Proving that music is truly a universal language, the Italian group Roots Music delve deep into the history of American blues and jazz and create an exciting and contemporary sound that honors the originators while taking a thoroughly modern approach. The group consists of Alberto Popolla on clarinet and bass clarinet, Errico De Fabritiis on alto and baritone saxophone, Gianfranco Tedeschi on bass, Fabrizio Spera on drums, with guests Luca Venitucci on organ, Luca Tilli on cello and Antonio Castiello providing dub effects. The music is mixed between classic delta blues reinterpretations and free jazz works by blues influenced composers like Julius Hemphill. "Down the Dirt Road Blues" and the title track "Last Kind Words" dig deep into the fertile soil of early blues replacing the otherworldly vocal moan and cry of men like Charlie Patton or Blind Willie Johnson with starkly emotional saxophone and clarinet playing. The sound is raw and earthy, with supportive playing from the rhythm team, it allows the whole band to use the universal language of the blues to excellent effect. Moving into modern jazz, they tackle one of saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill's most storied performances, "Dogon A.D." Deftly mixing their impressive free jazz chops with Hemphill's blues influenced signposts, they create a fine version of intense and provocative music. Also covered is saxophonist and composer Marion Brown, whose “November Cotton Flower” is given a lengthy exploration by the band with the addition of piano filling out the sound even more as the rhythm section develops an mysterious shifting setting to the music and joins into an excellent collective improvisation with the horns. Both Hemphill and Brown were from the American deep south and they were well versed in the traditions of the blues, bringing that experience to the wonderful avant-garde jazz they created during their careers. Castiello is the secret ingredient to the final piece on the album, "Bermuda Blues (Quasi Dub)" which suggests further avenues of roots music for the group to explore in the future, perhaps delving into Jamaican reggae or dub on future albums. But on this particular track, the band dives deeply into a gutsy free blues improvisation with the core quartet improvising a spiraling and swaying performance that Castiello gently alters and tweaks as the track progresses. This isn't some sort of gimmick, it works quite well and adds a further dimension to the band's style of playing. This was a very successful album of blues based modern jazz. The musicians are clearly deeply schooled in the history of jazz and blues, but what emerges in not a stale academic exercise, but a heartfelt and passionate performance.
Last Kind Words - amazon.com
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