tisdag 10 Sep 2013, 19:17

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Northern Europe boasts many excellent players, so it’s no surprise to find a quintet this good from the buttoned-up city of Brussels. It’s led by a resonant d. bassist, a gifted composer who has a distinctive and hypermodern touch. Two Belgians, guitarist Lorenzo di Maio and pianist Pascal Mohy, contribute elegant solos, but the star turn is really Jacques Schwartz-Bart, a world-class tenorist from Guadeloupe who has toured with US trumpeter Roy Hargrove a few years back. His serpentine lines are always a pleasure to follow but it’s La Rocca’s simple-sounding yet artfully harmonised themes that make this album special. The only standard here is Crescent, a J. Coltrane lament that inspires solos worthy of its composer.”
– JACK MASSARIK (London Evening Standard), CDs of the week: It Could Be the End – Igloo (Nov 30, 2012)