The "Collectable" Todd Coolman

Steven A. Cerra
Sunday, March 6, 2016

I have never met him, but Francois Zalacain of Sunnyside Records holds a special place in my Pantheon of Jazz Record Producers, mainly because he keeps producing Jazz recordings I like to hear made by musicians I would use on recordings dates if I were to produce them myself.

 So in a sense, I consider hims an alter ego but he’s the one with the courage as he keeps risking his money on Jazz recordings which, with the exception of the late Norman Granz and very few others is not the usual road to fame and riches.

 With the latest CD by bassist Todd Coolman entitled Collectables, Francois has done it again. He has produced over an hour of delightful Jazz which we get to listen to in the company of pianist Bill Cunliffe, drummer Dennis Mackrel and bassist Todd Coolman.

 Todd Coolman - how cool is that for the name of a Jazz musician? - [sorry I couldn’t resist] is a name that is familiar to me because I am a long-time fan of pianist Ahmad Jamal’s trio which is where I first heard Todd’s playing.

 For his latest CD [Sunnyside SSC 4025], Todd has formed what he refers to as a “Trifecta” together with Bill and Dennis that performs on 13 tracks drawn from Jazz Standards, the Great American Songbook and his own original compositions.


Todd offered the following background to and overview of the music on his latest recordings in these insert notes to the CD:

 “I like to collect things.  Mind you, I am not a really serious collector, the kind who eventually sells his collections for thousands of dollars or has them placed in the Smithsonian, but my collections are instead sort of a personal hobby that I enjoy when I have leisure time. Among my many unrelated collections are baseball hats and ephemera, antique fishing tackle, drawings and photographs of birds, wristwatches (I am fascinated with the idea of time, generally), and various categories of books. I can't really say why I maintain such collections, but these things interest me for various reasons, and my collections are generally associated with pleasant memories.

 So, it stands to reason that when I set out to record what is now my fourth CD as a leader (bassists, generally, are seldom bandleaders), that I would "collect" a repertoire of enjoyable and memorable tunes chosen from the thousands I have either heard or played (i.e. collected) over the years, thus beginning my first "tune collection." This of course leaves room for adding to my collection at any point in the future, so I see it as an open ended venture.


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