Randal Despommier: Dio C'è
Outside In Music

Like many a jazz album, Dio C'è was recorded quickly, in this case two days in late 2019 at Brooklyn's Big Orange Sheep Studios. The material featured on the project, however, is the product of intense discernment, deliberation, and craft on its creator's part. Realized with scrupulous care, this multi-faceted recording is very much Randal Despommier's story. Though it is the debut release under the alto saxophonist's name, it isn't his first recording, Dio C'è having been preceded in 2018 by a duo album with keyboardist Jason Yeager titled All at Onceness. Joining the two on the new release are bassist Aaron Holthus and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren, plus, on selected cuts, guests: guitarist Ben Monder, bassist (and co-producer) Jimmy Haslip, flugelhornist Oskar Stenmark, and vocalists Aubrey Johnson, Allegra Levy, Tomas Cruz, and Patrick Lasie. All help make Dio C'è the special project it is.

Having played the alto saxophone (and piano) for decades, Despommier refined his own luminous sound long ago, and whatever figures influenced him have been absorbed seamlessly. That said, there are moments when his delivery suggests a hint of Art Pepper here and Paul Desmond there, and admirers of the smooth playing of Phil Woods and Arthur Blythe might also cotton to Despommier's. As memorable as his playing is, it's complemented by first-rate colleagues who make the performances all the more vital. Though the album's comprised of many contrasting parts, it's a cohesive and emotionally direct statement that reflects the leader's many sides and captures who he is, where he's been, and the experiences he's had. Augmenting high-velocity jazz pieces and expressive ballads are a funky, R&B-inflected number, a heavy Stone Temple Pilots cover, and the coup de grace, a multi-part epic that blends jazz, classical choral singing, and gospel into a dynamic set-piece.

Considerable thought went into the track sequencing, with quartet pieces bookends to a wide-ranging travelogue. Inspired by an Italian woman who “danced her way” into Despommier's life, the opening “Giorgia” flows breezily, the altoist confidently riding the changes and his partners executing with consummate fluidity. Even more rousing is “SoHo Down,” which he wrote after moving to a new place in NYC and which weaves a stunning vocal performance by Johnson into the intricate tune's celebratory vibe. Hearing her pair with the altoist for unison runs makes for some of the album's most exhilarating moments. Bidding farewell to that aforementioned Italian partner prompted the writing of “Saying Goodbye,” a romantic quartet number that needs no words to convey the heartache parting brings. As much as Despommier's playing dazzles on the faster tunes, it's in these intimate settings that the depth of expression of which he's capable is revealed. The years he spent honing his abilities as a pianist are also well-served on “Bye Butterfly,” an introspective solo piano treatment of “Saying Goodbye.”

With Haslip sitting in and Yeager on Rhodes, “Brother Nature" presents the funkier side of the leader, the tune's sultriness intensified by its laid-back tempo and Stenmark spiking interest by electrifying his horn. Conceived as a tribute to Scott Weiland, “Big Empty” honours him and Stone Temple Pilots with an inspired jazz-rock re-imagining, though the performance's major drawing card is the distortion-heavy contribution by Ben Monder. Power chords are plentiful and a rock feel is present, yet the playing still swings as soulfully as other tunes on the album, especially when the leader steps in with his singing turn. The second cover is a heartfelt quartet-arranged treatment of “Almeno tu nell'universo,” the romantic theme song to an Italian film, Ricordati di me, that Despommier first heard when studying in Perugia, Italy in 2005. Like “Saying Goodbye,” “Almeno tu nell'universo” provides a splendid showcase for the sensitive side of the altoist.

April 2021