Because of his fabulous technique on bass guitar and double bass, John Patitucci has been the favorite bass player of jazz giants such as Chick Corea, Roy Haynes and Wayne Shorter for many years. He accompanied the latter at the beginning of the current millennium on his return to the more acoustic jazz and since then he has formed the adventurous rhythm pair of his illustrious quartet together with
… drummer Brian Blade. For Remembrance, Patitucci asked his band mate Blade behind the drum kit. Instead of Shorter, he added Joe Lovano, another great contemporary saxophonist, to his group. This trio plays at an extremely high level, with Lovano showing his known expressiveness and virtuosity and Blade providing subtlety versus power. Most of the compositions on Remembrance are homages to jazz icons, such as Sonny Side (Rollins), Joe Hen (Henderson), Blues For Freddie (Hubbard), and Monk / Trane. Most impressive is the title track, a short but sensitive tribute to Michael Brecker, performed solo by Patitucci on six-string bass guitar and picollo bass. Other tracks have more groovy rhythms, such as the funky tracks Mali and Safari. (HB)more