Marking its fiftieth anniversary in grand style, Milan-based Red Records has unearthed a historically significant, previously unreleased live recording that captures master jazz pianist Tommy Flanagan at the absolute zenith of his artistry. Titled So In Love, the album documents a transcendent Sunday morning performance at Milan’s Teatro Manzoni on November 12, 2000. Part of the theatre’s esteemed Aperitivo in Concerto series, the concert features Flanagan alongside two legendary collaborators: bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath.
Remarkably, this Milan engagement stands as the sole recorded document of this specific trio configuration. Tragically, it also serves as a poignant historical artifact, captured precisely one year before Flanagan’s passing in November 2001 at the age of 71. Issued on vibrant red vinyl housed in a single sleeve—featuring three meticulously sequenced tracks per side—alongside a companion compact disc, So In Love is much more than a posthumous release. It is a masterclass in jazz piano trio interplay, offering a direct window into a fleeting moment of musical telepathy among three artists whose collective footprints trace the definitive history of modern jazz.
Detailed Chronology: The Road to Teatro Manzoni
A Master in the Shadows and the Spotlight
For decades, jazz aficionados knew Tommy Flanagan primarily as the quintessential accompanist—the velvet-fingered pianist who elevated every landmark recording he touched. Born in Detroit in 1930, Flanagan absorbed the stride and swing of early masters like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson before Bud Powell’s revolutionary bebop vocabulary pulled him into the modernist fold. He emerged from a fertile Detroit incubator that also produced giants such as Thad Jones, Elvin Jones, and Kenny Burrell.
Within months of arriving in New York City in 1956, Flanagan’s sophisticated harmonic sense and crystalline touch made him an indispensable fixture of the scene. He graced Sonny Rollins’s monumental Saxophone Colossus (1956), John Coltrane’s modal masterpiece Giant Steps (1960), and Wes Montgomery’s definitive The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960).
Yet, for thirteen years between 1962 and 1978, his primary artistic home was alongside legendary vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, serving intermittently as her accompanist and musical director until a debilitating heart attack forced him to step away from the rigors of constant touring. From that turning point onward, Flanagan prioritized his own trio work. Global recognition arrived belatedly but definitively: the Danish Jazzpar Prize in 1993 and an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 1996, honors bestowed after he had already battled back from quadruple bypass surgery. He passed away in Manhattan on November 16, 2001.
The Rhythms of History: Reid and Heath
While Peter Washington held down the bass chair in Flanagan’s primary trio throughout the 1990s, Rufus Reid was a kindred spirit with deep historical ties to the pianist. Born in Atlanta in 1944, Reid transitioned from trumpet to bass during service in the US Air Force and honed his craft at Chicago’s legendary Jazz Showcase. Relocating to New York in 1976, he became the bassist of choice for Dexter Gordon upon the saxophonist’s return from Copenhagen. Reid’s pedigree includes extensive stints in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and J.J. Johnson’s band, alongside a monumental twenty-year tenure running the jazz program at William Paterson University and authoring the definitive 1974 instructional text, The Evolving Bassist. At 82, Reid remains an active, vital force in contemporary jazz.
Drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath’s relationship with Flanagan ran even deeper. As the youngest of the celebrated Philadelphia Heath brothers, Heath made his recording debut with John Coltrane in 1957. A year later, he joined J.J. Johnson’s quintet alongside Flanagan, cutting J.J. in Person!—a studio recording famously doctored with dubbed-in applause. This makes the newly uncovered Manzoni performance a genuinely authentic live artifact documenting their synergy over four decades.
Having all crossed paths in J.J. Johnson’s ensemble, Flanagan, Reid, and Heath shared an innate, telepathic understanding. Following decades of international touring, European residencies, and reunions—such as their work in the Riverside Reunion Band in the 1990s and an Apollo Theater performance in Harlem in September 2001—Heath and Flanagan’s musical partnership formed a continuous thread right up until the pianist’s final months. Heath passed away in Santa Fe in April 2024 at the age of 88.
