Alessandro Iachini Quintet, Here And Now Review

Recorded in Rome there’s a spirited jazz rock funkiness to ‘Gin Tonic’ one of the livelier of the originals of guitarist Alessandro Iachini’s here. The presence of the very fine alto sax player from the States Logan Richardson is a plus. He endows the sound with a perky Soweto Kinch like attitude and the whole album whether figuring with tracks he’s on or not fizzes with energy.

Iachini, born 1997, studied at the St Louis College of Music in Rome. He has played with the National Jazz Orchestra of Italian Conservatories and collaborated with the Italian Army Big Band for the opening of the Umbria Jazz Festival.

Other musicians here are pianist Domenico Sanna, bassist Giulio Scarpato and drummer Luca Gallo. On tracks like ‘Summer Hit’ the pianist could usefully have been a bit more forceful and I’d love it if the mix and mastering allowed for the sonics to have a bit more impact which the album as a whole lacks.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery.”
From The Great Dictator

Highlights include ‘War’ which includes The Great Dictator speech from the classic Charlie Chaplin satire. Chaplin acted in the guise of the barber who has been mistaken for one Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of the fictional Tomainia, based on guess who? Such a choice is certainly topical given the perilous threat posed by the fascism of the far right in Europe, Russia and America in government or aspiring to be today.

A good beginning from Iachini who paints abstract modernistic jazz soaked washes that are anything but clinical. If you like the work of Nir Felder or Ant Law as we do then this will be up your street.