Continued from previous page Jim Dulzo, January 26, 2000

Unlike so many of today's working bands that rely on some mysterious gig-to-gig mix-and-match process, this quartet is really a band, amazingly tight and perhaps just a bit telepathic. Larry brings a wealth of wisdom to the stage. I first heard him at an Ann Arbor nightclub back in the early 1970s, when he was the bright, mellifluous lead voice of Mixed Bag, a sextet that was deep into bebop and Latin music. What was most impressive was that beautiful, bright tone of his, which he spun into such dazzlingly complex, melodic patterns. Given those tumultuous times, his approach was almost a throwback, one that celebrated beauty rather than rebellion, very much in the tradition of some of his biggest influences--Stan Getz, Art Pepper, Paul Desmond, Charlie Parker--who so defined the sound of jazz of the 1940s and '50s. Au courant or not, it won him an immediate and large audience that over the intervening years has grown ever more large and loyal. These days the boyish good looks have mellowed into a face that tells you it's done some serious living. The playing has changed, too. There are fewer notes now, and they're not so hell-bent on breaking the sound barrier. Make no mistake--Larry Nozero's alto saxophone lines still boil and bubble out of his horn full of rich twists and turns that speak of, and directly from, the heart. But he's pared his playing down to its emotional essentials. The tone is a little huskier; the stories he tells are more clear and heartfelt and memorable -- tempered by years of working hard and, it must be said, by a mature ego that is completely disinterested in trying to prove anything to anybody.

There's a calm now--that inner peace he admits to--that not only engulfs the well- ordered cubbyhole of home office and studio where he practices and teaches and writes all day, but also radiates from the bandstand when his quartet comes to play. Ultimately, it reflects the joy of the spiritual renewal implicit in offering his best and most honest musical feelings to his fellow humans. Many of Nozero's fans gathered at Hart Plaza during the Ford Montreux- Detroit Jazz Festivals of 1997 and 1999 to hear all of that joy in a splendid, world-class setting. No surprises there or then: on both occasions, the audience caught one of the most polished and heartfelt sets of the entire weekend. It's what you might expect from a perfectionist leading a band that has played together so constantly and so well for such a long time. And it's definitely what you will hear every time you give this disk a spin.       

        ---Jim Dulzo, January 26, 2000