The Milan Crisis: A Near-Tragedy Averted
The genesis of So In Love nearly ended before a single note was played. The trio arrived in Milan on the Friday preceding the Sunday morning concert for this exclusive, one-night-only engagement. Gianni Morelenbaum Gualberto, the long-standing artistic adviser for the Aperitivo in Concerto series, recounts a heart-stopping moment in his poignant sleeve notes.
On Saturday afternoon, as Gualberto prepared to transport the trio to their rehearsal, he received an urgent phone call from Diana Flanagan. Her husband was experiencing a cardiac episode. Flanagan spent the remainder of Saturday at Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital, where attending physicians diagnosed a manageable malfunction with his implanted pacemaker. Demonstrating characteristic old-school cool, Rufus Reid stood outside the hotel calmly smoking his pipe, remarking to Gualberto that this medical scare was "not exactly the first time." True to form, when Sunday morning arrived, Flanagan took his place at the piano bench, ready to perform.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Repertoire and Legacy
The six-song program selected for the Teatro Manzoni performance reads as an autobiographical map of Flanagan’s expansive career, touching upon his Detroit roots, his foundational bebop credentials, and his late-career obsession with the Ellingtonian songbook.
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Side A:
- "Bird Song" (Thad Jones): Opening the set, this composition connects directly to Flanagan’s early days. Flanagan had played on the tune’s premier recordings for Thad Jones and J.J. Johnson in January 1957. With Reid—who mastered Jones’s complex orchestrations in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra—the trio navigated this piece with profound authority.
- "If You Could See Me Now" (Tadd Dameron): Flanagan initiates this jazz standard with a breathtaking unaccompanied solo before Reid and Heath seamlessly lock into a luxurious, swinging tempo.
- "Liza" (George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin / Gus Kahn): Closing Side A, this tune nods directly to Art Tatum, who recorded definitive versions of the song in 1934. Given Tatum’s status as Flanagan’s primary stylistic blueprint, its inclusion is a calculated tribute.
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Side B:
- "Sunset and the Mocking Bird" (Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn): The opening movement of The Queen’s Suite—composed after Ellington was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in 1958—serves as the centerpiece of Side B. Flanagan famously titled his 1997 Village Vanguard album after this very piece, and his poignant rendition of it at the Apollo Theater in 2001 earned him a posthumous Grammy nomination.
- "Raincheck" (Billy Strayhorn): Maintaining the Ellington-Strayhorn orbit, this swinging vehicle showcases the trio’s telepathic, driving momentum.
- "So In Love" (Cole Porter): Pulled from the musical Kiss Me, Kate, the title track brings the performance to a sublime, introspective close.
Official Statements & Archival Significance
Reflecting on the historical value of this release, Red Records founder and archival producers have emphasized the rare nature of capturing a complete, pristine live session of this caliber.
"To discover a master tape of this sonic clarity and emotional resonance, featuring three titans who shaped the architecture of modern acoustic jazz, is nothing short of miraculous," notes the production team behind the Red Records fiftieth-anniversary catalog. "This is not merely a historical document; it is a masterclass in taste, touch, and timeless elegance."
Gianni Morelenbaum Gualberto adds in the physical release’s liner notes: "Knowing what transpired just twenty-four hours prior to this performance—the emergency hospital dash, the uncertainty of a pacemaker malfunction—casts an extraordinary light on the music. When Tommy sat down at that piano on Sunday morning, he played with a profound clarity and urgency that transcends ordinary live recordings. It was a triumph of the human spirit over physical frailty."
Future Outlook: The Resurgence of Red Records’ Vaults
As Red Records celebrates half a century of championing boundary-pushing European and American jazz, the release of So In Love sets a high watermark for archival preservation. The label’s milestone anniversary year has generated intense renewed interest in unreleased European concert tapes from the golden era of acoustic jazz.
Industry analysts and jazz historians anticipate that the critical acclaim surrounding So In Love will prompt further excavations of Italian festival and concert hall archives. For contemporary listeners, releases like this serve as a vital reminder of an era when jazz was documented in real-time, capturing the spontaneous combustion of master musicians working at the peak of their powers. Twenty-six years after that quiet Sunday morning in Milan, Tommy Flanagan’s final recorded testament finally reaches beyond the stalls of the Teatro Manzoni, securing his legacy not just as a legendary accompanist, but as an unmatched titan of the modern jazz piano trio.
