Todd DelGiudice: Mas Alto

It seems that every saxophonist at some point in their career decides to pare the music down to its essentials. It is hard to pare down beyond the sax, bass, and drums trio. The history of this musical setup is long. Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Sam Rivers, Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano (and so many more) tried the trio mode out with great success. There is always the feeling with this type of recording (studio or live) that things leaned into the off-the-cuff territory—just go out there and play. The chordless aspect encourages freedom. Freedom encourages loose-limbed horn elocutions. Musicians are said to 'play' music, and the play aspect is especially notable in trio outings. 

Of the cited saxophonists who have delved into the trio mode, Konitz's Motion, Verve Records, 1961), can serve as a warm-up listening experience for alto saxophonist Todd DelGiudice's Mas Alto with Lennie Tristano's "Ablution," six minutes of freewheeling alto saxophone blowing over a ramshackle rhythm from bassist Jon Hamar and drummer Jim White, who plays on four of the 10 tunes presented here. Obed Calvaire plays on the remaining four, with three standards and seven contrafacts. (Contrafacts, in DelGiudice's words, are:  "A fancy name for a new melody written over existing chord changes.") The music is tethered to the past, but loosely, with considerable allowance for freedom.

"P.O.I." was penned by Hamar. It features a floating moment, with lots of room for rumination and relaxation. "Falling Grace" is a tune written by bassist Steve Swallow. Melodically, it follows a relatively narrow path, while Calvaire covorts and rambles. The leader contributes five of his contrafacts, including the bold "Horses For Courses" and the eerie, in-from-outer-space title tune. Throw in the Standard, "Darn that Dream," a tune that Konitz played and recorded often. You could say Konitz owned it; you could say DeGiudice does, too, as he and his trio draw a concise pencil sketch of the classic tune.

Mas Alto is a terrific sax, bass, drums outing, music played with passion and style.