TODD DELGIUDICE

MAS ALTO

OA2 Records

Todd DelGiudice, alto saxophone/composer; Jon Hamar, bass/composer; Obed Calvaire & Jim White, drums.

Todd DelGiudice has recorded this album as a chord-less project, stripping the music down to its bare essentials: drums, bass and woodwind. The album title is Spanish and translates “Mas Alto” to mean “Higher.” This could be a reference to this saxophone artist striving for higher heights in his musical career.  “Mas Alto” also can translate to “more alto,” perhaps supporting and calling attention to DelGiudice’s dominant instrument, the alto saxophone.

That title tune, “Mas Alto” is an original composition by DelGiudice.  His rich, warm alto saxophone pours the melody into space, filling my cupped ears with beauty. On this arrangement, Obed Calvaire uses busy drums to amply provide the rhythm and energy. Jon Hamar adds a counter melody on bass.

The trio opens with “Ablution” a Lennie Tristano composition.  DelGiudice begins solo, with no accompaniment at all for the first several bars.  When Jim White (on drums) and Hamar on bass join him, the tempo turns accelerated and brisk. With a trio that is absent guitar or piano to expand the rhythm section, the spotlight is consistently on Todd Delgiudice and his alto saxophone. However, when Jon Hamar steps stage center, he brings his own incredible improvised bass solo into the light. White is supportive and superb on drums right by his side. The tune stops unexpectedly, surprising my ears.

Bassist, Jon Hamar has composed “P.O.I.”  It sounds quite traditional in a jazzy way, featuring a catchy, singable melody. This time, not only the bassist is given solo time, but drummer Calvaire is unleashed. He confidently shows off his powerful trap drum chops. This song is a contrafact of “Everything I Love.”

Steve Swallow wrote “Falling Grace” and it begins with Jim Whites drums out-front and free. Like the other tunes on this album, it is well represented by DelGiudice’s talent on alto sax, and the astute accompaniment by Hamar on bass. Each tune features a choice of two drummers. They represent two separate trios during this album presentation. DelGiudice has composed five of the ten songs on his album. His composition, “Around Now” is an exciting exploration into bebop, with the trio swinging hard and non-stop.

This trio format is an inward look at standards and contrafacts. They feature a musical conversation between three talented jazz musicians.  As a chord-less ensemble, much is left to the listeners imagination. This is DelGiudice’s first “standards” recording. Even if you don’t recognize the standard songs, these artists have borrowed the chord changes and created something new and different in terms of melody and delivery. That’s what a “contrafact” is.  Using chord changes from appreciated standard songs and embellishing the song with a new melody. Although this is a well-played and well-produced album, this reviewer still missed the fuller sound that a piano and/or guitar addition could have brought to DelGiudice’s project.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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