Camera Lucida by David Occhipinti
If cool jazz as a reconfiguration of classical chamber music aesthetics, Canadian guitarist David Occhipinti has brought the two genres together at a most angular crossroads on Camera Lucida. It's a minimalist intersection with Occhipinti's strings joined by vibraphone, marimba, contrabass and violin. Clarinets, bassoon and piccolo also make guest appearances amid the traffic flowing among eight compositions that move haltingly at times, but with determination in a suite-like sweep.
Though unlisted in the credits, at least one composition leads off with what sounds like a wafting of radio static. Occhipinti seems to apply the slightest bit of distortion to his axe—which he uses sparingly in favor of showcasing his talent as an arranger and composer—toward the album's end and reaches for his most poignant notes in proceeding otherwise largely defined by cerebral stoicism. In the growing space where jazz and compositionally rigorous art music meets, Occhipinti's Canera makes a heady, appeal berth.
