Roger Beaujolais (vibes); Alessandro Pivi (drums); Giacomo Dominici (acoustic/electric bass).
(Review by Lance.)
One of those fondly remembered bands of yesteryear was the Red Norvo Trio: Norvo (vibes); Tal Farlow (guitar); Charles Mingus (bass). Even without a drummer, they out-swung MJQ by a country freeway.
Step forward 60/70 years and we have the Roger Beaujolais Italian Trio. They're walking the same side of the street as Norvo did but with drums as opposed to guitar and a contemporary approach that loses nothing in the way of swing.
I first heard Beaujolais at The Cluny a good few years back, I think a callow youth called Russell was also there...
I was knocked out then and it's fair to say this CD rubber stamps Roger Beaujolais as, arguably, our foremost jazz vibes man.
Nine originals by Beaujolais plus takes on Jimi Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary and Faith, a song by Stan Freeman and Jack Lawrence that has also been recorded by Art Blakey, make for an album that proves that today's musicians can swing as hard as their predecessors without sounding dated. Indeed our man is as rich in tonal timbre as the wine his name is associated with - vin ordinaire ce n'est pas!
His Italian sidekicks - Pivi and Dominici - are equally at home with the idiom making this an album of sheer delight.
Lance.
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