spent
much of his life ministering to soul hungry
patrons in bars. You could have been sipping
at Vincent's Restaurant in West Chester or
acting above your station at the Chadds Ford
Winery, and would be his warm tones forming
their own kind of hot toddy.
Falcone, who died of cancer in May 1997,
is captured live on this double CD with the
others in his longtime quartet: pianist Ron
Thomas, drummer Glenn Ferracone and bassist
Paul Klinefelter. No slick tricks here, just
cameos of a hardworking, proficient quartet
that slugged it out out night after night.
Falcone, a longtime teacher and former
sax man for the Glenn Miller Orchestra, never
lost his legato or his love of big-band swing.
Playing Live is a decent epitaph.

Karl Stark/The Philadelphia Inquirer
November 2, 1997

"Mike Falcone is really responsible for
jazz in Chester County", said Glenn Ferracone,
drummer in the Mike Falcone Quartet. "He tutored
me and he yelled at me and trained me. And we
basically had a job every week for 15 years."
Falcone died of cancer at the age of 49,
but the music he loved to play can be heard on
"Playing Live," a new double CD by his quartet.
The group still plays every Thursday night at
Vincent's Restaurant and Bar in West Chester.
"He wanted a good tune, and good changes
and a good melody," said Katie Falcone, Mike's
wife. "He worked a lot on what he played in clubs
... he just had a certain way of doing it."
"I think part of the magic of it is that
you must have quality music lovers in the area,"
said Ron Thomas, pianist in the quartet.
"It's a lot of work, not magic," said bassist
Paul Klinefelter. "Musicians, over time become so
familiar with their instrument that it becomes part
of you and you come out through the instrument. It
becomes almost like your speaking voice. It's a
personal fingerprint."
"I hate to sound corny, but Mike was a pied
piper about jazz and jazz in this town," said Lee
Southall, professor of Music at West Chester
University. "He was a close friend."
Falcone and Southall played many venues
together, including Palumbo's in South Philadelphia.
At Vincent's traveling artists of many style are
invited to sit in and play on weekends.

A. M. Brasfield/Daily Local News
October 10, 1997


Other Vectordisc CDs featuring Ron Thomas
as a leader are "Scenes from a Voyage to
Arcturus", "The House of Counted Days", "17
Solo Piano Improvisations", "Elysium", "Wings
of the Morning" and "Cycles". Ron can be heard
as a sideman on Richard Burton's "Simple Major/
Simple Minor" and Kristin Garson's
"Music Under the Influence".
Glenn Ferracone is featured on the following
Vectordisc CDs Ron Thomas's "Scenes from a Voyage
to Arcturus", Richard Burton's "Simple Minor
Simple Minor", Johnny DeFrancesco's "I Saw It Comin'"
and Kristin Garson's "Music Under the Influence".
Paul Klinefelter is featured on Vectordisc
recordings by Johnny DeFrancesco "I Saw It Comin'"
and by Kristin Garson "Music Under the Influence".
In the spring of 2009, Paul will be releasing
"Nightmood" featuring his own compositions.

For more information click links at the below
left of this page.

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

  • Playing Live
    author: Joanne Mentzer

    I love this cd as I loved the man himself. When I listen to Dream Dancing and Wait till you Can't it takes me back to so many nights years ago. Any Quiret reminds me of the kids--Audrey and Julia who I think of often. The jazz is pure and rich and thank heaven will be around for a long time. Unfortunately Michael was taken way too soon.

email

Please log in to email this artist.