Noemi Nuti (vcl/comp/perc); Quentin Collins (tpt); Chris Eldred (pno); Tim Thornton (bs); Emilano Caroselli(dms).
(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Probably more by coincidence than trend but the last gig and the last CD that I've reviewed have featured a voice in the frontline eg: The David Carnegie Quintet (sax/voice); Gene Ess' Eternal Monomyth (gtr/voice) and now the Noemi Nuti Band show up at the Globe with voice and trumpet to the fore and 'blowing' intricate, seemingly impossible, lines together.
At all 3 concerts the voice was primarily an instrument with only the odd number using actual words - on this occasion, mainly in Portuguese.
The gig, promoted by the Jazz Coop, was the final date of a tour launching New Yorker Nuti's debut album Nice To Meet You reviewed here by Ann Alex back in February.
I was tempted to simply fast forward that review but decided that that would be too much of a soft option besides, the CD has guitar, additional percussion and a second pianist in Andrew McCormack. McCormack wasn't present at the Globe but his music was in the form of his composition, with lyric by Nuti, Vista.
Much of the material was Nuti's own although, being a Brazilian based evening, there was the inevitable dip into the Jobim Songbook - Louisa (delightfully done with just voice and bass) and Danca Da Solidao which had some fluent flugel from Collins. Indeed Collins, for me, was the highlight of the evening - and by saying that I take nothing away from the contributions by Nuti, Eldred, Thornton and Simpson who were all superb. Collins however, truly delivered the sound of surprise. His fat toned trumpet/flugel sound brought to mind past grandmasters such as Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro but with a contemporary edge to it.
The final number was a breathtaking voice/trumpet in unison blast. Technically complex with unexpected twists and turns. Then, for an encore, they played it again even faster!
The perfect evening? Well, almost, One or two of the audience found the decibel level on the high side which perhaps it was for the size of the room although, compared to the volume in the downstairs bar, it wasn't loud at all!
Lance.
Agree Lance - everyone played well with Quentin the standout - both in terms of twists & turns and volume (his mic wasn't needed of course !). Either fortuitously or wisely the front row wasn’t occupied - the sound merged nicely further back. Several comments on exit revealed a most enjoyable second set (sounds like we won over the decibels from downstairs) The last number, fast-paced and repeated as encore but faster still, was astonishing !
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