Giovanni Guidi Trio, City of Broken Dreams

An artist may build, per- haps must build upon and over what has been before. With the present-day existence of musical terrain, like the surface of a long-used and therefore stratigraphically deep historical-archaeological site, what you see partially conceals and partially reveals its long-standing "thereness."

That's what I sense and feel listening to pianist Giovanni Guidi and his Trio on the new CD City of Broken Dreams (ECM B0018265-02). Guidi joins with Thomas Morgan (contrabass) and Joao Lobo (drums) for a highly interesting set of Giovanni originals.

And the archeological metaphor occurs to me because the trio in effect stands atop, absorbs and radiates the new layer of free-tonal spaciousness in piano trios/trio compositions that came before and/or exist alongside them, especially the Evans-Paul Bley-Jarrett-Kuhn-Melford-Crispell-Carla Bley-Annette Peacock grouping, to mention some of the principal players-composers that come to mind as part of this by-now tradition.

All that gives you some idea of what you hear on this fine disk, but not the originality of Guidi-and-company's contribution. It's there in the music, a logical outcrop of the approach and affinitive creativity the trio generates, and the musical thinking of Guidi the pianist-composer.

Suffice to say it's a beautiful record that shows us a major pianist talent in his first self-actualized recorded album. Terrific set!