DEDALUS

Ever imagine a universe where Icarus didn't fly too close to the sun? Well, obviously he would have gone on to form a wonderful little jazz band named after his beloved father, Daedalus. Somewhere along the way he forgot the 'a' in his name, most likely due to the one too many ouzos he'd downed the night before in the name of celebration.

Anyhow, this little obscure gem of a group comes from the wonderful country of Italy. They released their first album in 1973, and was the only one to feature their complete original quartet, as their bassist Furio Di Castri departed after this was released. The album, self-titled Dedalus, is a cool combination of the free-jazz style of Chick Corea and the slightly avant- garde nature of Mahavishnu Orchestra, if I were to put juxtapose it with it's bedfellows. Much of the album is surprisingly spacey, but in the kind of way that cool jazz can just be so....'out there' at times. The best of examples of this being the two epics 'C.T. 6' and 'Santiago' (the latter being the superior in my opinion).

A glaring problem that becomes rather annoying after a few listens through is the incessant noodling that goes on (generally) towards the latter half of the song. It's not the worst avant-garde elements they could have mixed in but it does tend to ruin the atmosphere they so easily crafted. If I were to compare it to something I would say pre-Kraftwerk Organisation's Tone Float from 1969, which I shiver when thinking of associating it with anything particularly tasteful. This is the main reason why 'Leda' is my favorite track; it's devoid of any of the aforementioned. Yet, it also has a tranquility provided mainly in part by that classic floaty synthesizer (the guitar and drums are some of the best as well). That is not enough for me to hate the album though in any case, because the music still remains extremely pleasant for the majority of it's duration.

Criminally unknown and underrated, I want to the best of my ability to spread the world of this little-known album. Hell, it's got me hooked for the remaining material of the band, so why don't you get in on it as well? 4.5/5 rounded to 5/5.