Portrait In Six Colors

On Roberto Ottaviano's second date as a leader, he takes out all the stops in attempting to realize his rather large ambitions and in taking on the vast complexity in Charles Mingus' music. Using a band comprised entirely of brass and reeds and no rhythm section (a tuba replaces the bass fiddle and striated rhythmic pulses among the horns replace Dannie Richmond's drums), Ottaviano and his youthful ensemble attempt to bring out the classical shades in Mingus' decidedly orchestral jazz. To some degree, they succeed as no one before them has. On compositions such as "Fables of Faubus," "Myself When I Am Real," "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love," and "I X Love," Ottaviano is able to create arrangements that highlight the often subtle changes in his palette of colors and textures by creating an additional row of harmony as a way of shoring up rhythm or melody. In addition, Mingus' melodic invention is given intense scrutiny as it applies to the Italian view of neo-classicism, or at least neo-romanticism: Keep its spirit and destroy its sentiment. Elsewhere, on "Sweet Sucker Dance," "Boogie Stop Shuffle," and "Better Git It in Your Soul," the gutbucket bluesy funk inherent in those compositions is stilted, seemingly forced and sluggish. Nonetheless, as an experiment in orchestral arranging, Ottaviano has showcased himself and his bandmembers as having talent and being wise beyond their young years.