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CD Reviews: D-Lucca - “Cruise Control” - CD-2007 Independent

Glenn Astarita

It’s easy to discern why the bassist known as D-Lucca is a first call,
San Francisco Bay Area session ace. Now performing with keyboardist
Terry Disley of Acoustic Alchemy notoriety, the artist has supported
the late diva Rosemary Clooney and stints with various orchestras. But
this electronics-hued album defines the artist’s strong compositional
acumen to complement his solid chops and inventive e-bass frameworks.

He crosses that opaque border by churning out a blend of
hardcore jazz-fusion with melodically attractive hooks. In addition,
D-Lucca uses variable EFX techniques for texture and gusto during many
of these pieces. Not sappy or over-baked, the album is largely built on
pumping beats amid select tracks featuring Disley’s clustering electric
piano chord progressions and breezy synth lines. D-Lucca’s bass arsenal
is impressive here. And he shows a romantic side on the wistful piece
titled “Baby.” Then with “Light Year,” he goes head-to-head with lead
guitarist Lom Leber, where the musicians soar skyward via stinging
choruses and a climactic finale.

Saxophonist Daniel Zim imparts a laid-back groove on “Light at the End
of the Tunnel,” as D-Lucca consummates the festivities with a
walking-bass pattern throughout the composition titled “R U Home Yet.”
In a nutshell this album signifies an unanticipated musical highlight
for 2007. Most importantly, D-Lucca shines as a formidable composer
here. – Glenn Astarita

Additional information, visit: www.dlucca.com

www.jazzreview.com

Featured Artist: D-Lucca

CD Title: Cruise Control

Musicians:

Daniel
Lucca (4-string piccolo bass, 4-string electric bass, 5-string fretless
electric bass, 4-string acoustic electric bass, 6-string acoustic
guitar, keyboards and synths, drum programming, percussion, vocals),
Wandah C. Mitchell (vocals), Steve Moretti (drums), Terry Disley
(keyboards, synths), Lorn Leber (acoustic and electric guitars), Daniel
Zinn (soprano and tenor saxophone), Joshi Marshall (tenor saxophone),
Joe Herbert (cello), Todd Andry (piccolo bass on), and Ifoma Journee
Erhabor (vocals)

Review:

Veteran bass guitarist Daniel Lucca’s album Cruise Control is
one of the best jazz fusion albums you will ever pick up. Lucca has
fused jazz and rock so beautifully that you don’t know when one ends
and the other begins. The elements are so entwined that they beat with
one heart brandishing the regalia of Steely Dan. Lucca’s music is not
rushed, but gingerly plotted with brandy savoring grooves, azure-esque
textures beaming with laminated luster, and chords with gorgeous
definition, clarity, and warmth. His music has a fire-side/smooth jazz
rustle with ambient arcs and trestles coordinated by expert fingers.

Lucca composed and arranged all of the songs as well as bearing the
brunt of executive producer. With assistant producers Boone Spencer and
Wandah C. Mitchell and collaborator Terry Disley from Acoustic Alchemy
on keyboards and synths, Daniel Lucca’s album Cruise Control should
be earmarked by his peers as a professional level to be attained and by
music fans who are looking for music that courses through their veins
like a soothing broth on rankled nerves and uptight emotions.

The album opens with an upbeat jazz fusion dialogue stylized with
70s jazz-funk surges on the title track and “That Funky Bass,” which
exhibits smooth jazz saxophones interacting in a lively banter with the
bass. The supple tones and caressing movements on tracks like
“Everlasting” and “Erowan” project a score of meaningful melodic
phrases connecting to emotions and bearing traits similarly to Trey
Anastasio. These reflective pieces display gentle playing and
responsive exchanges in the instrumentation.

The graphic chord vibrations on tracks like “Baby” and “Light Year”
are expressive and organic relatable to a Spyro Gyra fashion. The music
for “Zen Of Zinn” is very fertile sprouting stalks of saxophone lines
and rhythmic percussive shakers producing an ambient jazz effect. The
spoken words of Mitchell and Erhabor on “Distance From Live To Love”
give the track a hip hop pulsation when they recite: “We open our eyes
to the ultimate surprise/ That we are not yet who we will someday be/
Our minds and hearts are like new and waiting for you/ To show us the
way to LOVE.”

The words and music have themes of healing and penetrating a succor
resolution. The melodies “’06” and “Light At The End Of The Tunnel” are
aurally smooth and tenderly vacillating. The smooth jazz saxophone on
“Expresso” and percolating synths are sweetly versed as they wrap
around each other and the listener in its homey cove. The lightly rosin
guitars play in harmony to the boinging synths and steady shakers. The
music chords prance gracefully on “Your Smile” as the saxophone chimes
produce rings of vivid roseates. Tracks like “Lucca’s Love” and
“Experience (Live)” move to a fire-side/lounging jazz tempo while the
final track “R. U. Home Yet” basks in country flanged guitar pluckings
and light toe tapping beats with a blues-folk texturing whistles
through the rhythmic steps.

Daniel Lucca has been in the music business since he was 19 years
old when he began recording with such artists as Matt Catingua,
Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, The Big Kahuna And The Copa Cat
Pack, Maureen McGovern, Debbie Boone, Tony Tennille, Peter Erskine and
many others. He obviously picked up a few things about making exquisite
melodies because he does them with the precision of the fingers of a
Waterford Crystal’s craftsman. The chord progressions are so finely
quilted that you never see the seams. All the elements work together
without a note out of place.

Artist's Website: http://www.dlucca.com

Listen or Buy: www.amazon.com/Cruise-Control-D-Lucca/dp/B000ESSVD6/ref=sr_1_2/102-6935947-85185

Reviewed by:

Susan Frances

D-Lucca Street Journal
November 2007

A Great Big Thank You,
goes out to all of you who
went out of their way to
come to D-Lucca’s CD
release party, @ the Orinda
House, friday Nov 2nd.
It was a huge success. We
couldn’t have done it with-
out you all...Not only did
we enjoy ourselves, but
your support and cheers
made the Orinda house
so happy, they imediately
asked us back... TY

November Shows
Friday 9th - 8 - 12pm
Terry Disley Experience
Shanghai 1930
San Francisco, CA
www.shanghai1930.com

Thursday 15th - 7-10pm
Thursday 29th - 7-10pm
Joshi Marshall Trio
Enrico’s @ North Beach
San Francisco, CA

Wednesday 21st
JuSusan
Soft Sound Music
Details TBA

www.myspace.com/dlucca

D-Lucca’s
Newest Release
“The Next Level”
Available @
cdbaby.com
Apple I-Tunes

D-Lucca’s newest release “The Next Level” is now available @ Apple I-Tunes.

Get Ready!!!
D-Lucca will be coming to you again live this fall.
Stay Tuned for concert dates & locations. You dont want to miss what is coming!!!

September Shows

14th
Shanghai 1930
Terry Disley Experience
8-12 PM
www.shanghai1930.com

21st
Shanghai 1930
Sonya Jason
8-12PM
www.shanghai1930.com

22nd
Miramar Beach Restaurant
Terry Disley Trio
5-9PM
www.miramarbeachrestaurant.com

We have one
more surprise...
Experience
Christmas This
year with D-Lucca
and his
upcoming release,
"Have Yourself A
Fretless Little
Christmas."
Contact us To Pre-order.
Only Limited Quantities
Will Be Available.

www.myspace.com/dlucca