FRESU,PAOLO DEVIL QUARTET - Desertico (Sealed) (CD)

Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu has always been more angel than devil, though he's fronted quartets that name check both of those respectively heavenly and hellish entities. His horn work is coolly lyrical and spellbinding, regardless of the setting it's found in, but Fresu also has an impish side to his personality that takes over at certain times; he taps into that deviousness in a few places on Desertico, but the majority of the music is gorgeous, reflective and peaceful. While the title of the record points to the dry, arid and lifeless spaces of this world, the songs are anything but. Fresu and his Devil Quartet create music brimming with life, clarity, sensitivity and strength; Desertico is a musical oasis, not a barren desert