Very smart modern European jazz
Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 05/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These guys prove that lots of exciting things are going down in the European jazz scene. Besides ESB, Thomas Stanko, his Trio, lots of other ECM stuff, and Bugge Wesseltoff, there's a thriving, forward-looking community of improvisers in Italy, whose music is faithfully documented on avant-garde labels like Splasc(h) and occasionally finds its way to more mainstream outfits such as Blue Note.
This quartet disc headed by trombonist Gianluca Petrella showcases the Italian New Thing in a very attractive setting. Using such devices as delays, live electronics and samples, and jazz-punkish approaches to sound engineering and imaging (a la the Bad Plus), Indigo4 lays down an attractive, modern soundscape. Map onto that some very attractive reworking of standards (Monk's "Trinkle Tinkle" and Ellington's "I Got It Bad," a bass-trombone duet that astounds, and "Mood Indigo," also highly creative but in a more conventionally deconstructionist way), some killer original tunes, and brilliant playing from the four band members (Petrella, trombone, live electronics, and samples; Francesco Bearzatti, tenor sax and clarinet; Paolino Della Porta, bass; and Favio Accardi, drums) and you have a jazz disc to be reckoned with. The only stumble, and it's a slight one, is the tune "Sacred Whale," which tends to lumber, drag, and meander, although it almost comes together about midway through with a stinging tenor solo over some quite evocative whalelike electronics.
All in all, I'm very taken by this effort, and I look forward to hearing more music from this distinguished and original outfit."