Featured Artist: Alipio C. Neto Quartet

CD Title: Perfume Comes Before The Flower

Year: 2007

Record Label: Clean Feed

Style: Free Jazz / Avante Garde

Musicians:

Alípio C. Neto (tenor sax), Ben Stapp (tuba), Herb Robertson (trumpet), Ken Filiano (bass), Michael T. A. Thompson (drums)

Review:

Brazilian saxophonist/composer Alipio C. Neto has been working the Portuguese free-jazz scene for a few years now, but performs with three prominent New York-based jazz acolytes on this vibrant new outing.  Layered, boisterous and operating from a nicely in-your-face impetus, the music spans avant-garde New Orleans second line jazz (featuring tubaist Ben Stapp) amid frenetic and kaleidoscopic movements.  Here, Neto and trumpeter Herb Robertson’s plaintive cries ride atop semi-structured arrangements and garrulous, group-centric free improvisational maneuvers. 

Sparks are flying everywhere throughout.  The ensemble generally engages in climactic theme and story-building exercises as they inject a sense of drama into works that are often framed by powerhouse drummer Michael T.A. Thompson’s asymmetrical beats.  Featuring regimented horns-led choruses and elements of pathos and wit, the musicians even fuse some off-kilter world music motifs into the mix.  Then in other regions of this disc they abide by a jittery and somewhat neurotic gait via animated phrasings and periodic moments of angst.  On “la réalité - dancing cosmologies,” Stapp’s pumping tuba lines accelerate a jagged, New Orleans brass band motif, marked by Neto and Robertson’s torrid solo spots.  Either way, Neto casts a worldly spell during the preponderance of this most intriguing set. 

Record Label Website: http://www.cleanfeed-records.com

Reviewed by: Glenn Astarita

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