Sicilian Jazz Collection Vol.3

Collections like this are difficult to review. Not because the material is necessarily disparate, but because it's hard to rate an album of killer selections that are supposed to represent other albums. But that's the problem: Despite its garish, almost impossible-to-read cover, Sicilian Jazz Collection, Vol. 3 may be the best of the set. Not attempting to place the region's music into a category that is somehow palatable to all jazz fans, it's free to range over the offerings from its musicians based on their own merits and how those offerings will contribute to a CD that plays like an album. To that end, this volume stands head and shoulder above the other two. Assembled by the Sicilian Jazz Society, the uncredited producer of this collection is a virtual disc jockey on record. From the fiery bop of Giovanni Mazzarino's trumpet quartet spitting flames all over the mix with staggering arpeggios and staccato glances to the pastoral, late-night read of "God Bless the Child" by Michele Pantoleo's guitar group, the effect is intoxicating. As Nello Toscano's band adds their two dollars' worth on "Sassi" -- featuring one of the most gorgeous solos by Enrico Rava on record -- the effect becomes complete: This set is rooted so firmly in the tradition, and the various reads on that tradition, that everything feels like a seamless whole, no matter the style the music is being played in. The two polar opposites, at least stylistically, are the punch-drunk hard bop of "Mel Lewis" by the duo Maugeri and Rizzo on saxophone and electric bass respectively, and the whispering, dreamy solo piano of Andrea Alberti on "Someday My Prince Will Come." For anyone looking for a way to the world of Italian jazz in general, and the Sicilian scene in particular, you would be well-advised to seek out this collection above all others. ~ Thom Jurek|