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| Dan Moretti releases his 20th album with Tres Libre highlighting a new side Dan Moretti Tres Libre Dan Moretti's twentieth album Tres Libre represents a new side of Saxophonist Dan Moretti's range of jazz styles and broad depth of composing and performance abilities. Artist: Dan Moretti CD Title: Tres Libre Street Date: April 30, 2021 Label: Roots Grooves Records Saxophonist Dan Moretti has performed throughout the United States, Europe, The Middle East, Africa, The Pacific Rim, and Russia. His musical influences and compositions range from straight-jazz and soul-jazz to funk, Latin-jazz, and classical music. Over the last 30 years, he has played with a variety of artists across the musical spectrum. A shortlist includes Nile Rodgers, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cornell Dupree, Jerry Jemmott, The Temptations, Mike Stern, Omar Hakim, Jimmy Cobb, Dave Samuels, Dave Liebman, Marvin Stamm, Nat Adderly, The Crusaders, and Dr. John. Dan's early recording career, which started in the late '80s, placed him in the funk-fusion world with his 1st international release on the Black Hawk label Sometime Inside. Then teaming up with notables like Dave Samuels (vibes), Mike Stern, and Steve Kahn (guitar), Pugie Bell (drums), and Mark Egan (bass), he continued with Point of Entry and Waiting for the Call on Par Records. Moving into the Latin-Jazz world in the '90s and 2000's he has recordings with GRAMMY-winning artists Oscar Stagnaro (bass) and Mark Walker (drums), including legendary NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Dave Liebman on Latin Genesis. In the mid-2000's he traveled to Italy to discover his roots and co-write and produce a 13-piece Italian ethnic orchestra on an album called The Journey, combining jazz and Italian roots music on the Dodicilune Label. During the mid-2000's he continued to record American releases with a series of Once Through recordings, an eclectic series of 3 albums with predominately original compositions. In 2009, his album Tres Muse featured a set of originals in a trio setting, and in 2014, Moretti released his chart-topping album Hammond Boys, a soul-jazz tribute, which spent over 20 weeks on the American jazz charts. In 2018, an all-original acoustic jazz quartet combined with string quartet brought forth his album Invoke on the Dodicilune label. See discography for details: https://danmoretti.com/performance-groups-discography. Now, twenty recordings later, Moretti releases Tres Libre, a fresh, diverse slice of Dan's evolving musical self. This project was conceived to point to the Idea that the trio has a feel unto itself and remains a solid launching pad for creative music. In this setting, the tracks offer a wide variety of approaches within that concept. The ten musicians contributing to these seven performances provide an aesthetic that can open our ears to experience a musical journey within each one of these very different tracks. The styles range from free-latin-jazz, funk, ambient, and modal to swing. Saxophonist Dan Moretti's twentieth album Tres Libre represents a new side of Dan's range of jazz styles and broad depth of composing and performance abilities. This set of seven recordings enlists ten players' skills in trio combinations, including drums, pandeiro (Brazilian percussion), congas, electric fretted and fretless bass, and Cuban baby-bass, electric guitar, keyboards, and tenor, alto, and soprano saxes. The series of tracks flow and musically connect to provide an expansive listening experience. The songs are also diverse sonically and the playing and soloing range from calming to explosive. The feel between all the players contributes essentially to this welcome addition to Dan's discography. Track 1: "Jim Brown's Cousin" indicated by the title, has that "Funky Drummer" sound with P-Bass and Alto sax pushing a solid funk groove. Stretching a bit into the free-jazz world with Marty Richards supplying the drum energy and Marty Ballou driving the bass groove. At the same time, Dan floats across the top with his effortless alto playing. Track 2: "Mumbo Jumbo" points to Dan's love of Reggae music with this fun selection with drums-unknown, bass - Ray Gennari, and Dan on tenor saxophone. The feel and groove are infectious as Dan solos over the top, sometimes pointing to a more modern approach of playing, going in and out of the harmonic moment. Track 3: "Pandeiro-Funk" enlists the electric guitar work of Bruce Bartlett and the funky Pandeiro playing of Marcus Santos. The guitar parts give a sense of space, and the groove of the pandeiro hits like a drum set in this full range recording. The piece based on #11 chords has a repeating sense of non-resolution. Dan's melodic sensibility and soloing on soprano give this performance an unbound feeling. Track 4: "The Inner Side" sets the stage for fretless bassist Michael Farquharson and Dan on tenor playing the melody together while they explore this spacious piece over a repeating keyboard part. The harmony and melody are memorable with hints of that European Contemporary music soundscape. Track 5: "Escrito Jazz Libre" (written-free-jazz) is a bit of a play on words for this Latin-Jazz-based piece, incorporating the driving congas of Cuban percussionist Jorge Najarro and Cuban baby-bass player Hernando Isaza Cano. Dan's high-energy alto playing is totally connected to the rhythmic sensibility created by these two master Latin players. The strong improvisational relationship between the players is evident. Track 6: "When You Leave This World" is a jazz version of a traditional Indian Bhajan that points to a free jazz approach on the melody, with Marty Richards providing the intensity on drums, while Dan plays the melody with reverence on tenor. The improvisation is from the heart, while the bass keyboard added by Dan creates a connected feel that gives the sense that the band played this track altogether. Track 7: "The Missing Breath" is all Dan on three tenor saxophones. The church-like choral, although simple harmonically, gives the listener enough to want to experience the whole piece and feel what's being offered. This track is influenced by one of Dan's favorites, Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. PLAYERS, TRACKS AND TIMES: 1) Jim Brown's Cousin 5:01 (Marty Ballou-Electric bass, Marty Richards-Drums) 2) Mumbo Jumbo 4:41 (Ray Gennari-Bass, Drums-Unknown) 3) Pandeiro-Funk 4:47 (Marcus Santos-Pandeiro, Bruce Bartlett-Guitar) 4) The Inner Side 6:22 (Michael Farquharson-Electric Bass, Dan Moretti-Keys) 5) Escrito Jazz Libre 7:44 (Jorge Najarro-Congas, Hernando Isaza Cano-Baby-Bass) 6) When You Leave This World 6:52 (Marty Richards-Drums, Dan Moretti-Keyboard) 7) The Missing Breath 4:01 (Dan Moretti Saxes) *All Compositions by Dan Moretti Morean Music BMI except "When You Leave This World" Dan Moretti (arrangement) Traditional Bhajan write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |