The Lockdown Sessions
106 Ontario Collective
Modica Music (modicamusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-lockdown-sessions)
Roberto Occhipinti is truly a jack of all trades, staunchly eschewing the “master of none” trap that can accompany that descriptor. He is a multi-genre bassist, a contractor of bands and orchestras, a music educator, and someone who’s occupied most roles in countless recording studios. Occhipinti’s latest offering The Lockdown Sessions features its leader not only performing the double-bass parts but producing and mixing the record as well.
It’s essentially three albums in one, featuring two trios and a quartet. Maybe 2.5, as the final product comes out to 13 tracks. This is too much music to describe track by track in a short review, but each group has a distinct sound that gives a great context through which to discuss the album.
The quartet portion of The Lockdown Sessions features guitarist Lorne Lofsky and pianist Adrean Farrugia, with Occhipinti and drummer Terry Clarke rounding out the rhythm section. They play contemporary arrangements of four jazz standards, with a synchronized yet exploratory approach. Lofsky’s stellar 2021 release The Song is New is also on Modica Music, and to me, his playing on The Lockdown Sessions is more probing and “live” than the shorter studio arrangements heard prior.
The rest of the album is piano trio, featuring Ewen Farncombe on the next four pieces with drummer Davide Corazza, and Farrugia returning for the final five with Ernesto Cervini on drums. Listeners get to hear three different drummers approach this repertoire, but it’s a testament to the album’s leader that all three groups coexist organically.
