Carlo Actis Dato & Baldo Martinez: Folklore Imaginario

Communication is a bridge. Carlo Actis Dato and Baldo Martinez build one that is supple and sways tantalizingly to the impulses of their imagination. Both are visionaries who can envisage the distant and head for it. Their path is not a straight one, though, for that would be predictable and boring. They change pace and direction, one leading the other and then waiting to move in tandem before the role of leader is switched. They define movement and direction on the spur, and when the journey is done, they have defined adventure before resting at the signpost of resolution.

Carlo Actis Dato loves a challenge, and he meets it with broad strokes of his baritone saxophone and bass clarinet. His playing is warm and bold and he never lets go of his sense of humour. Martinez is a cohort of the same skin, his bass riding a rainbow of colours, his bow opening a melody before letting it bask in the warmth of its emotion.

Martinez sets up a percussive beat on the bass as he goes into "Sospieta, the undulating rhythm giving Actis Dato the room to sneak in with brisk interjections before the baritone saxophone breathes harder intonations that turn into punctuation for the strokes on the bass. With their parameters in constant forge, the lines open up for some elevating moves. The folk scenario is evident in plenty. "Mandingo waltzes in to just that air, but it goes into the realm of the free as the two dissemble form on the strangled cry of the bass clarinet. But the melody comes back, stated in all its magnificence by Actis Dato.

A serene atmosphere fills "Vejo Elmer. Martinez bows the melody, Actis Dato lays long, lingering lines, and the overall mood pegs attention, even as the horn man unleashes a few screams. But the unusual is the usual, which makes Folklore Imaginario a worthwhile experience.