Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Luca Aquino: Icaro Solo

348

Luca Aquino: Icaro Solo

Luca Aquino: Icaro Solo
When he lived on Manhattan's Lower East side many years ago, the great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, when searching for a locale to practice without disturbing his neighbors, would venture up on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York to shed for hours on end. It provided him the necessary environment within which to expand his musical genius. It was all about freedom—to play, to develop, to explore.

Italian jazz artist Luca Aquino has similarly taken the idea of external free solo creative improvisation, recording Icaro Solo live over a loop/playback/record device in Saint Augustine's Church, in Benevento, Italy. The result is a fascinating, highly entertaining, contemplative, and wonderfully thought-provoking CD. While Icarus might have ventured brashly in the sun, Aquino glides alone here, but always in complete control of his horn; his marvelous ideas; his interplay with the looping device; and his perfect acoustic environment.

Using the loop machine to create a foundation of ideas upon which to layer long ribbon-like lines of free improvisation, Acquino's spontaneity spew out without bounds. His is a minimalist motivic approach to the instrument, not entirely dissimilar to what Miles Davis did in recording albums like Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960) or, later, In A Silent Way (Columbia, 1969) and Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970). Acquino's fragments of melody are laid down, expanded over and developed beautifully, released and recreated in a spider-web of musical beauty that never bores. Each cut develops in this manner: thirteen improvisations that represent entertaining and engaging forays in sound, creative development and the display of Aquino's musical soul.

Icaro Solo most admirably follows up Aquino's fine Lunaria (EmArcy, 2009). It continues to depict Aquino as a fine trumpeter and brilliant musical mind.

Track Listing

Riverberi; Trapano Duet;Labirinto; La zattera ressa; Plume check; Icaro; Fabio e Mattia; B/n; 100 mts. into the Church; Trapano e cera; Non perdere il filo; Wax Drill.

Personnel

Luca Aquino
trumpet

Luca Aquino: trumpet, live loops, vocals, electronic and acoustical effects.

Album information

Title: Icaro Solo | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: EmArcy

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.