REVIEW: Negroni’s Trio’s “On The Way”

At first I thought Negroni’s Trio were trying to mix things up like The Thompson Twins, in that the Twins were a trio, and Negroni’s Trio are a duo. At least that’s how the cover presents the father/son team, and the album cover credits show the Trio as such. Maybe in this case, On The Way (AA) is an album where Jose Negroni (piano) and Nomar Negroni (drums) become a trio when they add in others into their equation, such as Federico Britos (violin), Ed calle (saxophones) or Josh Allen (accoustic bass), although I believe Allen is the one consistent member of the Trio proper.

The album is an intense listen, where they’ll play with a wide range of Latin styles and influences, but they’ll also play jazz in the traditional sense, where you might hear the echoes of New Orleans, Kansas City, or the intense feel of a New York City morning at 2am. Pieces like “Patices”, “Dancing With The Bass”, and “Retrospection” also sound like it was born in the deep traditions of Duke Ellington, how things are orchestrated with different moods and moments, peaks and valleys, not wasting any space by adding in a lot of different emotions in one place. There are also slight classical touches in how Jose plays, kind of a (to my eye) Ferrante & Teicher feel. Their version of “Comme d’habitude”, listed on the album as the song that Frank Sinatra turned into a standard, “My Way”, is brilliant. On The Way is the kind of energetic jazz that may make you want to dance, get involved in romance, or may make you take a chance. It’s jazz, perhaps better than any coffee in existence.