Let

This is one of the rare completely outside dates that the Italian jazzers have put across over from the 1990s. It pulls together three cats who love electronics and adds them to their natural instruments: Trovesi on saxophones, clarinets, piccolos; Schiaffini plays trombone and euphonium; and Fulvio Maras destroys all manner of percussion. There are some loops here, to fill out a fairly spare mix of contemporary jazz ideas that cross the terrain into new music, but mostly the settings are fully improvised, out of the ether sorts of encounters that grow from one rhythmic or melodic phrase and take shape before they become warped into something else. The entire proceeding is light, playful and not at all pretentious. There is an inherent lyricism in all of the Italian jazz masters that, no matter what the agenda is, comes out in the wash. Let is no exception. Where bleated phrases from Schiaffini's euphonium encounter lyrical ones from the piccolo of Trovsei, Maras counters them both with Tibetan singing bowls and steel drums that are tuned to resemble gamelans. This is spontaneous music that feels rehearsed because the players are so unwilling to cross over non-musical/atonal territory. And for this reason, Let is refreshingly accessible free improv. Full of surprise and delight at every turn, Let is as profound as it is fun to listen to. Bravo.