Although by no means a household name, Italian saxophonist Bon nonetheless has some serious credits, having already worked with the likes of John Tchicai, Uri Caine and Tiziano Tononi, to name but a few. Of equal interest is the fact that Bon was once a bass guitarist who played reggae, rock, and funk, which, to a certain extent, explains why he would have one of the great contemporary exponents of the instrument as his special guest. Jamaaladeen Tacuma does indeed make his presence felt in no uncertain terms and his customarily stinging, hypnotic bass lines provide an object lesson in how to wring maximum feeling from sometimes minimal figures. From the outset, this proves a thrash happy, slightly Zorn-stamped session where the sheer strength of attack from all members of the ensemble, particularly the twin engine assault of the drummers, is more than sufficient to rouse any willing soul from slumber. Inclined to boiling overtones and high register shrieks that dovetail effectively with the rumbling rhythmic assault around him, Bon is a very able leader, yet for all the richness of the twisted groovology, which, inevitably, given Tacuma's presence, has just a touch of Prime Time, the wholly improvised set gets bogged down around the halfway mark. The repeated riffing is simply overdone in places, some of the tracks lack sufficiently marked light and shade, and are missing the tonal range of the storming opener ‘DFW/Calypso De Pelo’ where Bon's switch from alto to baritone produces a brilliant escalation of tension against the wiry mangle of the bass and drums. Essentially, Musica Acustica feels like a work in progress and it will be interesting to see what happens if Bon's band of gypsies returns to the studio, perhaps with an extended tour or two under its belt.