Renato D'Aiello - The unexpected turn

Renato D'Aiello - Saxophone

With this blog being only 18 months old we have travelled a great distance, with new music and a myriad of characters in all shapes and sizes. It is inevitable that you will see the same faces again and again in London's tight Jazz circuit but the challenge is to keep the mind, heart and sketches buoyant. Renato D'Aiello it seems doesn't have this problem, although understated and gentle at times he retains the freshness and zest of his younger self. It might also be why he surrounds himself with a carousel of young and hungry musicians to bolster flagging energy levels.

Emiliano Caroselli -
drums

Tonight at the Twickenham Jazz Club(15/05/2014) his quartet included local favourite Alex Hutton who's attire mingles a little of his Sheffield steel with his fellow Italian's flair. Resplendent in satin waistcoat and with his fair hair slicked back, it was though Little Lord Fauntleroy had taken a wrong turn and joined the heist in Reservoir Dogs.

Dario di Lecce - Bass

Hutton immediately made an impression in an otherwise gentle first set. The Bloomsbury's subtle darkness meant it took some time to familiarise ourselves with D'Aiello's newest recruits during this hour. Thrust back far into the dark was Emiliano Caroselli on drums and my drawings are a mere scribble of a man who played with great restraint. It always seems strange to comment on a drummers ability to play quietly and subtly but here it was an asset rather than an insult. There was another slender figure in the shadows, Dario di Lecce's (Bass) statuesque silhouette rose like a Brancusi bird with a Giacometti elegance and defied the gloom.

Kelvin Christiane -
Tenor Saxophone

I will skip straight to the second set which gave more to the audience. They in turn had warmed by now to Renato D'Aiello's charm which swells you with the slow upturn of his smile. A new self-penned tune epitomised this subtlety, 'The Angel' is a simple walk along what feels like a familiar path at first, a country stroll, neither too fast nor slow. Alex Hutton soon loses his way, and this is not a criticism, freed from the others he strides out scattering his notes as if they were hundreds of pine needles kicked from under his boot. Swept by Hutton's spiritual verve we no longer have our feet in London clay. Maybe because this tune is without a strong motif, you find yourself devoid of compass and happy to be led to pastures new. It is like taking that unexpected turn on a route that you have travelled all your life.

Alex Hutton - piano

'Portrait of Jenny' was painted with the thickest of impastos, and with its sweetness you could have swapped Naples Yellow for lemon curd. It had a rejuvenating effect on the main man and D'Aiello had the verve and spring of a pup. In fact his trademark flat cap now resembled that of a schoolboy's, and the tune spoke of a young man's unrequited love which swells his breast to bursting.

Finally a trip to 'Bolivia' rounded off the evening with host Kelvin Christiane flying shotgun on Tenor Saxophone. He was a coiled spring, dressed all in white, it was though he had stepped of the bus from a Kung Fu convention. Crouching solo hidden dragon tells you all you need to know. It was also an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down, those with the lushest of locks, Hutton and Caroselli benefitted the most. As did we the audience.

AL.