SLAMCD560 Clockwork Groove – Waiting for Injection

Clockwork Groove is the name of the quintet founded by the bassist and composer Davide Giovanni Pometti in 2012, with saxophonists Alessia Serina Pinto and Ferdinando D’Urso, guitarist Marco Pometti and drummer Luigi Perticone. ‘Waiting for Injection’ is their first album as a group.

The music contains several elements derived from many kinds of music: it is possible to find jazz-rock, fusion, ingredients taken from the AACM‘s music (especially from the Art Ensemble of Chicago‘s compositions) and from the style of Frank Zappa together with a pinch of western art music and other contemporary delicacies.

All the pieces were composed and arranged by Davide Giovanni Pometti, except for Ginestra, written and arranged by Ferdinando D’Urso.

Alessia Serina Pinto: soprano and tenor saxophone
Ferdinando D’Urso: alto and baritone saxophone, piano
Marco Pometti: guitars
Davide Giovanni Pometti: double and electric bass
Luigi Perticone: drums

“All of the tunes are cohesive and coherent, filled with warm moments of lyricism. A New Orleanish funky grooves provides cheer on ” Dave Blues Bass Groove” while a boogie blues gets rocking with Pometti’s guitar on “Texas Groove.” Lovely acoustic guitar floats with baroque reeds on “The Black Waltz” and some plaintive piano flows on “Turbolenze” The two saxes hover like cumulous clouds on “Cupido” and “Ginestra” while some electronic wizardry veers in and out of some of the tunes like a cameo actor. Well played!” – George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

“A nice mix that aims for musical direct hits in a lot of ways, punchy without compromising an overall sensitivity. Hear it come together on tunes like “Tempi Disparati” and “Turbolenze,” where the bassist and the drummer provide a supple, grooving architecture that gives the others loads of room to colour (perhaps this general shape of the music owes something to the fact that the bassist composed all but two of these pieces)…much of it works well, like the galumphing but spacey “Il Funambolo” (which sort of recalls Human Feel) and the Meters-via-Scofield closer.” – Jason Bivins, Cadence

“Once again Slam provides with another fine Italian band with no well-known names…What is interesting about this band is that they sound more refined yet the crafty arrangements are often more complex than they seem at first. While the bass is often at the center of many of these tunes, it is saxes and/or guitar who play the quietly quirky arrangements. There are a few pieces that get close to the better side of fusion with some inventive guitar and sax work. Clockwork Groove seem to be balancing several different approaches to electric jazz from the calmer side to the unexpected changes in direction midstream. Not so easy to pin down.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

Recorded at Sonoria Studio Recordings, Scordia, Sicily, Italy on 8th-9th November 2013.
Sound engineer: Vincenzo Cavalli
Mixed and mastered by Vincenzo Cavalli at Sonoria Studio Recordings

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