Giovanni Guidi: A New Day

There is some positive momentum surrounding Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi, especially with the trio he established with American bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer Joao Lobo. Guidi's trio produced two excellent releases for ECM, City Of Broken Dreams (2013) and This Is The Day (2015). Their brand of music—let's call it the Bill Evans trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, reconstructed to fit within Manfred Eicher's vision—prefers a stark sound but with its emotion displayed on their sleeves.

Guidi's trio has expanded in the past to include brass instruments, but the edition here of American tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis finds a near-perfect contrast if, by contrast, we mean congruity. Lewis has surpassed the young lion status to become a force in avant-jazz without assigning him a pigeonhole. He can be heard with his Red Lily Quartet performing a tribute to Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, touring with The Messthetics (the remnants of the DC punk band Fugazi), backing the poetry-forward ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders, and leading his own quartet, trio, and in duo with drummer Chad Taylor.

With Guidi and company, Lewis tailors his sound (on the four tracks out of seven total he is heard on) to fit the mostly downtempo approach. The opener, the Catalan folk tune "Cantos Del Oceills" expresses an ineffable muted beauty. "Wonderland" opens with the trio, and Lewis joins in to produce a bright and engagingly hopeful melody. Five of the tracks were composed by Guidi with the improvised "Only Sometimes" achieving a Charles Lloyd-like sound that is both spiritual and thoroughly earnest.

When Guidi, Morgan, and Lobo are heard sans Lewis we get a perfect triangle of sound. The bowed bass of "To A Young Student" reflects Guidi's chiming piano. "Means For A Rescue" opens with Lobo's minimalist percussion. Time slows even with some energy injected via the piano. The one standard performed by the trio, "My Funny Valentine," is delivered as if it were merely a distant memory. Guidi unveils the melody by unmasking it in bits and pieces.

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