Zeno de Rossi Shtik - Me'or 'Einayim (2007)

Zeno de Rossi Shtik - Me'or 'Einayim (2007)

Personnel:

Zeno De Rossi: drums
Francesco Bigoni: tenor sax (2-3-5-7-8-9)
Piero Bittolo Bon: alto sax (2-4)
Danilo Gallo: bass (1-2-4-5-8-9-10-11)
J Kyle Gregory: trumpet (2-3-5-7-8-9)
Danilele D'Aagaro: clarinet (6), tenor sax (11)
Eenrico Terragnoli: guitar (2-5-7-9-11)
Pasquale Mirrapasquale Mirra: vibes (2-5-8-9)
Alfonso Santimone: piano (1-2-3-5-6-7-8-9-10)
Stefano Senni: bass (3-4-6-7)
Alessanro "Asso" Stefana: national steel guitar (7)
Achille Succi: bass clarinet (1-3-6), alto sax (4)
Nicola Fazzini: alto sax (2-3-7-8-9)
Giorgio Pacorig: piano (11)

Tracklisting:

01 - Unused Theme From 'C'era Una Volta In America' (Ennio Morricone)
02 - Tradition (Harnick / Bock)
03 - Chavalah (Harnick / Bock)
04 - I Heard It Over The Radio (Ornette Coleman)
05 - My Yiddishe Momme (Yellen / Pollack)
06 - Little Lees (Louise) (Cecil Taylor)
07 - Sabbath Prayer (Harnick / Bock)
08 - Hava Nagila (Come Let's Be Happy) (Traditional)
09 - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Jacobs / Secunda)
10 - I'll Always Be Yours (Mir Zol Zain Fai Dir) (Rumshinsky / Picon)
11 - My Heart Belongs To Daddy (Cole Porter)

Me'or 'Einayim is a precious collection of songs coming from the heart of contemporary Jewish culture. It is the clear definition of a common ground, skipping through time and space yet maintaining a sense ofshining, desperate vitality: from the themes of Fiddler on the roof to “Jewish standards” re-discovered and re-invented in a hard bop or latin perspective by Shelly Manne or Irving Fields. With the wholly coherent addition of some “minor” yet wondrous masterpieces by Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman.

Me'or 'Einayim is a voyage of “knowledge” and “re-knowledge”: learning and gratitude. For this occasion, Zeno de Rossi has put together “Shtik”, a terrific collective made up of some of Italy's contemporary jazz scene most inspiring improvisers. A perfect ensemble, in which everybody finds the space to express his own poetic voice and creativity. [by Giorgio Signoretti]

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Zeno de Rossi Sultry - Plunge (2006)

Zeno de Rossi Sultry - Plunge (2006)

Personnel:
Zeno De Rossi: drums and percussion
Chris Speed: tenor sax and clarinet
Stefano Senni: bass
Featuring:
Anthony Coleman: hammond A-100 organ, wurlitzer, fender rhodes and vox organ
Enrico Terragnoli: guitar

Tracklisting:
01 - Plunge (Chris Speed)
02 - Tina (Zeno De Rossi)
03 - The Daniel Quinn Theme (Zeno De Rossi)
04 - Audio Bongo (Monty Norman)
05 - Zakaz (Zeno De Rossi)
06 - Freezy (Chris Speed)
07 - Fujiyama (Dave Brubeck)
08 - Petunia (Zeno De Rossi)
09 - Singer (Zeno De Rossi)
10 - Ida Y Vuelta (Stefano Senni)
11 - Abracadabra (Zeno De Rossi)
12 - Cristo Redentor (Duke Pearson)

Instantaneous references to creative intuitions above a solid floor of composition. An exchange of suggestions between Europe and New York, branded by an authentic creative necessity and the need to redistribute the weights of the various languages within, and collateral to, jazz.

