Brave enough to set himself the by no means easy task of performing the music of Steve Lacy, one of the most singular personalities among improvisers, Italian soprano saxophonist Ottaviano also has the ability to produce very good results. The idea of assigning one session of this 2CD set to a quartet and the other a duo was wise given the wealth of great music that Lacy produced in those two formats, and the choice of accompanists on both scores pays creative dividends. Indeed the sax-trombone-drums-bass ensemble that Lacy led in the 1960s was one of his greatest bands and that configuration, with the mighty Glenn Ferris supplying the brass, positively crackles with energy as it negotiates Lacy originals in all their playful, whimsical gyrations without undermining the gravitas of some of the themes. As a member of Henri Texier's small groups for many years, Ferris has great experience of this distilled but potent setting in which the trombone effectively anchors the bottom end, as bassist Giovanni Maier strums out flighty Indian drones à la Haden. Fattening up or slimming down the ensemble sound within the space of a few beats, the band proves adept at capturing the structural verve as well as the quite boyish zest of Lacy's work. For the second set Ottaviano is joined by the British pianist Alexander Hawkins, who moves impressively along the wide technical and emotional gamut of Lacy's aesthetic. The contrast between the extravert and explosive motifs of ‘Angels, Friends, Neighbours’, where Hawkins' low register flurries are delicious, and the deeply sensitive chordal blanket he lays down on ‘The Seagulls Of Kristiansund’ (by Lacy soulmate Mal Waldron), is excellent. While Ottaviano has vividly captured something of the spirit of the individual to whom he pays tribute he also asserts his own character in no uncertain terms and the two original pieces that bookend each album are testimony to that. An impressive reading of a difficult subject.