TRUSCIANT

This Italian funky progressive/fusion album is absolutely charming and funny. The influences are so numerous that it is impossible to mention all of them. The miscellaneous keyboards and percussions are very nervous and complex; the keyboards can be also very floating and relaxing. There are rhythmic piano, moog solos a la Triumvirat, rhythmic organ, and the album has an obvious jazzy/funky influence a la Weather Report of the 70's. The VERY elaborated, precise and fast drums have a structured Phil Collins' or Bill bruford's style of the mid 70's. There are TONS of miscellaneous Latin & African percussions. The bass is quite loud and elaborated. The album is fully instrumental.

The first track "Karwan" is very rhythmic and nervous; it contains rhythmic organ & piano, vibraphone-like melodies and TONS of carnivalesque drums & percussions. The second track "Trusciant" begins with an excellent Baroque piano part a la John Tout (Renaissance), then the music becomes quite structured and rhythmic, with a military drumming and fast electric piano notes a la PFM's "Chocolate Kings"; some fast keyboards reminds me some Eddie Jobson's solos with UK. The piano solo is very jazzy and elaborated. There is even a short weird bit which recalls me the Goblin's "Suspiria" album! "Falo'" is a very rhythmic and pleasant track to listen; the elaborated & joyful rhythmic piano, the drums, the bass, the electric guitars and the percussions are perfectly synchronized. The "Akua" track is very mellow and relaxing: it contains ethereal & echoed moog notes, delicate piano, drums and percussions: it slightly reminds me a more simple mellow part of the Happy The Man of the 70's. The next track "Flox" has a Brand X and Weather Report sound and style, with wah-wah electric piano, Collins-esque drums in an overall funky Carnival atmosphere. The first mellow and floating part on the "Font'amara" track has a bit the sound of a relaxing Pat Metheny's track with Lyle Mays on piano and on floating keyboards. The VERY fully interlocking second part contains excellent harpsichord, rhythmic piano, organ and moog: it is an absolute demonstration of perfect synchronization: it ends with a delightful & rhythmic combination of clavinet, acoustic & electric piano. The last track "Vivo" has a piano intro comparable to Keith Emerson's work; the track then continues with an impressive fast & jazzy piano & drums performance, well supported by a loud and punchy bass. The album is unfortunately short: around 32 minutes.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Excellent!

This is to my ears an enjoyable album that any jazz fusion follower would love, another great non- symphonic Italian band, some of those hidden gems that come from this country, but first of all i want to thank to a friend of mine who is also a member here, Jesus (cucacola54) because he introduced me to this band last year when i went to his city to a concert, i asked him for some recommendations and he rightly talked me about Il Baricentro.

Recently when i also discovered Festa Mobile, i knew that Il Baricentro was a band formed after the dead of the Festa Mobile project, Francesco and Vanni Bocuzzi along with Toni Napolitano were members of it, but contrary to the symphonic oriented style that Festa Mobile offered, this new band created instrumental progressive rock totally oriented to the jazz fusion side of it, the band first released Sconcerto which to be honest i have not listened yet, and in 1978 they made Trusciant which is what i will review in a second, sadly, Il Baricentro was only one of those italian bands that disbanded after one or two albums when they really had a potential to create more music, anyway they left this gem and i am happy to listen to it.

Trusciant is a 7-song album where there are no weak moments at all, on the other hand, there are moments that could be described as flawless, the album is short indeed, one or two more songs wouldn`t have done any harm, but when the music is as great as this, the lenght is the less important.

Karwan is a great opener, it has a sensational feeling that makes me be happy when i listen to it and actually move my body with the rythm of the song, the keyboards are very nice played and the drumming has that obvious jazz and funky style. Trusciant is very different from the previous one, while at yhe beginning we have a delicate piano work, then it turns into some funeral drumming and good keyboard playing, the second part of the song has the more obvious jazz flavour, then it fades out with some piano notes. Falo is a manific track that i like a lot due to its (again) happy feeling, this time we listen to some percussion that reminds me to some latinamerican music, the bass playing is very nice and then it has some good guitar riffs. Akua is a very soft track, i wouldn`t say this is an example of progressive rock, but it fits corectly with the album`s essence, this track is very melodic and well structured, nice keyboards and bass. Flox is another excellent track, its impossible not to think about Weather Report when listening to it, of course if you already know them, the Weather Report feeling is really clear in this song. Font`Amara a 7-minute song which of course is the longest song of the album and believe me it is delightful, really enjoyable and you can notice the quality of the musicians here, the best track of the album without hesitation. Vivo is the last but not least track, a nice closer whose first piano part reminds me a bit to some Wakeman`s works, then the song turns completely into a jazzy one, just like the way the band used to play.

A short but great jazz fusion album from a very nice and not typical italian prog band of the seventies, i invite everyone to listen to them, and actually i am a bit worried to see this album has only one review written 3 years ago!!! Excellent album without a doubt, recommendable to any prog lover, 4 stars my final grade!

Enjoy it!

The second and last Il Baricentro album reinforces the jazz-fusion trend that had already been dominantly relevant for the band's debut effort. Here, in "Trusciant", it is quite clear that the combo led by the Boccuzzi brothers has a strong focus on the funky jazz framework that was at the moment functioning in the limelight of American NE and NW coasts' musical scenes. The resulting sonic amalgam is adequately augmented with an exotic swing by two guest percussionists, which help Il Baricentro lean closer to Santana and Traffic in places. The percussion section is enhanced, but still there is a prevalence of the harmonies and constructed solos by the two keyboardists. The rhythm duo of drummer Mangini and bassist Napolitano also makes itself noticed through the nuclear jams of each track. This whole introductory description is perfectly valid for tracks 1, 3 & 5, all of them catchy, up-tempo and not really long, filled with pleasant melodic developments and properly delivered in tight rhythmic schemes. All in all, this is not the whole story, since the few moments in which the lyrical symphonic factor makes itself featured (either opposite or together with the jazz-funky ambience) remind us of how genuinely Italian this band is. The namesake track (which happens to be my fave one from the album, actually) comprises beautiful evocative piano passages that eventually pave the way for the installation of a motif of flourishing textures that effectively state a sort of combination of "Ultima Cena"-era Banco and Weather Report. This lyrical accentuation will also appear on the last 2 numbers, which show the usual dose of elegance and polished finesse that these musicians have gotten us used to; on the other hand, the jazz element is more notorious in these pieces than on 'Trusciant'. 'Akua' is the most serene track in the album, being a soft, crepuscular ballad whose grayish melancholy serves as a counterpart to the album's predominantly colorful moods. Even though I don't enjoy this album as much as the band's debut release, it too has to be regarded as a very good item in any good prog collection. Il Baricentro is underrated among prog connoisseurs, but they shouldn't be.