Album: Live In Italy /  Band: Seamus Blake Quartet /  2 CDs / Contemporary Jazz

 

Reviewed by Steve Gedrose

 

Live In Italy is a new 2 CD release from tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake’s Quartet.  Audiences in Palermo, Senigallia and Cesenatico Italy were treated to intensely modern Jazz from Blake’s fiery quartet. Technically, pianist David Kikoski is a member of the rhythm section, but he appears as a fully engaged front line partner to his tenor-playing leader, adding some stunning solos to the mix.  Rodney Green on drums and Danton Boller comprise the remainder of the quartet.  Their elastic time feel and solid harmonic and rhythmic support give both Kikoski and Blake all the inspiration they need to spin out some imaginative and impassioned solos. 

 

The albums feature the same extensive solo development that we have come to expect in live performances however, repeated playing of the discs reveal a broader emotional range in the group’s interactions.

 

The first CD opens with two Blake originals “Jupiter Line,” and the funky “Way Out Willy.”  Blake employs some electronic effects on his horn including an effect that mimics a wah wah pedal and that leaves the listener scouring the liner notes to find out how a guitar player snuck into the band.  This psychedelic flavour, although used sparingly, adds another dimension to Blake’s’ arsenal and it is used to great affect.

 

The third track is a jazz arrangement of the second movement from Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor in which we are treated to the tenor sax taking on the role of the first violin voice, something that may have been inspired by Blake’s childhood and teen years as a violinist. The group’s performance embodies the impressionist nature of Debussy’s music. 

 

“Fear of Roaming,” is another Blake original that closes Disc One, with Kikoski prodding Blake rhythmically, before delivering a beautiful solo, aided by Boller and Green’s boiling energy underneath him.

 

Disc Two opens with a swinging version of Duke Ellington’s “The Feeling Of Jazz,” a piece that Ellington recorded with John Coltrane in 1962.  The band’s performance helps to illuminate the jazz tenor lineage from John Coltrane to Michel Brecker through to Seamus Blake. 

 

The next song “Spacing,” is a Kikoski composition that opens with an abstract solo piano, before picking up momentum, as bassist Boller kicks in with a brisk walking line. 

 

The jazz waltz “Ladeirinha,” was written by Brazilian composer / singer Djavan, and the languid mood prepares the listener for the beautiful ballad “Darn That Dream,” the gentlest song on this creative project.

 

The second disc closes with a spirited reading of “Dance Me Home,” by John Scofield, with whom Blake occasionally plays, and it possesses Scofield-like guitar sounds which are produced by the special effects from Blake’s saxophone.

 

Live in Italy is a very energetic and complex recording which helps to emphasize that the Seamus Blake Quartet is at the forefront of contemporary jazz groups in the world today.

 

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Reviewed May 2009