J.A. Granelli and Mr. Lucky

An up tempo rough and tumble swinger is the ordre-du-jour for the first cut of a CD. But Mr. Lucky opens Gigantic with a ballad called "Merle.” It’s a beautiful tune, the kind of slow dancer that you might want to end up an evening with, your darlin’ in your arms in a back road sugar shack. This simple touch of programming audacity signifies the band relies on musicality, not flash. The instrumentation is the classic rhythm & blues quartet with a bit of American traditional country & western feel thrown in: slide guitar (David Tronzo), B3 organ (Jamie Saft), drums (Diego Voglino), compositions and bass (Granelli). "Happy Pt. 1” is the next tune up and it’s a rocker. One of the nice things about jazz players is the aplomb with which they handle these simpler forms of music. Both Saft and Granelli are adept in combining freedom with the basic grooves. This is most apparent during Granelli’s arco solo on the title cut. He makes his piccolo bass sound like the deep end of a violin or cello. It heightens the emotional feeling and makes this reviewer want to hear the band live.