Search - Kenny Barron, Mino Cinelu :: Swamp Sally

Great unusual Jazz by two amazing musicians !

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 11/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is quite unique and it deserves your attention even if unfortunatly it is out of print actually. Well, if you find it used, you can buy it with confidence. It has been recorded in 1995 and it's not a common Jazz album with piano, double bass and drums. Here you have the fantastic Kenny Barron at the piano obviously, but he plays keyboards and double bass too and the incredible Mino Cinelu who plays a lot of different instruments (mandolin, banjo, guitar, keys, drums, percussions, additional sounds effects ... and he sings too in a couple of tune). It is a collaboration of these two artists exclusively. The result is a very strange album, very entertaining and incredibly well played and written. The world of this album is surely Jazz, but there a lot of different flavours inside that take the music here and there. But don't imagine a work without focus. Absolutly not. It is Jazz. But the musical personalities involved here are so big and unpredictable that you can find unexpected ideas and arrangements here and there. The percussive work from Mino Cinelu is nothing less than astounding, and Kenny is simply one of the living giants of the instruments. As I have already told you, this is Jazz but with some twist and turns here and there, the acoustic guitar, the keys ... but addedd just like spices, to have a better recipe in the end (there is a lot of blues, Louisiana kind of blues in a couple of tunes, some "voodo" type of rhythm, there are some free moments, some counterpoint moments, some "songs"... very nice!). I find this a quite unique album rooted in jazz but with some unusual ideas that make this one a gem to look at."