In The City Of Lost Things

Chronique

The ghost of Vince Guaraldi looks benevolently over Joe LoCascio's In the City of Lost Things, a lovely little unpretentious piano trio album that showcases the leader's melodic side. The New York-born, Houston-based LoCascio tends toward an easygoing, tuneful soloing style here (witness the delightful opener, "The Bibliophile"), although he and his rhythm section are entirely unafraid of dissonance. See the middle section of "Sonia Braga," for example, where bassist Thomas Helton unleashes a wild, nearly atonal bowed solo. Merely the latest in a long string of fine albums by the Joe LoCascio Trio (inventive but never showboating drummer Richard Cholakian is the third member here), In the City of Lost Things features only original material and sticks primarily to a modern, explorative updating of West Coast cool. Fans of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio will recognize a kindred spirit in LoCascio's blend of accessibility and experimentation.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo