Featuring Franceso Chiaperini on soprano sax & bass clarinet & all compositions, Gianluca Elia on tenor sax, Dario Trapani on electric guitar and Antonio Fusco on drums. The Italian Long Song label has been around for nearly a decade and released 25 discs. Nearly all of their releases have included American musicians like Nels Cline, William Parker, Peter Evans and Marc Ribot. On rare occasion they have released discs from all Italian musicians like Nicola Cipani or the mysterious Foot Job Band. No Pair is another all Italian band, with most members I was not previously familiar with, except for saxist Gianluca Elia who works with Daniele Cavallanti for a recent disc from NuBop.
No Pair sound like a fine, quirky progressive jazz/rock quartet. The frontline of tenor & soprano sax (or bass clarinet) and electric guitar is tight, the writing modestly complex and nicely layered. I dig when they mellow out in the midsection of the first song with tasty soprano and guitar weaving their lines together quietly before building back up to a more intense conclusion, rocking out more with some fine bass clarinet and guitar interplay. One of the things that I like most about this is that the quartet are often laid back and create spirited yet somber moods in a suite like way with all of the pieces continuous. It reminds me of the better, Canterbury-like prog bands from the early seventies with nothing to prove but charming yet quirky music to make us all feel good. A band like No Pair should be playing at the annual RIO (Rock in Opposition) festival in France or appear in the “Romantic Warriors III – The Canterbury Tales” DVD.
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Bruce Lee Gallanther