Antonio Ciacca Quintet
Lagos Blues
Motema Music
www.motema.com
By George W. Harris

Pianist Antonio Ciacca has got that classic hard bop jazz quintet hemoglobin in his corpuscles, which flows through the arteries of everything he records. Here, he leads an intriguing band that has a twin tenor sax lead in Stacy Dillard and Steve Grossman. Each player has a distinctive sound; one being fuzzy and dry with the other exuding a more metallic sheen. The band with Kengo Nakamura and Ulysses Owens/dr snaps through the classic "Whims of Chambers" with the elasticity of a exercise band, while Ciacca coaxes tones out of Ellington's "Reflections In D/In A Sentimental Mood." On the sax side of the tracks, the horns lock together like olive oil and balsamic vinegar on "Take The D Train" and the bouncy title track. The delicate "Nicoletta" and "Body and Soul" have some fervent work by the front line, making this a double your pleasure disc.