“Nothing prepared me, not the typical introspective looking face on the album cover or the standard packaging, for the joy that would reside in the music. Take the best part of every tenor sax player you ever knew and put them into the voice of an alto, and you may begin to understand without hearing. Hearing is everything, though. I must reiterate that is not, in my opinion, alto sax voicing. It doesn’t have that shrill, tinny sound of Cannonball and Bird. It doesn’t have that smooth, pure sound of Paul Desmond. No, Rosario blows that earthy tenor sound through his horn. I’m looking at the back of the CD and trying to surmise whether the instrument isn’t somewhere inbetween the alto and tenor size. But why am I delving on symantics? The music is everything, and there’s so much joy on this disc, so much celebratory rhythm and harmony, all in a standard sax quartet. Even the quiet parts get moving, too. Giuliani turns on and off every influence like tapwater, with separate hot and cold faucets, like the old days. He turns on Coltrane, flurries forth a few thousand perfect notes in one second, then switches over to Rollins for some depth of sound and strange rhythms. Then he hits Shorter, Henderson, even Joel Frahm. I’m listening, and I seem to be hearing it all, and then more comes. It is astounding stuff to listen to. Here comes Johnny Griffin and hank Mobley. All through a little alto. Then, right in the middle of it all – a cover of Ornette’s ‘The Blessing’ with all the stops and whistles – a perfect rendition. The music keeps building, until I think I cannot take it anymore. There is so much to hear on this disc that it needs to be spun three or four times just to begin. So, what are you waiting for? Begin!”
Fred Barret, Rosario Giuliani: Mr. Dodo, Beyond Coltrane, 2002
