Cappuccini Klang

Italian woodwind specialist Gianni Gebbia receives excellent support from bassist Peter Kowald and drummer Gunther "Baby" Sommer on this 1992 release, which finds the musicians deriving inspiration from the catacombs of Palermo and Sicily. With this effort, the trio performs 20 pieces that average three minutes in length. Here, Gianni Gebbia utilizes his arsenal of saxophones for a series of works that are constructed upon diminutive motifs and free jazz style interplay, supplemented by acoustic bassist Peter Kowald's densely wooden tone, booming lines, and Gunther Sommer's multipurpose, polyrhythmic attack. Throughout this curiously absorbing endeavor, the trio produces interweaving patterns, stimulating free bop-style swing vamps, fragmented themes, and sinewy undercurrents. On the composition titled "Meeting at the Vucciria," Gebbia overdubs multiple saxophone parts amid furious and rapidly executed soloing. All in all, the saxophonist displays an exemplary or perhaps enviable technique, brimming with orbicular movements, nuance, and an altogether authoritative presence. However, the trio's brisk pace and acute implementations of complex time signatures and assertive improvisational-type dialogue provides the winning formula!