Saxophonist
Daniele D'Agaro is not readily identified with the jazz scene in his native Italy, although he pops up now and then and has recorded as a leader and to good effect as a sideman with
Massimo de Mattia. Here he fronts a trio with drummer
Han Bennink and bassist
Ernst Glerum, both active members of the vibrant Dutch jazz scene. The saxophonist lived for much of the 1980s and '90s in Holland, where he played with many of the leading lights of the local music community, but this is the first time these three have recorded as a unit.
D'Agaro follows a path set forth by
Archie Shepp (among others) of mixing originals with recognizable older tunes, which the Italian molds with iconoclastic verve by attractively distorting melodies, extending harmonies, and taking liberties with rhythms. His strategies don't always succeed and, for example, a portion of the title tune falls flat, but on most of the standards
D'Agaro shows himself to be the sort of powerhouse who can toy with melodies as though they were taffy. Part of the charm is the way in which the music cannot be categorized: it encompasses aspects of free improvisation coupled with the swagger of old-time jazz, and on clarinet you might even hear in his blowing a sort of modern classical aesthetic.
Glerum is splendid throughout and anchors the trio with a rich, juicy tone that may serve to introduce him to a wider audience.
Bennink seems more restrained than usual, and perhaps as a result the trio lacks the "wacky" humorous side for which the Dutch are known. ~ Steven Loewy