Victor de Diego - Amaia (2007)

"Victor de Diego is a promising saxophonist from Catalonia who is also a formidable composer who works from strictly inside the hard bop/West Coast tradition. His playing is flawless and his solos are effortlessly articulated. The problem is, whose solos are they? They seem chosen from the Stan Getz book of improvisation combined with the Sonny Rollins approach to harmonic invention. His sextet is composed of fine players, and they run through standards such as Ellington's "Take the Coltrane" and a medley of "In a Sentimental Mood/My One and Only Love," as well as Rogers & Hart's "It's Easy to Remember" and Oscar Pettiford's "Blues in the Closet" with precision, some inspiration, and an innate knowledge of the texts: where solos should go, how long they should last, and what harmonic changes should take place. And this is also the problem. This music is academic; it flows but doesn't go anywhere we haven't been a million times before. On de Diego's originals the case is similar because the tunes themselves are so fraught with trappings from the past and written so exactingly there isn't room for surprise or fire. Thoroughly uninteresting."
Thom Jurek (All Music Guide)

Víctor de Diego (ts),
Benet Palet (tp),
Albert Bover (p),
Jordi Bonell (g),
Rai Ferrer (b),
Aldo Caviglia (d)