Gabin

by Robert L. DoerschukMilky, silken rhythms lace through this collaboration between Roman DJ Filippo Clary and jazz bassist Max Battini. Their perspectives find accord in the realm of what martini-addled old-timers might label "acid jazz." Electronic timbres are tactile and smooth, guest vocals by Ana Carril Obiols of Mano Negra and Joseph Fargier waft forth from washes of reverb, drum tracks move sensuously from the space-age bossa nova of "Sweet Sadness" to the impish manipulations of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" on "Doo Uap, Doo Uap, Doo Uap," whose spelling as well as vibe betray European roots. Though the beat keeps things moving along, it seldom disturbs the texture, which in these appealing performances is just as important -- more so, in fact, on tracks like "Urban Night," on which Stefano Di Battista's soprano sax and Gabin's synthetic strings paint a midnight mood that recalls a much earlier collaboration, between Gerry Mulligan and Beaver & Krause in the primeval days of electronic music. The only exception to this balance of elements is "House Trip," in which crowd noise plays a major role and compensates for the less subtle sound shading. The irony might be that this delirious audience is sampled from somewhere else and looped -- if so, listeners have only themselves to blame for surrendering to this groove as well.