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."
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