CD review: Randy Brecker & Ada Rovatti – Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond 2019: Video, CD cover

Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond, features the husband and wife team of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and fusion pioneer Randy Brecker and saxophonist-composer Ada Rovatti but also includes their 10-year-old daughter Stella in a vocal cameo appearance on one track.

Backed by a versatile core group of pianist David Kikoski, bassist Alex Claffy and drummer Rodney Holmes, with guest appearances by keyboardist Jim Beard, guitarist Adam Rogers and Brazilian percussionist Café, the married couple forges an easy chemistry together on the 10 tracks here, all composed by Rovatti. The collection kicks off with the upbeat “Sacred Bond,” which has mother and daughter doubling wordless vocals on the melodic head alongside trumpet and tenor sax, Kikoski’s electric piano comping, Claffy’s funky baselines and Holmes’ insistent backbeat. Rovatti solos first, demonstrating her deeply impactful tone, easy rhythmic assuredness and remarkable facility as she builds to double-timed flurries and a magnificent crescendo. Brecker follows with a typically bright, bristling and eminently melodic trumpet solo – the kind he has been documenting on record for 50 years, beginning with his own debut as a leader, 1969’s Score – before mother and daughter return to sing the melodious refrain together.

Tracks

1. Sacred Bond (7:20)
2. Helping Hands (8:39)
3. Reverence (8:36)
4. The Baggae (10:32)
5. The Queen of Bibelot (5:20)
6. Britches Blue (8:31)
7. Brainwashed (5:25)
8. Mirror (5:42)
9. The Other Side of the Coin (7:04)
10. Quietly Me (6:47)

Ada Rovatti – Sax Soprano, Sax Tenor, Vocals
Randy Brecker – Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Dave Kikoski – Fender Rhodes, Piano
Jim Beard – Keyboards, Organ Hammond
Adam Rogers – Guitar
Stella Brecker – Vocals
Alexander Claffy – Bass Acoustic, Bass Electric
Rodney Holmes – Drums
Cafe Da Silva – Percussion