ALDO ROMANO — 3+3 (review)

ALDO ROMANO — 3+3 album cover Album · 2012 · Eclectic Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
snobb
Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis and Henry Texier are a French super trio, and are also well known outside of their country. Over the years they have released many successful albums mixing African music and European avant-garde jazz traditions, and they have also played many gigs around the continent (I saw them play live around a decade ago at what was then known as the Sarajevo Jazz Fest). Although they are well-known and really busy solo musicians, they still find the time to return to the trio format and "3+3" is their very newest release after a few years of silence.

First of all, about this album's title, it means generally what you would expect, this is music recorded by a double trio. Besides the classic Romano, Sclavis and Texier trio, the other three members are all well known musicians too. Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava is probably one of the best known Italian jazz artists since the early 70s, French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le is probably one of the most popular French fusion artists and Serbia-born and France-based keyboardist Bojan Zulfikarpašić (or Bojan Z)is without a doubt the most popular pianist coming from the Western Balkans. So in fact, on this unique album, the listener can find a Southern European jazz "dream team" in action!

To be fully correct, I must mention there are only two tracks on this album where you can find the entire double trio playing together - the dreamy but full of fusion energy opener "Vents qui parlent", and the melodic "Vents qui parlent" which has strong world fusion elements. On other songs, the classic Romano/ Sclavis / Texier trio plays alone or with the support of one or two guests. Because of such varying structure, this album's music never gets boring.

As a rule, the compositions recorded with the smaller line-up are closer to what the classic trio played before - they are freer, but still contain a lot of melody and passion. The guest artists are authors on only two songs, but both songs are recognizable. Nguen Le's "Idoma" is his signature Vietnamese-folk based tune, played in his usual European fusion guitarist's manner, and Bojan's "Seeds" is full of Southern Slavic soulfulness, without being kitschy Balkan ersatz-product for tourists.

In all - this is a great album, melodic, pleasant and full of spirit and soul to attract a wide range of listeners, but with some dose of adventurous jazz to make for intriguing listening. Listen to it if you're interested in finding out what is the best South European jazz nowadays.
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