Austin Di Pietro: Live at Mackenzie Hall Jazz

Trumpeter and composer Austin Di Pietro, whose musical enterprises span the border between Canada and the U.S., leads a hard-working quintet in a concert recorded in July 2025 Live at Mackenzie Hall in Windsor, Ontario, a few stones' throw across the border from Detroit.

Di Pietro wrote four of the album's seven numbers, while tenor saxophonist Ryan Bills contributed the rapid-fire "Hangtet" to complement the standard "If I Had You" and Marcus Belgrave's charming finale, "All My Love." Di Pietro is an incisive and engaging soloist, as is guitarist Ian Blunden. Bills shows considerable merit when he is not soaring over the top and out of range. His best moments are saved for last, on "All My Love," wherein pianist Michael Karloff joins the group in time to append an impressive solo.

As its name suggests, Di Pietro's "Melancholia" is an easygoing ballad, the first of two. The other, "If I Had You" (introduced by Blunden's mellow guitar), is taken at an even slower tempo than usual, underlining Di Pieto's graceful trumpet. Di Pietro also composed the session's lyrical opener, "The Fleeting Moment," the incisive "Borders," and the agile "Undertow" (on which bassist Trevor Lamb has the opening minute-and-a-half to himself before the ensemble steps in and quickens the tempo).

In sum, this is a concert date on which everyone entertains and inspires the audience; an earnest investment that is repaid with interest.