ADAM UNSWORTH, EXCERPT THIS!

When an instrument we usually meet in the background is featured as a leading voice, it gives us sufficient motive to check out an album. That¹s what happens with "Excerpt This" by Adam Unsworth. Unsworth plays French horn, an instrument rarely in the limelight (with the exceptions of artists like Mark Taylor, Tom Varner and Vincent Chancey). This motive is enhanced by two additional reasons.

The first is that Unsworth is mainly a classical music player ("Excerpt This" is his debut in jazz), and the second one is the unconventional front line made up by French horn, violin and bass clarinet/flute, plus a rhythm section led by vibes. This constitutes a rather odd and very interesting ensemble. All these would certainly not be enough to keep us focused on the album. But, beyond Unsworth's unquestionable technical skills there was also a chemistry between the group members and the remarkable compositions. Except for the opening and the closing track, the other compositions are in low tones. They are shared between those that have been written for solo French horn and those written for the ensemble in its full setting. The solo tracks emphasize the discipline, the concentration and the wealth of Unsworth's ideas, while in the remaining tracks there is a balance between the instruments' rolesand nice soloing by Diane Monroe¹s violin, Les Thimmig's bass clarinet and flute and Tony Miceli¹s vibes.

Vangelis Aragiannis, Jazz&Tzaz magazine