Joyce DiCamillo Trio: Moment to Moment

Here's a compact unit that breathes almost as one while placing its lyric signature on an impressive program of well-known popular and Jazz standards. In his liner notes to the trio's third recording, Owen Cordle says DiCamillo's close-knit group reminds him of the early Ramsey Lewis Trio (with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt) or the Ray Brown Trio with pianist Gene Harris and drummer Jeff Hamilton. I am reminded of a couple of others - the present Billy Taylor Trio (Chip Jackson, bass; Steve Johns, drums) and Marian McPartland's late-'50s Hickory House ensemble with bassist Bill Crow and drummer Joe Morello. In either case, pretty good company to keep. While DiCamillo doesn't say anything that hasn't been articulated before, she's an arresting player with a sensitive touch, an apparently flawless apprehension of time and melody, and a copious grab-bag of clever ideas. And as Cordle says of the trio - and I couldn't agree more - "This is a trio with a shared, locked-in, grooving sense of time and communal accents." Corsello's sure-handed brushwork calls to mind Morello or Hamilton, while Petrone provides a deep-seated cushion for DiCamillo's sunny ad-libs (and offers percussive solos on "If I Should Lose You," "Let's Fall in Love" and "East of the Sun"). I wish DiCamillo hadn't waited quite so long to turn up the burners ("Let's Fall in Love" and "East of the Sun" embody much of the session's heat), but even at cooler temperatures the trio never leaves one shivering or disinterested. DiCamillo has a marvelous ear for melody (in other words, she includes a number of my particular favorites including "If I Should Lose You," "Beautiful Love" and "This Time the Dream's on Me" as well as the aforementioned "Let's Fall in Love" and "East of the Sun"). She also has a steadily rising reputation among fellow musicians and the public at large, and Moment to Moment is another sizable step in the proper direction.