A 'perfect' trio, which turns around the urban colours of Chris Speed's reeds, Stefano Senni's bass and Zeno De Rossi's percussion, it moves with total lucidity between original compositions and re-readings of hidden treasures by Dave Brubeck and Duke Pearson. Embellishing the textures are Anthony Coleman's keyboards (Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos, John Zorn) and the guitars of Enrico Terragnoli. [by Giorgio Signoretti]

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Soft Mountain - Soft Mountain (2007)

Soft Mountain - Soft Mountain (2007)

Personnel:
Hugh Hopper - bass
Yoshida Tatsuya - drums
Hoppy Kamiyama - keyboards
Elton Dean - saxophone

Tracklisting:
01 - Soft Mountain Suite Pt. 1 (30:40)
02 - Soft Mountain Suite Pt. 2 (27:55)

As the both the name and title of this release indicate, Soft Mountain were intimately connected with Soft Machine, albeit long after the latter group had dissolved in the '70s. In August 2003, ex-Soft Machiners Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper teamed up with two Japanese musicians, keyboardist Hoppy Kamiyama and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, to record the hour of improvised fusion that comprises this album. And it certainly is improvisation; there's just one "song" here, "Soft Mountain Suite," divided into two parts of roughly half-an-hour length each. Though improvised in the studio, the music itself won't be too surprising to longtime Soft Machine followers, being energetic, instrumental jazz-rock fusion that's more jazz than rock, blending a frenetic rhythm section with free jazz sax and electric keyboard textures. Things do get especially wild halfway through the second part of the suite, with some careening electronic effects (presumably created by the keyboardist) and wild blowing by Dean, who died just a couple years or so after this session. It's more an extension of what Soft Machine were known for than a radical departure, though as Hopper notes in his brief liner note, he and Dean welcomed the chance to be spontaneous as the group they were touring Japan with at the time (Soft Works) played a set that didn't vary much from gig to gig.
[allmusic.com]

Recorded 10th August 2003 in Tokyo, Japan.

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Gnu - Suro (2003)

Gnu - Suro (2003)

1. Peacemaker
2. Human Oil
3. Boneless Part 1
4. Boneless Part 2
5. Round 2
6. Eonta
7. Meteora

---

All music by Masahiko Okura

Gnu
Masahiko Okura: alto sax, bass clarinet, bass tube, electronics
Shin-ichi Tsukamoto: electric piano, organ
Yukiya Taneishi: electric bass
Tadashi Kumada: drums
Itoken: drums

with Takumi Itoh: tenor sax (on track 5)

Recorded by Ken and a/sk at Laser Boy
Additional material recorded by Itoucha at Tanker and Mechanics Studio
Edited and mixed by Itoucha and Masahiko Okura at Tanker
Mastered by Keiichi Sugimoto
Design by Keiichi Sugimoto

Released in October 2003

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Please share if you have "Gnuman" and "Midnight Breakfast"!

Tulululus - Thankful to Goethe (2000)

Tulululus - Thankful to Goethe (2000)

Tracklisting:
01 - Virgin Blues (14:24)
02 - Komatsu To Watashi No Ambient (14:11)
03 - African Sauna (07:00)

Another great release from Comma Records.

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The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide - Shinjuku Crawl (2009)

The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide - Shinjuku Crawl (2009)

Mats Gustafsson - Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor), Producer
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Bass
Paal Nilssen-Love - Drums
Otomo Yoshihide - Guitar

Tracklisting:

01 - shinjuku crawl, first attempt
02 - shinjuku crawl, second attempt
03 - shinjuku crawl, third attempt
04 - uramado (thank you mr. fukuoka)
05 - dori dugout, part 1
06 - dori dugout, part 2

smalltown superjazz, 2009

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Ben and Frank Perowsky with Sam Yahel - Bop On Pop (2002)

Ben and Frank Perowsky with Sam Yahel - Bop On Pop (2002)

Personnel:
Ben Perowsky: drums
Frank Perowsky: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Sam Yahel: organ .

Tracklisting:
1. Vierd Blues (5:26)
2. The Jitterbug Waltz (6:56)
3. Quicksilver (5:44)
4. All of You (6:45)
5. My Foolish Heart (5:26)
6. Star Eyes (6:44)
7. Confirmation (4:59)
8. Donna Lee (3:38)
9. Four (4:52)

Bop On Pop is a trio session that explores the bebop and hard bop roots of jazz from the ