Tiny Reviews: Fabrizio Bai, Kris Davis, Swedish Mobilia, Marc Cary & Jamie Breiwick

Tiny Reviews edition!

Featured album:  Fabrizio Bai Etruscology.

Plus:  Kris Davis Capricorn Climber, Swedish Mobilia Did You Hear Something?, Marc Cary For the Love of Abbey, and Jamie Breiwick Spirits: Live at the Jazz Estate.

*****

Fabrizio Bai – Etruscology

Led by the classical guitar of Fabrizio Bai, this quartet session offers up a set of absorbing music with its version of Mediterranean-influenced Jazz.  Some tracks have a languorous seaside disposition that let melodies hover complacently in full view.  Other tracks take a richly textured rhythmic approach, and let the melodies ride the crest of the wave.  In both instances, the quartet provides a clear path to the melody at all times, and that trait taken into account with their personal take on Italian regional folk music provides a strong point of view and some very catchy tunes.  A listen to fourth track “Danzatori di Pietra” sums it up perfectly… memorable melody, dynamic rhythm, and a personal voicing.

Your album personnel:  Fabrizio Bai (classical guitar), Massimo Guerri (saxophones, clarinets), Andrea Beninati (cello, percussion), and Maurizio Costantini (double bass).

Released on Dodicilune Records.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | Amazon MP3

Other Albums of Note:

Kris Davis – Capricorn Climber

Compelling new album by pianist Kris Davis, who delivers plenty of songs shaped with an eerie geometry.  Some tracks possess a disconcerting presence, whereas others drift serenely on uneasy seas.  A strange beauty that both entices and rebuffs.

Your album personnel:  Kris Davis (piano), Mat Maneri (viola), Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Trevor Dunn (bass), and Tom Rainey (drums).

Maneri is having a strong 2013, and he’s hit a plateau where I’m on the brink of saying that if you see his name in the personnel section, just buy the album and don’t think twice.  Stream a track on the artist’s site.

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | Amazon MP3

Swedish Mobilia – Did You Hear Something?

Highly improvisational, and with generous use of electronics and effects, Swedish Mobilia draws up an intriguing display of the unformed nature of raw creativity, performing improvised music that sometimes sounds like the psychedelic Jazz of the past, sometimes sounds like the experimental jazz-rock of the present.  While nothing about this album is pretty, per se, it does have a smokey presence that gives an alluring quality to experimental dissonant music.  Some compelling things going on here.

Your album personnel: Andrea Bolzoni (guitar, electronics), Daniele Frati (drums, percussion), Dario Miranda (bass, electronics), and Luca Aquino (trumpet).

Released on Leo Records.

Available at: eMusic MP3 | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3

Marc Cary – For the Love of Abbey

Solo piano recording from Marc Cary, honoring his longtime mentor (and bandleader) Abbey Lincoln.  Remarkably evocative recording.  Full of life, yet possesses a zen-like expressiveness so that the music never comes off as pushy.  When taking on the challenge of a solo recording, some artists feel the need to bring the fireworks to compensate for the singularity of a solo instrument point of view, but thankfully Cary has the wisdom and confidence to let the songs blossom as they were meant to, and without trying to shape them into something they are not.  A beautiful album that will likely continue to reveal itself with subsequent listens.

Stream a couple album tracks on the artist site.

Released on Motema Records.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3

Jamie Breiwick – Spirits: Live at the Jazz Estate

Recorded live at the Milwaukee joint The Jazz Estate, this straight-ahead session, led by Jamie Breiwick, has plenty of heart and soul.  Originals, some compositions by Wayne Shorter and Duke Ellington, plus covers of artists like Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead, and Taylor Swift.  Just a likable album that swings plenty, and expresses melodies with a care and thoughtfulness emphasizing their lyricism.  Good stuff.

Your album personnel:  Jamie Breiwick (trumpet), Tony Barba (tenor sax), Tim Ipsen (bass), and Andrew Green (drums).

Released on Blujazz Productions.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | Bandcamp CD/Digital | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3

*****

The Fabrizio Bai review is original to Bird is the Worm, but portions of the other reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2013  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.