Paolo Fresu 5ET - Incantamento

I'm getting behind with documenting my listening trajectory. During my stay in Stockholm I listened to just two discs on my Sony mp3 player. Easy listening fare, to chill a little bit after the rather strenuous thinking at the architecture school during the day. Incantamento is one disc in a series of five that Paolo Fresu and his quintet have been recording since 2005 for Blue Note, at the occasion of their 20-year existence (without changing their lineup!). Each of the titles is dedicated to original compositions of one the band members. In Incantamento saxophone player Tino Tracanna had a free hand. It's a beautifully crafted, suave recording featuring strong, but rather diffident compositions and superbly polished playing. Fresu himself is curiously reticent on this recording. It's all very enjoyable but maybe a little too polished for its own good. Most of these recording have already disappeared from the catalogue, I notice, but there is now a 2-disc collection that features the highlights from Fresu's Blue Note years (he is with ECM now).

The other audition was a rather less pleasurable experience. Jan Garbarek's In Praise of Dreams, an ECM production, brings together a star cast with Kim Kaskashian on viola and Manu Katché on drums. But musically it's a disappointing affair. Whilst the Fresu disc may not be very demanding either, there is the feeling of genuine musical invention. Here Garbarek leans a little too much to mindless new age schlock for comfort. I found this really getting on my nerves.