With a program of his recent compositions, drummer Ernesto Cervini leads his Toronto quartet in a driving and dramatic modern mainstream affair.  Jazz needs balance.  With a drummer as a leader, you may think that you’re in store for an all day session of torrid arrangements and over-the-top rhythmic displays.  Not so.  Cervini’s expanded session comes with a veritable palette of ideas, from slow and sultry ballads to fast and excited romps.  
	Perhaps the reason for this diversity is that Cervini is a complete musician.  He plays other instruments, composes at the piano, and remains involved with varied enterprises.  In his earlier years, he was principal clarinetist for the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra.  At 24, with a Masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music, Cervini has the world at his feet.  Fortunately, he’s decided to walk the walk and “pay his dues” in New York in a varied assortment of enterprises.
On Here, pianist Adrean Farrugia provides Cervini with the kind of spark that he needs.  They’re like siblings.  Both piano and drums stir the pot intuitively with a cohesive attack that echoes the energy that they wish to convey.  The faster numbers, in particular, find Farrugia and Cervini connecting solidly in their drive.  They push and pull enthusiastically while synchronizing their rhythmic zeal with crisp authority.
	Saxophonist Mike Murley, who brings a wiry tone to the session, takes control of the slower ballads, which flow seamlessly.  Although his soprano carries a nasal quality to the extreme and his tenor lacks the deep resonance that most ballads require, Murley fits the quartet’s personality like a glove.  They’re unique.  Drummer Cervini and his quartet bring traditional values and fresh, new compositional and arranging ideas to the modern mainstream.
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Prodigiously talented multi-instrumentalist, Ernesto Cervini has written and arranged all of the material on this exceptional debut CD, recorded in June of last year.  He has also produced the project and surrounded himself with exquisitely skilled players.  The result is a symbiotic musical landscape that purposefully features each talented member of the quartet, which includes Mike Murley on soprano and tenor saxophones, Jon Maharaj on bass and the luminous Adrean Farrugia on piano.  Cervini – who shines on the drums – is a composer of profound complexity and emotion.  His generosity of spirit is evident throughout the CD, and the extraordinary musical communication among the quartet is clearly a case of kismetic inevitability. 
	Lyricism and complex post-bop sensibilities are apparent throughout “Here.”  One highlight is Gramps, which includes intricately constructed solos by Farrugia and Maharaj.  The tune has a visceral melancholy, and yet also moves the quartet in to areas of unbounded energy.  Another stand out is Six Seven, which features Mike Murley in a particularly eloquent and moving solo.  The title tune closes the set, swinging with optimistic voicings and displaying the more playful aspects of the ensemble, peppered with well-constructed and appropriate percussive statements by Cervini.
	Cervini is a Toronto native who currently resides in New York City and the exhilaration of living in that great metropolis has seeped into his life and his music as evidenced by his free flowing emotion and ideas.  “Here” is certainly one of the most interesting jazz recordings of 2007, and Cervini is one of our most intriguing emerging young artists.
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The tone of Here is set by the first crackling track, "Mestropholis", a driving modal tune which showcases Mike Murley (who sems to be everywhere at the moment) on soprano saxophone.  Full of energy, Ernesto Cervini pushes the entire band with razor-sharp cymbal work and light but incisive drums.

Cervini is the drummer in Tara Davicson's "Code Breaking" band, and this release is his debut album, made up of his own compositions.  Make no mistake about it, though, this is a drummer's record, not just because of the drum solos, but that everything is driven from underneath.  Cervini is partial to bass vamps, sometimes regular, sometimes not, under which he can bubble and push while moving in and out of synch with the pulse.  His energy is electrifying, but he does not overpower the proceedings, managing to be extremely tight without being loud.  

The album is built around four driving, high-energy tunes:  the aforementioned "Mestropholis", plus "Bust-Your-Butt Falls," "TGV" and "The Sneaky Two."  The latter three tracks share the features of a wicked bass vamp, hair-raising drumming and gloriously free, unfettered romps by Murley and pianist Adrean Farrugia.

"BYBF" starts with a free bass intro that eventually settles into a bass line that sounds faintly Latin (reinforced by the harmonic changes).  Farrugia slowly builds his solo as Cervini pushes, while listening closely to the soloist's phrasing.  One can almost see Murley rocking as he waits for his turn.  He also takes his time over the irresistible groove that the rhythm section has set up, until Cervini virtually explodes with a drum solo that nevertheless maintains contact with the feel of the rhythm.  What a terrific group effort.

Murley and bassist Jon Maharaj start the free intro of "TGV" with simple piano support that adds a bit of mystery, since there is no hint where this is going.  The players gradually coalesce into a vamp that hints of the previous one but in double time.  Once things get going, the feeling is that of a free top played by Murley on soprano with a drop-dead tight bass/drum pair with piano interjections.  When Farrugia answers Murley, the texture thins out and allows us to hear how closely Cervini and Maharaj are interacting.  

"The Sneaky Two" immediately follows the denouement of "TGV", and again the bass vamp sounds related to the others.  The beginning is again dfferent from the other two, with the drums almost trading fours with the band.  Farrugia is now on Fender Rhodes and the effect is positively eerie as the soundstage shifts left and right.  A tremendous groove is set up, with Cervini again right in the middle.

Just when you think Cervini is unidimensional, "February Jenny" appears.  A real ballad with a beautiful melody and interesting harmony, this track provides some much needed respite from the rhythmic deluge.

"Here" is a wonderful debut that shocases Cervini's monster chops and compositional abilities, while Murley once again shows how adaptive and supportive he can be as a sideman.
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Young drummer Cervini's debut recording as leader is mighty fine, helped by star sidemen Mike Murley on tenor and soprano saxes, Adrean Farrugia playing piano and spunky Fender Rhodes and powerful Jon Maharaj on bass. The first of nine clever and catchy compositions (Mestropholis) by Cervini, who's been heading bands in New York City, is taken at a fast clip with sharp entries by all, with groovers such as the churning TGV, Bust-Your-Butt Falls and The Sneaky Two plus the swinger Tune For Amy equally attention-getting. Cervini is propulsively active, creating textural and rhythmic tension at will, yet he dons a calm, subtly sophisticated hat for the album's three ballads. Farrugia, always focused, is rapidly cementing his growing reputation. Murley is immaculate.on both horns.
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