Alberto Pinton/Noi Siamo: Resiliency

In the old days, before clouds, streaming music, and compact discs, the first track from reedist Alberto Pinton's latest release Resiliency would encompass an entire side of a vinyl LP. Maybe we should consider the past when listening to this release by his quartet, Noi Siamo.

The disc, recorded live at Stockholm's Glenn Miller Cafe in 2015, opens with "Krigarens Väg," (Warrior's Way) a complete workout in itself. Pinton burns through his clarinet before moving onto his baritone saxophone. The exhaustive track marks an all-inclusive journey with it's starting point in the post-bop jazz of the 1960s.

His quartet, Noi Siamo, translated from the Italian "we are," evokes the cri de cœur "This is" from Ornette Coleman's This Is Our Music (Atlantic, 1960) and zeroes in on Eric Dolphy's classic Out To Lunch! (Blue Note, 1964). Like Dolphy, he wields a bass clarinet and his "Freddie Hubbard" is the fantastic Swedish trumpeter Niklas Barnö, known for his work in Mats Gustafsson's Fire! Orchestra and the sextet Je Suis!. The remainder of the quartet is drummer Konrad Agnas, and bassist Torbjorn Zetterberg who employs Pinton in his working group Och Den Stora Frågan.

The performance delivers three lengthy tracks, the opener plus "Magnetism" and "Kapten." Each an unabridged performance with a vigor that can only come from a live performance. Motivated by Zetterberg's bass and the insistent drumming of Agnas, Pinton burns through the latter track via a grueling baritone saxophone run that kicks Barnö's trumpet into the upper atmosphere. The pair compliment each other, if by saying 'compliment' we mean spar.

Elsewhere "L'Aquilone" doesn't relent even when playing a ballad. Pinton's bass clarinet and Barnö's trumpet pair nicely, complementing the piece with their ongoing conversation. "Lacy" returns to the trumpet/baritone saxophone exchange, with an upward and ever outward trajectory. The shortish, at just under four minutes, "Tangible-Intangible" is an improvised duet between Pinton and Barnö that surely gave the band a breather. Towel off boys, that was quite a night.

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