Chance

Recorded in 1990, guitarist Claudio Lodati's Dac'corda sounds like a cross between King Crimson and the Jaco Pastorius group with Birelli Lagrene (the small version). Lodati is joined on guitar by Maurizio Brunod, bassist Enrico Fazio, and drummer Fiorenzo Sordini. Also helping out on cello is Laura Culver on three tracks. The album's opener is also the title track, and its here the Crimson reference comes in most handy. The entire ostinato section of the tune sounds like a direct cop from "Larks Tongues In Aspic, Part II." Combine this with Jaco's love of crescendos and you have it. On "Menflica," the guitarists play in counterpoint to Culver as the rhythm section holds down time until Lodati's banjo enters the mix, spiking itself around the cello, and the entire piece opens up into a swirling dervish narrative on gypsy jazz in the postmodern era. Here is where the taut, synchronistic improvisation comes in that is a trademark of this band. Each player holds her or himself accountable to the ensemble in his chosen solo, thereby keeping a sense of rooted foundations and the abilities to shift tempos and harmonics seamlessly. The last two tracks on the CD were added from an earlier outing as bonuses. "Maria G" and "Waiting for the Moon" are elegant, song-style pieces, where one guitar creates a melodic frame and the other slips into it and changes it just a bit as the other guitarist responds and so on. What is most remarkable in these two pieces is the fluidity of the rhythm section. Fazio and Sordini ease the tempos through myriad changes until the meter and harmonic keys have been changed, transmuted even through a rhythmic time/space continuum. The lyricism of the guitars cloaks this fact until they have to create their arpeggios on a grander, more elaborate scale. This prog rock/jazz marriage works well.