SLAM!, Through the Coin
Full Digital Studio of San Mattedo Della Decima, 2010
Luca De Marchi ? trumpet; Matteo Sgarzi ? bass, doublebass; Silvio Peroni – keyboards, soprano saxophone; Andrea Zucchelli ? drums
Vibrantly Innovative Stew in a Purist Pot
?How great musicians demonstrate a mutual respect and trust on the bandstand can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life, understanding what it means to be a global citizen in the most modern sense.?
Wynton Marsalis
What if Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and John and Alice Coltrane were revived long enough to make one album of original material? I for one would imagine something like Through the Coin. And the fact of this phenomenal group being Italian is just one more bit of evidence of jazz’s longstanding status as a truly international genre.
This is some of the best cool jazz I’ve heard in years. The rare aural secrets divulged in the horn solos are absolutely yummy, and the bass lines and drum rhythms are at times jarringly original and at other times elegantly 
inconspicuous. There is that beautiful symbiosis among these musicians that we saw among the masters, a give and take in itself worthy of contemplation.
SLAM! is based in Bologna and comprises a group of superlative musicians who met at university. Formerly the Alma Jazz Legacy Quintet, the group went through several personnel changes before the present incarnation, SLAM!, put out Through the Coin as their debut album.
There are healthy dollops of funk and hard bop in here that add some extra fun and sex appeal, and the recording quality is fabulous.
Through the Coin manifests four of The Mindful Bard’s criteria for music well worth a listen: 1) it is authentic, original, and delightful; 2) it makes me want to be a better artist; 3) it provides respite from a sick and cruel world, a respite enabling me to renew myself for a return to mindful artistic endeavour; and 4) it stimulates my mind.
