Ensemble: Nick Mazzarella Trio

Label: International Anthem Recording Company

Release Date: September 25, 2015

Personnel:
Nick Mazzarella – alto saxophone
Anton Hatwich – bass
Frank Rosaly – drums

Track Listing:
1. Neutron Star
2. Abacus and Astrolabe
3. Luminous Dials
4. Ultraviolet
5. Outlier
6. Archaeopteryx
7. Fossil

All compositions by Nick Mazzarella (BMI).

Production Credits:
Recorded at Minbal Studio in Chicago by Brian Sulpizio.
Mixed by Brian Sulpizio.
Mastered at Chicago Mastering Service by Shelly Steffens.
Artwork by Damon Locks.
Layout by Craig Hansen.
Produced by Nick Mazzarella.

Reviews:

All About Jazz (4 stars)

Nick Mazzarella's first trio recording Aviary in 2009, clocked in at just 30 minutes. Although brief, the compelling force of the saxophonist's presence signaled a new unblemished voice in jazz. He has gone on to become a strong presence in the Chicago jazz scene, performing with Ken Vandermark (Audio One & Chicago Reed Quartet), Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra), Mars Williams, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Mike Reed.

As a leader, he has formed a quartet, quintet, and can be heard in duo with drummer Dana Hall. Like tenor saxophonist JD Allen, the best vehicle for his concepts is within a long-standing trio. Mazzarella, bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Frank Rosaly have played a kind of push/pull for eight years now. Their previous recording was a live date This is Only a Test: Live at the Hungry Brain (2011).

As a saxophonist, Mazzarella channels Ornette Coleman through the intensity of Jackie McLean's piercing sound. His tone sets its compass outward, but remains firmly rooted within the post-hard bop-blues praxis.

Ultraviolet builds upon the trio's two previous discs, incorporating more of a group sound. Pieces like the opener "Neutron Star" still burn with the saxophonist's signature passion, but the music purposely builds to Hatwich's bass solo. Elsewhere the saxophone and bowed bass parallel each other on the warmhearted "Luminous Dials" piece. The music throughout maintains an inherent swing via Rosaly's pulse. Whether he is rattling metal bits or working the snare, there's always a musical pulse present. "Outlier" opens with a drum solo that gives way to a march, before several time changes are introduced. The band manages some tricky maneuvers with an unconcerned effortlessness.

The signature track, "Archaeopteryx," a dinosaur bird (I googled it) sums up the trio's progress to date. The music maintains an insistent melody that allows the band to stretch the music in any direction to create either a kind of dance music or if need be free jazz.

– Mark Corroto

Dusted Magazine

Altoist Nick Mazzarella stands out on the recent debut release by The Chicago Reed Quartet on Aerophonic Records. While his Windy City colleagues rotate through a small arsenal of woodwinds he remains loyal to a solitary saxophone, shaping incisive lines as part of the dense, richly-structured contrapuntal blend. That steadfast attention to a single instrument carries directly over to an ever-expanding body of work as both bandleader and sideman. Ultraviolet is his third released outing with bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Frank Rosaly and showcases the results of summer residency at a downtown venue.

The album is brimming with memorable moments seeded throughout Mazzarella’s seven sharply scripted compositions. Two early examples arrive with Rosaly’s stentorian press rolls that signal the tumultuous finish of “Abacus and Astrolabe” and the alto and arco bass confluence that launches “Luminous Dials” and exposes an adjacent tonal symmetry similar to what Ornette and Izenzon often achieved in tandem. On “Outlier” Mazzarella switches gears to an almost conventional postbop phraseology, but the racing, trilling reed effects that strafe the latter minutes of “Archaeopteryx” act as an immediate reminder of his fealty to freer forms.

With just three voices to work from Mazzarella’s pieces extend ample love to Hatwich and Rosaly, allowing each to engage the other and the dancing, diving alto between them. Rosaly’s carefully fractured percussive patter that presages the ensemble action on “Outlier” feeds directly into the leader’s statement of an incremental march motif. Hatwich thrums right alongside his partners, toggling from a tethering ostinato to a fast finger walk and back again before switching gears for a knotty solo. Mazzarella and Rosaly face off to explosive effect on the title piece with the latter’s bass drum accents standing in for an absent Hatwich. The opening and closing freebop sorties of “Neutron Star” and “Fossil” visit the trio at its most nakedly and emotively pugilistic each ending with an abrupt about-face to silence.

– Derek Taylor