CLOCKWORK GROOVE - Waiting for Injection
Slam Records (SLAM CD 560)
Alessia Serina Pinto: soprano and tenor saxes; Ferdinando D’Urso: alto and baritone sax, piano; Marco Pometti: guitars; Davide Giovanni Pometti: double bass and electric bass; Luigi Perticone: drums
Waiting for Injection is the first group-work of ClockWork Groove. Although each of the musicians is well known throughout Italy, particularly Sicily, they are not especially known, widely, elsewhere and the group did not come together until 2012. Ferdinando D’Urso is known to us through the trio, I Giganti della Montagna, whose album L'Arsenale delle Apparizioni was reviewed here in 2014. Although that album was very much written around Sicilian 'folk' themes, within contemporary jazz and 20th century classical structures, this music is very different. Essentially, the band is electric jazz/rock, more or less defined by the guitars and by the electric bass of Davide Giovanni Pometti, who also wrote and arranged all of the music except track 6, Ginestra, by saxophonist Ferdinando D’Urso.
Whilst it is true that the electric jazz/rock is prominent, Ginestra echoes Sicilian folk sounds and elsewhere Klezmer swings in empathy. The structures are not at all simplistic and individual musicians are quite resourceful in their interpretations of fusion and jazz-rock influences.
Saxophonist Alessia Serina Pinto appeared regularly as a member of Charlie's Angels, an all-female, violin-led septet, appearing since 2006 all over Sicily and Sardinia and on local television channels. Davide Giovanni Pometti teaches electric bass and ensemble playing, appearing with groups of different leanings including jazz orchestra and 'Soul Blues', in Catania.
The album suggests to me a certain disquiet with the notion of the reiteration of themes and patterns from the bop era styles of jazz or even more modern genres, but does not exhibit enough strength of conviction to avoid leaning on other sources such as rock, folk and even pop, in the attempt to move forward. It may be of course that the directions chosen are due to the influences of those sources on individual composers and players. It seems therefore that the attempt has failed and that this is not much more than reiteration of those influences, no matter how well played.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Slam Records (SLAM CD 560)
Alessia Serina Pinto: soprano and tenor saxes; Ferdinando D’Urso: alto and baritone sax, piano; Marco Pometti: guitars; Davide Giovanni Pometti: double bass and electric bass; Luigi Perticone: drums
Waiting for Injection is the first group-work of ClockWork Groove. Although each of the musicians is well known throughout Italy, particularly Sicily, they are not especially known, widely, elsewhere and the group did not come together until 2012. Ferdinando D’Urso is known to us through the trio, I Giganti della Montagna, whose album L'Arsenale delle Apparizioni was reviewed here in 2014. Although that album was very much written around Sicilian 'folk' themes, within contemporary jazz and 20th century classical structures, this music is very different. Essentially, the band is electric jazz/rock, more or less defined by the guitars and by the electric bass of Davide Giovanni Pometti, who also wrote and arranged all of the music except track 6, Ginestra, by saxophonist Ferdinando D’Urso.
Whilst it is true that the electric jazz/rock is prominent, Ginestra echoes Sicilian folk sounds and elsewhere Klezmer swings in empathy. The structures are not at all simplistic and individual musicians are quite resourceful in their interpretations of fusion and jazz-rock influences.
Saxophonist Alessia Serina Pinto appeared regularly as a member of Charlie's Angels, an all-female, violin-led septet, appearing since 2006 all over Sicily and Sardinia and on local television channels. Davide Giovanni Pometti teaches electric bass and ensemble playing, appearing with groups of different leanings including jazz orchestra and 'Soul Blues', in Catania.
The album suggests to me a certain disquiet with the notion of the reiteration of themes and patterns from the bop era styles of jazz or even more modern genres, but does not exhibit enough strength of conviction to avoid leaning on other sources such as rock, folk and even pop, in the attempt to move forward. It may be of course that the directions chosen are due to the influences of those sources on individual composers and players. It seems therefore that the attempt has failed and that this is not much more than reiteration of those influences, no matter how well played.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
