Franco Ambrosetti & Strings: Sweet Caress
Enja Records

A scan of the personnel participating in Franco Ambrosetti's second strings collaboration with pianist and arranger Alan Broadbent says much about what to expect from the Swiss flugelhornist's follow-up to 2022's Nora. Complementing them are guitarist John Scofield, violinist Sara Caswell, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Peter Erskine, all distinguished and much-admired artists in their own right. Couple them with a Broadbent-conducted twenty-nine-piece orchestra and you've got the makings of a classic. Note, however, that all operate in service to the music and not their egos, so anyone expecting to hear Scofield strafing the performances with blues-drenched licks or Erskine tearing it up as he did in Weather Report will be disappointed. Both play understatedly to support the artistry of the leader and help bring the vision he and Broadbent share to fruition. As Sweet Caress is a ballads album, such comportment is not only appropriate but necessary.

The project's a good fit for Ambrosetti, who, at eighty-two, luxuriates in a context so elegant. The album's split between four Franco originals and four covers, including one by Charlie Haden, Broadbent's former Quartet West bandmate. The generally slow tempos provide a superb stage for heartfelt expressions by the leader, and such an introspective tone makes characterizing Sweet Caress an exercise in reverie a natural step. Broadbent's sessions with Ambrosetti are hardly the first he's done, as over the years the pianist has arranged and conducted for Quartet West, Woody Herman, Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, and a great many others. On Sweet Caress, Broadbent provides the leader and the other soloists with expansive but not overbearing backdrops to emote against, and also, not insignificantly, contributes the lovely tune “Old Friends” to the session.

Recorded at New York's Sear Sound in December 2023, Sweet Caress opens with a rendition of Mal Waldron's “Soul Eyes,” written in 1957 and an ideal portal to this embracing album. Sultry strings and a lone clarinet set a strong scene for the leader, who eases into the performance with a vibrato-tinged expression that wafts dreamily across the gentle base. The baton's quickly tossed to Scofield, whose playing is instantly identifiable, before coming back to the now ebullient flugelhornist and then finally returning to the equally animated guitarist. As the performance nears its end, the soloists unite against a swelling orchestral backdrop capped by trilling flutes.

After a moment's pause, those same flutes introduce Ambrosetti's take on J. Russel Robinson's “Portrait of Jennie,” a tune originally written for a 1948 movie of the same name and that later became a hit for Nat King Cole. Expertly lagging behind the beat, the leader delivers a solo that's by turns droll, debonair, and dripping with affection. Following his acrobatic glide, Broadbent deepens the languour with an expressive piano solo before the orchestra takes over. Interestingly, the leader sits out the title track to cede the spotlight wholly to Caswell, who, no surprise, maximizes the opportunity with a characteristically brilliant turn. She enters singingly, even seeming to briefly reference The Lark Ascending, before giving voice to a prototypically virtuosic statement rich in lyricism and musicality.

Consistent with its title, “Habanera” adds rhythmic thrust to the proceedings, if one gently administered. The dreamy melody's volleyed back and forth between the leader and Scofield, with each amplifying its allure against a sensual backdrop. At one point, the orchestra drops out, which enables Colley and Erskine to be more audibly heard and appreciated. Energized too are Ambrosetti's “Colors of the Wind,” a tune as effervescent and richly hued as its title intimates, and “When the Sun Never Sets,” an uplifting set-ending expression that exudes gratitude more than melancholy. Intensifying the intimate, late-night feel of the project, Ambrosetti dons a mute for the reading of Haden's “Nightfall,” which also includes a splendid acoustic bass solo by Colley.

September 2024