Simple Wishes

Simple Wishes is the debut by a youngish group of Italian jazzers with a particular flair for atmospherics and textures. This features Germani on saxophones (he is a better soprano player than either an alto or tenor man), the truly great Andrea Alberti on piano, Stefano Cesare on the double bass, and Roberto Altamura on drums. Most of these cats have been playing sessions for a few years, but in banding together as a group their individual strengths really gel. All of the compositions here but one were written by Germani, with the sole holdout by Alberti, so this is a homegrown affair. From the title track and Alberti's "Watashi No Chi" comes an ethereal, airy sound that is a mosaic of timbres and textural nuances that are loose — unfettered, even. They allow for harmonic plateaus of pure light to breeze their way into existence, become engaged in a dialogue within and without the musical arena, and change effortlessly. On "Chiapas," a Latin jazz theme is transmuted into a folk song structure with a sliding minor-key indulgence of interval, while on "Let You Move," which closes the set, the modal harmonics are literally shimmering between bassist, drummer, and pianist, as Germani plays a solo that embraces them all, full of glissandi and ostinato to keep them in his web of beauty. This is jazz that is easy on the ears, which makes its complexities subtle and even opaque at times. But they're there. In fact, this set is a study in color, grace, and vision; what Toni Germani and his band are creating here is not so much new jazz, but new song forms for jazz, and that's a true achievement in any language.