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Bird Is The Worm Recommends ROCCO JOHN QUARTET’s EMBRACE THE CHANGE on UR

Recommended: Rocco John Quartet – “Embrace the Change”

Rocco John – "Embrace the Change"There’s an appealing looseness to this session from  saxophonist Rocco John Iacovone, guitarist Rich Rosenthal, double bassist Francois Grillot and drummer Tom Cabrera.  Of particular interest is the way the guitar darts between the slowly drawled saxophone lines… which becomes more compelling when bass and drums send out bursts of rhythm that frame the sense of motion within.  Some tracks, like opener “Wings,” attain a head of steam and don’t relent, but then there’s tracks like “Escape,” where the quartet uses a casual tempo as the foundation on which to let loose with hyperactive solos.  This isn’t pretty music.  Embrace the Change is rough around the edges and everything about the delivery gives the impression that it’s not just intentional, but celebrated.  And it probably should be, because that decision gives the music its character.  Good stuff, and from a label (Unseen Rain) that keeps coming up with little gems.

Your album personnel:  Rocco John Iacovone (alto & soprano saxes), Rich Rosenthal (guitar), Francois Grillot (double bass) and Tom Cabrera (drums).

Released on Unseen Rain Records.

Jazz from NYC.

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“…interaction, composition, fiery hot soloing…” Mike Greenblatt reviews EMBRACE THE CHANGE

Media Alert: Rocco John Quartet “Embrace The Change” (Unseen Rain UR-9947) Street Date: May 6, 2016ROCCO JOHN IACOVONE alto and soprano saxophones, RICH ROSENTHAL guitar, FRANÇOIS GRILLOT double-bass, TOM CABRERA drums

CD Review:

Rocco John Quartet Has Good Advice: ‘Embrace the Change’ on Unseen Rain Records [REVIEW]

Rocco John

Rocco John Iacovone (Photo : courtesy Unseen Rain Records)

There’s no telling where Rocco John Iacovone will go. The sax man studied under Lee Konitz and Sam Rivers. In the case of the latter, John has successfully taken the Rivers dictum (if they can’t understand it, go even further!) and whittled away at it, sanding it down, putting on a coat of varnish, to ultimately let his listeners alternately swoon and get excited. Embrace the Change (Unseen Rain Records) is more than a CD title. It’s good life advice.

In taking from the avant-garde, but making it accessible, John, whose alto and soprano saxes blow wild and free throughout, has fashioned a terrific one-stop that fills all your needs for melody, harmonics (or, in this case, shall we say harmolodics as taught to us by Ornette Coleman), interaction, composition, fiery hot soloing (check out Rich Rosenthal’s electric guitar!) and the bulwark of a rhythm section — double-bassist Francois Grillot and drummer Tom Cabrera — that not only keeps things kinetic but also anchors the avant and keeps things from getting out of hand.

Opening and closing with “Wings,” a post-bop humdinger that challenges our assumptions immediately, the highlights have to be “Dial Up,” an eight-minute plea to the heavens for assistance, and “72’s,” almost eleven minutes of pure disparate intentions, a cross-pollination of ideas from swing and bebop to fusion all in one over-reaching but successful track. You can add the extremely satisfying 9:52 “Tango” to the highlight reel.

Recorded in New Jersey, produced by Jack DeSalvo, Embrace the Change works because this particular change is still within earshot of the masses, if only said masses would just lighten up a bit and stretch their brains to the ferreting out of this kind of talent instead of having every musical morsel served to them on a silver platter. C’mon y’all! Up to the task?

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10.99 – High Definition 24/96 FLAC

9.99 – CD Quality FLAC

8.99 – MP3