This record celebrates the meeting of the best pre-fusion electric jazz with the vibe of the best instrumental rock. Daniel Cavallanti, a veteran sax player from the critically acclaimed groups Nexus and Italian Instabile Orchestra,” joins forces with his old friend Nels Cline and some great Italian jazzmen to crate daring music, classical and modern and fresh at the same time. You get long original compositions dominated by a strong and pulsating rhythmic feel, no-nonsense melodies and extended, soaring solos.
"A large group of Italians and I recorded this, a set of “electric jazz”, in Milan for Long Song Records. It’s very early 70s style, and almost everyone involved with this fun record are old enough to really know how to play this stuff in the pre-FUSION way, which is to say, pre-“popping”, pre-“symphonic”, pre-CRAPPY... Daniele, who I met and played with about 13 years ago, has a sound that reminds me of the great (and, sadly, recently departed) Dewey Redman."
-Nels Cline
"If you are among those who rise their eyebrows hearing the expression 'jazz-rock' thinking about dull riffs and silly elevator music, this record can lead you to the right track." - 4 STARS - Valentino Casali, JAZZ.IT Magazine, January/February 2007
"Daniele composed or co-composed five of the six songs here, with one by bandmember Massaron. "Cline's Line" opens with an intense, jazz/rock power trio featuring Nels, but soon gets into a great, somewhat funky groove with Giovnni's acoustic bass buzzing quickly as Ivano plays some fine wah-wah electric piano. A bit Weather Report-like, from their early days. "Ahimsa/The Long Song Blues" has a superb, freer electric Miles-like vibe, with a fine laid-back tenor solo from Daniele and great electric piano sizzling underneath. "Moods for Dewey" was written for the late Dewey Redman many years back, long before his recent passing. That sly melody is infectious and both guitarists swirl layers of lines underneath the sax solo and Nels taking an amazing jazz guitar solo. In many ways this disc is reminiscent of the better electric jazz or fusion records of the seventies without many of the cliches and the sax as the central soloist on much of this. Both guitars and electric piano do a great deal of weaving their note around one another and creating sumptuous moods. The player that often stands out here besides Nels is contabassist, Giovanni Maier, who consistently spins a web of dynamic acoustic bass creativity. Nels takes one those "Holy shit!" guitar solos on "Fabrizio's Mood" as Tiziano's powerful drums and Daniele's smokin' sax answer the call. We never know where our next gem will come from, but this week it is from somewhere in Italy."
–Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
