3 out of 5

Produced by: Steve Albini

Label: Frenetic Records

That crazy-ass Italian trio, spazzing out on their sax, bass and drums, at the forefront of the art-jazz frontier, have returned with not only some Vandermarkians in tow, but a wild Steve Albini, latched on to the production dials!  Hold on fer a wild ride…!

…He said, and indeed did feel the bracing low-end rumble of jagged bass lines jutted up against stop / start wind instrumentation; madcap drumming looping us through bursts of punk enthusiasm, melting into tension-laden moments of silence.  And yet, Igneo doesn’t quite encourage the replay button in the way such a mighty teamup might make one imagine.

The compositions are as described: they sound fantastically raw and inspired, and the skills of the players are evident not only when they freak out, but equally so when they hold it in.  The album just doesn’t jive as a whole, unfortunately; the spirit of improv guides this Zu variation unwisely in this case, creating very standalone songs that are themselves fractured by their frequent time signature changeups.  This creates an odd listening experience in which you know what you’re listening to is amazing, but then several tracks have passed by and you sort of haven’t noticed.  It’s the remixes at disc’s end that actually end up having a longer impact, given how they’re more focused on crafting a jam from start to finish instead of seeking a new, oblique way to destroy jazz music.

I don’t mean to undersell: Zu fans, Vandermark fans, and those wandering into the avant jazz field are getting plenty of bang for their buck.  Igneo just has a more ‘live’ feel to it in terms of the way it comes together – the kind of sudden inspirations that are jaw-dropping to witness in person – that makes it less memorable as an end-to-end experience, if still impressive song by song.