Long considered one of Italy's premier modern jazz bassists,
Furio Di Castri steers his quartet through 15 multi-hued aural canvases, brimming with warm overtones, chamber jazz-style motifs, and divergent undercurrents. With this 1991 release, soprano saxophonist Stefano Cantini pursues probing, lyrically charged lines and linearly executed passages atop the rhythm section's various flows, although the musicians tend to mix it up a bit while also injecting worldbeat elements into their repertoire. Otherwise,
Di Castri exhibits his superior technical faculties as he often pushes and prods his band toward the next logical level of excitement, whereas pianist Ramberto Ciammarughi and drummer Manhu Roche also integrate assorted electronics into the great scheme of things. However, the effects generally serve as a medium for the musicians' subtle tonal shadings and treatments, as this effort does rekindle notions of the now familiar ECM Records reverb-tinged, wall-of-sound aesthetic -- hence, an inadvertent characteristic that serves this group's charter extremely well. ~ Glenn Astarita