Fabrizio Sciacca Quartet Gettin' It There

Fabrizio Sciacca Quartet
Gettin' It There
Self-Produced

Fabrizio Sciacca is an Italian-born bassist who came to the United States to study at Berklee, where he studied with such teachers as John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, and Victor Bailey. After graduating from Berklee, he moved to New York, where he studied with Ron Carter and earned a Master’s Degree in Performance and Composition from the Manhattan School in 2018. On his debut recording his leads a quartet with Jed Levy on sax, Donald Vega on piano, and Billy Drummond on drums on a program of straight-ahead modern jazz.

He displays a big sound and firm, driving touch opening and anchoring Sam Jones' "One For Amos," with Vega trading choruses with Drummond on a swinging trio performance. A fellow transplanted Italian, pianist Andrea Domenici, composed the lovely ballad "Lullaby in Central Park." with Sciacca anchoring Vega's spare, imaginative solo and Drummond's light stick work on an exquisite performance. Levy's sax is added to the trio on Sonny Clark's "Zellmar's Delight." It is a hard-swinging boppish performance of a relatively obscure composition with Vega and Levy terrific before the leader displays a clean, firm touch on his solo.

"For Sir Ron" is a delightful original thatg Sciacca composed to honor his mentor Ron Carter. Vega, who is the pianist in Carter's trio, dazzles here before the leader trades fours with Drummond. With Drummond on brushes, Sciacca takes the lead in stating the theme to a charming, contemplative rendition by the trio of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square." Levy is back for the quartet's performance of Levy's evocative "Lonely Goddess." A wonderfully paced performance with superb piano and sax solos. The quartet closes this CD out with a spirited take on Elmo Hope's hard bop swinger, "One Second Please." It concludes an impressive recording debut by Fabrizio Sciacca.

I received a review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the September-October 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 386), although I made minor stylistic changes. Here is Sciacca, Vega and Drummond performing "For Sir Ron."

Mark Whitfield Live & Uncut

Mark Whitfield
Live & Uncut
Chesky Records

Recorded live at Manattan's Rockwood Music Hall (on the lower East Side), this new album by the celebrated guitarist Mark Whitfield has him joined by drummer Billy Drummond and bassist Ben Allison. It was recorded with a single binaural microphone and is part of Chesky's Virtual Audio Series. This is a MQA CD that plays back on all CD players but apparently will reveal the original master quality on a MQA enabled device.

Listening to the performances of four standards and two Drummond originals, one observes in addition to the excellence of the playing that Drummond sounds a tad bit too prominent in the mix (and at times too noticeable). Musically things start off on a strong note with a superb "Without a Song," with Whitfield's fresh, and imaginative take matched with his impeccable technique followed by equally brilliant, imaginative explorations of "Invitation" (with a solid Allison solo), and "Willow Weep For Me," as Whitfield takes us for quite a ride with his scintillating fretwork with Allison providing an anchor before Drummond solos, and the audio details of his stick and brushwork is captured wonderfully here. Drummond's intriguing "Changes For Monk And Trane," is followed by a solid rendition of Monk's "Jackie-ing" with Allison superb providing a foundation for the leader's improvisation with Drummond taking another solo.

"Live & Uncut" closes with Drummond's evocative "Dubai," and is another sterling performance by this trio, with another feature for the composer. Whitfield, Allison and Drummond are superb throughout and my only reservation is the prominence of Drummond in the mix, likely the result of the use of only a single microphone (or possibly my not having a MQA CD player).

I received from my review copy from a publicist. Here with organist Pat Bianchi, Mark performs Duke Ellington's, "In a Sentimental Mood."