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Reviews for Dream of Nite |
From Jazz Times
From All Music Guide
By Thom Jurek
Veteran saxophonist, flutist, and composer Dave
Liebman leads this stellar Italian group in a live outing recorded in 2005.
The band consists of the great Tony Arco on drums, bassist Paolo Benedettini,
and pianist Roberto Tarenzi. The quartet roots its sound deeply in the modal
investigations of Miles Davis and the inquisitive yet expressive
improvisational explorations of Coltrane circa A Love Supreme. This
isn't idle praise; it's simply what the music bears out.
The interplay and listening between bandmembers — and in particular the rhythm
section — are remarkable. Liebman, who has played many different kinds of jazz
with more people than even he can count over these last 30-plus years, moves
effortlessly from full-blown modal articulations on the soprano to deep bluesy
tenor playing and back to the soprano to improvise on Turkish and Jewish folk
melodies in his solos. The reading of Davis' "Fran-Dance" here is executed
exceedingly well over nine minutes, with some lovely soloing by Liebman on
soprano and beautiful chromatic work by Tarenzi.
That said, the full measure of the band's power comes from the compositions of
its various members: Arco's stellar "Feel," near the beginning of the disc,
reveals just how much freewheeling improvisation can happen inside a tune
based on open eighth notes. On Tarenzi's "Unsteady," rhythmic patterns shift
quickly and often while Liebman navigates them effortlessly in his solo, and
Tarenzi takes all of them into his without losing the rhythm section for even
a moment as the modal tune unfolds. No matter where the soloists drift, they
always seem to come back at the same moment. Benedettini's bass playing is
almost movingly sensitive, not just to time, but to dynamic and emotive
textures. Arco is a dancing kind of drummer, playing different tensions with
each hand, pushing just enough of the beat ahead or behind to create a
different opening for the ensemble to pursue.
Check out the support Liebman gets on his closing title track, where the beat
seems to open up just as he's getting ready to solo; they offer him a sturdy
ledge to let his own interpolative scales and angles turn back on themselves
before foraging further, yet the melody in the head is never lost and the
rhythm becomes circular at the tune's most adventurous moments. Though these
men play together sporadically, the excitement they generate here makes them
sound as if they've been a unit for decades.
From All About Jazz
By John Kelman
All too often, an artist’s recordings
don’t come anywhere close to representing his/her full scope. American artists
often tour Europe with groups worthy of being heard but rarely documented—and
if they are, it’s on obscure labels almost never seeing the light of day
Stateside. Saxophonist David Liebman has occasionally worked with this fine
trio of Italian musicians over the past few years, making Dream of Nite
not just good news for documenting this quartet from a series of 2005 live
performances, but even better news that it’s receiving major label
distribution in North America.
While Liebman and his longstanding American group continued to forge ahead with its remarkable exploration of the depth and breadth of the blues on Blues All Ways (OmniTone, 2007), Dream of Nite is a decidedly more mainstream affair. Still, the emphasis is on original material, with the exception of a gently swinging take on Miles Davis’ “Fran-Dance.”
Straight-ahead it may be, but the energy and invention that have defined Liebman’s work over the past four decades are immediately apparent from the opening notes of pianist Roberto Tarenzi’s Latin-esque modal workout, “Unsteady.” One of two tracks featuring Liebman on tenor (the other being his own knotty title track, a nod to the cerebral writing of Wayne Shorter), it’s a complex chart that takes little time getting to the heart of the matter—Liebman’s visceral and Tarenzi’s more gradually built solos, both bolstered by bassist Paolo Benedettini and drummer Tony Arco’s powerfully responsive support.
Liebman has long been considered the torch-bearer for John Coltrane’s unfettered expressionism, especially on soprano sax—for which Liebman is a rarity in that it’s more often than not his primary axe rather than a doubling instrument. The intrepid spirit of Coltrane looms large, but Liebman’s always had his own distinctive voice, possessing a warmer, less nasally tone on soprano and, while certainly capable of approaching Coltrane’s “sheets of sound,” more attentive to the importance of space and breath. His extended solo on Antonio Arcodia’s sixteen minute “Feel” demonstrates a rare ability to be endlessly inventive over the long haul, with ears remaining wide open and an uncanny ability to bring near-vocal expressiveness to his instrument.
Liebman may only work with this trio on occasion, but it’s clear they’ve spent considerably more time together, especially on the “time, no changes” of Tarenzi’s “En Noir,” where the communication is less direct, but deeply felt throughout. Benedettini’s solo at the top of Liebman’s dark ballad, ”Tomorrow’s Expectations,” hints at the equally spare treatment given by all, with Liebman delivering his most lyrical solo of the set and Tarenzi demonstrating a harmonic richness reminiscent of British pianist John Taylor.
Dream of Nite is the kind of record, featuring a well-known American artist with lesser-known Europeans, that should see North American release, but rarely does, especially from a major label like Verve. With an album this good, let’s hope there are more to come
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