SLAMCD520 Stefano Pastor, George Haslam, Claudio Lugo & Giorgio Dini – Freedom

This quartet was assembled by violinist Stefano Pastor specifically to record some of his compositions and other improvised pieces, making up the suite ‘Freedom’. A very unusual line-up of violin, two reeds and double bass, the session was recorded in Genova, Italy.

Stefano Pastor: violin
George Haslam: baritone saxophone, tarogato
Claudio Lugo: soprano saxophone
Giorgio Dini: double bass

“There are logical starting points, not to mention themes, and the progressions therefrom never enter incoherent or illogical territory. The blend of two saxophones plus violin works extremely well, with the leader choosing to mesh with, rather than taking over proceedings. The interplay, with the bass prominent in the mix, is frequently earcatching and stimulating.” – Peter Gamble, Jazz Journal

“All the musicians are free to join as and when they see fit, they react spontaneously to themes thrown into the group, join in unison, or improvise in parallel lines. The end result is quite charming and even intimate…”Emancipation”, on which the three solo instruments start quite avant-gardistic with short bursts of sounds without clear pattern, yet reacting to each other like a conversation of birds, yet gradually unison lines emerge, with some great “blue” notes adding a jazz element, then shifting to gospel, still in relative free form, and then halfway through the track Dini’s bass joins with a steady vamp, pulling the soloists along with him and Haslam’s baritone builds a great theme, with violin and tarogato playing a parallel countertheme, then all three continue soloing through each other, beautifully, respectfully…the musicians create a real fun approach to jazz, alternating well between meditative parts and moments of joy.” – Stef, The Free Jazz Collective

“This quartet makes a great start roaring over Giorgio Dini’s frantic bass on “Freedom” and that sound continues on the tracks “Rebellion” and “Dance.” “Emancipation” has everyone breaking out into little solo dances before Pastor takes a strong solo over an undulating bass groove while, on “Elevation,” they all play a ballad in unison and sound like the World Saxophone Quartet doing Ellington. Dini’s bass is crucial in setting the harmonic foundation for all this, especially on a sad dirge like “Opposition.” And the two saxophon­ists, Lugo and Haslam, hold up their ends of things very well.” – Jerome Wilson, Cadence

“Bassist Giorgio Dini does a great job of holding down the rhythm section role by pumping lines, occasionally at a furious pace. There is a constant layer of lines that intersect and interact, shift and move together like currents in the ocean. Although there are free elements or sections, someone (George?) seems to have written small figures that brings thing together. This is just an assumption, although there is some amazingly tight interplay here. The magic here is when one of the players begins a line the others harmonize with it instantly creating superb shifting shades and focused ideas. What I find most interesting is when they end up in some sublime, melodic and what sounds like partially charted sections. There is calm centre to much of this which makes this set often thoughtful and haunting.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

“For lovers of improvised, wild and crazy, yet somehow well-hung-together jazz, this is the absolute ticket! The players truly have it together and create mood after mood, with well-developed themes that are designed to take you on that ride down the trail – freedom trail, that is…My personal favourite of the 8 sessions offered was “Dance”… if your mind ain’t swingin’ by the time this one is over, you’re beyond recovery anyway. For those who dig down deep into improvised music.” – Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation

Recorded 1st August 2008 at Villa Parodi, Genova, Italy.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Stefano Pastor.

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