March 7, 2011

  • Review: Trio Dolce Vita--Rota Improvs

    Amarcord
    Trio Dolce Vita
    Jazzwerkstatt 082
    Total Time:  45:44
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Trio Dolce Vita is an interesting jazz combo that eschews the typical expectations for improvisational music.  The group’s latest disc, Amarcord, is a series of meditations on music by film composer Nino Rota.  How one comes to the disc may help in the enjoyment of it more fully.  The group tends to take a more experimental approach to the music so that at times it is like listening to a classical trio and other times like a more avant-garde jazz interpretation.  Claudio Puntin’s clarinet sound is often exquisitely toned providing real warmth to the melodic ideas of Rota’s music.  He shifts between regular and bass clarinet which offers some opportunity for deeper tones and support.  Jorg Brinkmann’s cello playing is fascinating to listen to because he shifts effortlessly from more traditional playing to imitations that make you think there is a bass guitar at work.  Sometimes there is the double bass work of Johannes Fink that blurs which low string is playing, but both create interesting sounds that move them away from more traditional expectations of these instruments in a jazz setting.

    The group’s choices here include some of the more popular Rota melodies as well as some which would be known only to his most dedicated fans (Amarcord, The Godfather, Casanova, La Dolce Vita, La Strada).  The theme from “Amarcord” opens the disc with warm playing from Puntin presenting the melody before it begins to be altered just slightly.  The track allows the listener an introduction to the style of the trio as a whole that presents melodic material and then sort of deconstructs it the way a contemporary classical ensemble might in a traditional setting.  The group’s elaborations do not last altogether very long which some may find frustrating.  While the musicianship is impeccable, the musical choices all feel to be of one tempo that rarely seems to move along very quickly.  This allows for some of the warmer and rich tone quality of the various instruments to really shine through, but makes for a rather uninteresting experience over the course of the album.  The experimental explorations in “Canto Della Buranella” from Casanova include vocalizations that seem to go on a bit too much and create a more unsettling feel than perhaps was intended.  The two selections from “7 Pezzi per Bambini” sound more like classical trio pieces breaking up the more familiar opening works. 

    It is possible that had the disc opened with lesser known works, it would be easier to be pulled into this avant-garde style.  But the group is superb all the same.  The best way to hear this disc is to simply pop it in and listen without any preconceived notions of what tunes are being improvised.  It will help to then hear this either as jazz or classical music which will then open the listener’s mind up to appreciate the often fascinating sounds the trio creates over the course of the album.  Rota fans may enjoy hearing these oft-familiar tunes in this rather unusual setting that can be recommended for those interested in contemporary jazz explorations.