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Michael Hutchins
Via Gelato Cafe
July 31st 2010
1853 Tower Drive
Glenview, Ill 60026
Cost: $0
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Stacy McMichael
Julius Meinl
July 31st 2010
Addison / Southport
Chicago, Ill
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Tony Do Rosario’s New Chicago Jazz Quartet - New Beginnings
Tony Do Rosario – Electric & acoustic guitar
Geof Bradfield – Tenor saxophone
Nathan Kawaller – Acoustic bass
Greg Wyser-Pratte – Drums
Chicago Sessions continues their excellent releases with Tony Do Rosario’s New Chicago Jazz Quartet. Appropriately entitled New Beginnings, it’s an intelligent assemblage of original songs from a relatively recent transplant to Chicago.
The album is deceiving in its initial straightforward simplicity. The laid back sensibility initially seems like something you might have playing in the background at decent restaurant, though there are certainly excellent upbeat tunes alongside the ballads. So, while you are enjoying the “mood” of the music it can be all too easy to overlook the greater depth of what is really occurring in your midst.
Most of these tunes are first stated with sax in the lead, which is ironic, given that the instrument of featured musician Do Rosario is guitar. True, he’s often doubling the melody, but sax comes off as the dominant instrument. This subtle approach appears to be the style of Do Rosario, the composer. But then he hits you hard with his phenomenal solos, which, alone, make owning this CD worthwhile. Then, just as quickly, he falls back into being just another member of the band. Even then, however, what he’s actually up to is adding interesting notation in harmonic voicing via his interplay and comping.
This semi-backseat approach begs us to be drawn in further to appreciate the value of the compositions, which we discover to be essentially pleasing for the casual listener, while also offering depth and complexity. In that sense, this is valuable art that contains ever-increasing layers to be unpeeled as you replay the music.
The recording particularly proves to be a showcase for the extraordinary talents and thoughtful paths that Geof Bradfield brings forth with his tenor sax. Indeed, his strong lead is both attention-grabbing and -sustaining throughout the CD. Greg Wyser-Pratte fills out the soundscape with a full breadth of percussion that is intimately connected to everything happening around him, and Nathan Kawaller provides additional sonic rhythm on acoustic bass. Tony Do Rosario has assembled a band that has given us something new worth hearing.
By: Tim Gault
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