April 2008

Joe LoCascio Trio
In the City of Lost Things
Heart Music

By Forrest Dylan Bryant

Pianist Joe LoCascio’s hypnotically engaging tunes evolve gradually, growing from soft, spiraling themes into intense cascades of emotion or delicate spider webs of melody. Along the way, the members of his trio display tremendous empathy for the material, playing in finely tuned balance. Bassist Thomas Helton bows with tortured abandon on the haunting “Sonia Braga,” while Richard Cholakian’s chunky drum rhythms come to the fore in “The Wall of Sleep.” Throughout, LoCascio’s cyclical phrases sigh and gust, the effect alternately calming and sweeping.