An unusual blend of jazz tradition, spoken word and soundscape, presenting mostly as a jazz album with spoken narration from Steve Piccolo (Lounge Lizards) guiding the album with abstract comments that interject with Sergio Armaroli's virtuoso vibe playing, Elliot Sharp adding both acoustic sax elements and inventive sonic environments underpinning many moments; conceptually fascinating.
Label: Leo Records Catalog ID: CD LR 920 Squidco Product Code: 32426
Format: CD Condition: VG Released: 2021 Country: UK Packaging: Digipack Recording at "Il Pollaio", Ronco Biellese, in Biella, Italy, on October 30th, and November 1st, 2019, by Piergiorgio Miotto.
Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.
"This, Sergio Armaroli's fourth CD, partners him with British vocalist/narrator Steve Piccolo and American guitarist-saxist Elliott Sharp, who also tosses in some computer effects. The music, as one would expect from any Leo Records release, is certainly strange, but despite its completely improvised quality it also has form and substance.
[...]
Indeed, in the midst of One, we hear a snippet of Charlie Parker's Now's the Time, which then gets shuffled around and woven into the fabric of what they are doing. Piccolo's mostly-spoken interjections put me in mind, a bit, of the late Ken Nordine's "word jazz," which he perfected into an art form in the late 1950s and kept on doing until his death at age 98. "What is the benefit of thinking outside the box?" Piccolo poses in track 5. "Hello, I'm sorry I can't talk with you right now; I'm inside a box. Yes, you might say it's an experiment!...What, you say that you're inside a box? Well, that changes things, doesn't it?" Sometimes, yes, the music is abrasive, as in As I Was Saying where the computerized sounds predominate and tend to grate on one, but these moments don't last very long, and in a sense they force you to pay attention to what you're listening to.
Once in a while, as at the outset of track 6, the duo engages in some genuinely rhythmic playing, but such moments are rare. Most of the time it borders on the ambient, but whatever the situation it keeps you focused because no two tracks are alike. "NO bed! NO breakfast. NOTHING!" Piccolo complains in B&B, several times in fact, while Sharp alternates between his guitar and his computer. (As one of our local sports talk show hosts here in Ohio often says, "I've got my coffee, I've got my computer, now all I need is you!") Maybe Piccolo is also influenced a bit by Tom Waits.
Interestingly, Armaroli not only does not dominate this CD, he is sometimes absent from certain tracks-or, if he is present, it is only playing a note or two and letting them resonate on the vibes, not playing much beyond that. His two guests are the dominant players on this disc, and that is an unusual gesture from an established musician in any field. Yes, when he chooses to he does indeed come to the fore, as on Too Beautiful, but he doesn't do that with regularity.
As I say, then, although it is certainly a bizarre CD it is also a fascinating one. Well worth the listening experience!"-Lynn René Bayley, Art Music Lounge