Delightful Eyes

Inspired by the fire of legendary jazz greats, Vince Ercolamento brings saxophone playing to attention. To pursue his love for music, he graduated from college and immediately started touring with bands. Soon after Vince received an Endowment of the Arts Award which enabled him to study with renown saxophonist George Coleman. His career would eventually bring him to work with famous players as Jimmy McGriff, Cornell Dupree, and Bo Didley among others. From there he continued to play such venues as the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris, France with Lyle Lovett's vocalist Francine Reed and Texas Blues Guitarist, Sherman Robertson. Vince has played on many national commercials, soundtracks and as a guest artist on other professional recordings. He also leads his own jazz quartet and is a performer and arranger for the Rochester based group 'Prime Time Funk'. Vince has recently released his debut recording, 'Delightful Eyes'. This compact disc is comprised of original compositions, features Harold DReviews Jazz Improv Magazine Recording Review of CD 'Delightful Eyes' 1/03 National Music Publication By Bill Donaldson Vince Ercolamento has arrived to give the jazz world a hint of the scene in Rochester, NY, where most of the musicians on 'Delightful Eyes' live. Even Harlod Danko - who has built an impressive discography (not to mention a resume involving a who's who among jazz gurus like Mel Lewis, Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan) and who the last I heard was teaching at the New School-has joined the highly regarded Eastman School of Music. The non-Rochesterarian on 'delightful Eyes' is Canadian bassist David Young. I'm sure there is a story about how Young happened to be available for this June 2001 CD recorded, naturallyat the Eastman School of Music's Recording Studio. But that story would be a side bar to the final result. The story to be told about 'Delightful Eyes' involves Ercolamento's compositions, most of which hint at hard bop. The feature track, Two Finger Snap' surges forth, as if from a starting gate, in a burst of energy as trunpeter Mike Kaupa leads the two part harmony, Drummer, Steve Curry ringing out Latin allusions during the repeat. Once Ercolamento let's go and finds his own space during his solo after the slightly more than a minute first chorus, he reveals himself as a disciple of Coltrane, the tone and effortless glossolalia instantly reminiscent of the spiritual origins of jazz. More appropriately Ercolamento is a disciple of George Coleman who likewise has recorded inumerable classic recordings that could be studied note by note for their musical logic, similar to the way that vocalese masters appreciate the meaning of, and write lyrics for, unforgetable solos. What did Ercolamento do once he received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts? He chose to study with Coleman. Having absorbed those lessons and applying them to his work with Jimmy McGriff or Bo Didley, Ercolamento has taken a respite from paying his dues to settle in the Rochester area and to now record the music that initially inspired him. The title track 'Delightful Eyes' consists of a unison one-note assertion followed by rhythm-section accent, followed by a simular but modulating give and takes until the tune resolves into a prodding swing section before the first theme starts all over again. 'One For Sal' creates some twisting and unpredictable melodic lines reminiscent of a piece that could just as well have been written for the Jazz Messeng