TOMMASO STARACE - HARMONY LESS QUARTET - Narrow Escape
Tracks:
1.Touch and Go
2. Medusa's Charm
3. Fugue in E♭
4. Narrow Escape
5. Trinkle Tinkle
6. Grand Central
7. Like Someone In Love
8. Be Bop
9. Pass A Good Time
Featuring:
Tommaso Starace (alto saxophone)
Dave O'Higgins (tenor saxophone)
Davide Liberti (bass)
Ruben Bellavia
£14.99 inc. p&p
1.Touch and Go
2. Medusa's Charm
3. Fugue in E♭
4. Narrow Escape
5. Trinkle Tinkle
6. Grand Central
7. Like Someone In Love
8. Be Bop
9. Pass A Good Time
Featuring:
Tommaso Starace (alto saxophone)
Dave O'Higgins (tenor saxophone)
Davide Liberti (bass)
Ruben Bellavia
£14.99 inc. p&p
Review:
As busy as always, altoist Tommaso Starace, has just seen the release of two albums on the Music Center imprint. With both albums featuring Starace with different personnel and instrumentation, the only constant being the quality of the music produced.
The second album with the Harmony Less Quartet, Narrow Escape, finds the saxophonist teamed up with front line partner, Dave O'Higgins in, as the title would suggest, a line up without piano or guitar; and quite different from the album above, or indeed from this previous efforts. It is therefore really refreshing to hear Tommaso in this setting, and without a harmony instrument to fall back on his solos take on a different shape, freeing up both his rhythmic and melodic lines and taking a tougher stance that we have heard from his before. What is interesting is how Starace approaches his solos with a considered manner that that prevents him from jumping in and riding the wave created by the rhythm section, thus allowing his instincts to guide him over a different terrain.
O'Higgins is the perfect foil in this setting, the weight of the tenor contrasting nicely with the alto to produce a full and lush sound to the arrangements which is most effective on 'Fugue in E♭'. Of his solo statements, the tenorist is quite majestic. His ideas come tumbling out of the bell of the saxophone yet never sounding rushed. Even on the uptempo title track that is powered along by bass and drums, O'Higgins seems to have plenty of time to place his notes just where he wants them.
Among the original Starace place no less than four standards into the set that the quartet tackle with a freshness that suits the line up perfectly. Wonderful to hear alto and tenor share the melody line on Monk's 'Trinkle Tinkle'. Jimmy Van Heusen's 'Like Someone In Love' is given a throrough workout with a fine solo from bassist Davide Liberti, 'Be Bop' by Dizzy Gillespie finds Tommaso in familiar territory, and features storming solos from both saxophonists.
This is an absolutely cracking band that play hard and swing hard, and it is hoped that they can get enough work to stay together and further the work started here.
As busy as always, altoist Tommaso Starace, has just seen the release of two albums on the Music Center imprint. With both albums featuring Starace with different personnel and instrumentation, the only constant being the quality of the music produced.
The second album with the Harmony Less Quartet, Narrow Escape, finds the saxophonist teamed up with front line partner, Dave O'Higgins in, as the title would suggest, a line up without piano or guitar; and quite different from the album above, or indeed from this previous efforts. It is therefore really refreshing to hear Tommaso in this setting, and without a harmony instrument to fall back on his solos take on a different shape, freeing up both his rhythmic and melodic lines and taking a tougher stance that we have heard from his before. What is interesting is how Starace approaches his solos with a considered manner that that prevents him from jumping in and riding the wave created by the rhythm section, thus allowing his instincts to guide him over a different terrain.
O'Higgins is the perfect foil in this setting, the weight of the tenor contrasting nicely with the alto to produce a full and lush sound to the arrangements which is most effective on 'Fugue in E♭'. Of his solo statements, the tenorist is quite majestic. His ideas come tumbling out of the bell of the saxophone yet never sounding rushed. Even on the uptempo title track that is powered along by bass and drums, O'Higgins seems to have plenty of time to place his notes just where he wants them.
Among the original Starace place no less than four standards into the set that the quartet tackle with a freshness that suits the line up perfectly. Wonderful to hear alto and tenor share the melody line on Monk's 'Trinkle Tinkle'. Jimmy Van Heusen's 'Like Someone In Love' is given a throrough workout with a fine solo from bassist Davide Liberti, 'Be Bop' by Dizzy Gillespie finds Tommaso in familiar territory, and features storming solos from both saxophonists.
This is an absolutely cracking band that play hard and swing hard, and it is hoped that they can get enough work to stay together and further the work started here.
