Cadence Magazine
Oct - Nov - Dec 2009
David Dupont

Swiss trombonist Sam Blaser (1) opens his solo recital with a summation of the state of his craft. "La Vache" starts with a fanfare figure that spans more than an octave, and after a few minutes of elaborating on that he moves to a multiphonic episode that shifts into a determined rhythmic conclusion, colored with half-valved effects and snappily executed figures. Blaser knows his horn, and over the course of Solo Bone he amply demonstrates this mastery. Unlike most solo trombone projects that pass my way, Blaser keeps his work grounded in the Jazz and Classical mainstreams. He propels
his performances with pedal point punctuations. Only on the opening two minutes of the closing "Finally Alone" does he offer some free-form exploration. It´s a tasty two minutes in which—using his F-valve—he emulates the sound of rubbing a turntable. But then he´s just as tasty on the one cover, "Mood Indigo," on which he employs multiphonics and a plunger mute to evoke Duke´s eerie three-part voicing of the theme. Along the way he bops and sings the Blues and laments and rocks out on the closer. While his technical mastery and sense of musical structure are never in doubt, what I found myself missing is a sense of a distinctive voice. Still there´s no denying this is an impressive display of trombone playing.