Luciano Soriano: New Places, Old Faces

Luciano Soriano arrives with considerable momentum for a debut leader. He earned a Vail Jazz Workshop credential, an LA Jazz Society Shelly Manne New Talent Award, and a win at the International Trombone Festival's Carl Fontana Competition—all before completing his Jazz Trombone degree at Juilliard. As a commissioned composer for the school's Green Club, Soriano's ambitions clearly extend beyond the role of soloist. New Places, Old Faces, his debut as a leader, presents six originals with his working quintet in just under 39 minutes.

Soriano is not interested in simply revisiting hard bop with trombone out front. Instead, he folds a young player's restlessness into structures that still swing. "Transfers To The 1" opens with shifting passages before the rhythm section settles into a straighter pulse, while the frontline introduces itself through sparkling up-tempo exchanges. "Lullaby For The Little Prince" slows the pace and lets Soriano's warm, lyrical tone take center stage.

"Day In The Life" and "What Hope We Had" feature some of the album's most developed writing, blending post-bop with traditional modern jazz. The quintet's tightly executed unison lines suggest a working band with genuine familiarity. On "Cyclone," Gustavo Cruz delivers a buoyant soprano saxophone solo amid shifting rhythms and sprightly ensemble choruses, while Soriano reworks the tune's primary themes during his improvisation.

"Two Steps Ahead" closes on a confident note, driven by peppery bop figures and a lively swing groove. Soriano and Cruz engage in an animated up-tempo dialogue, anchored by a memorable melodic motif and fluid transitions. Pianist William Schwartzman also makes his presence felt with linear improvisations and tasteful chord voicings.

Across its six tracks, Soriano emerges as a composer with a clear sense of direction and a bandleader who understands how to shape a program. New Places, Old Faces does not offer particularly new or cutting-edge treatments, nor does it attempt to reinvent post-bop. Instead, it provides a well-crafted set of originals, strong ensemble interplay and evidence of a young musician with the technical command and compositional instincts to continue developing his own voice. For a debut, that makes Soriano worth watching.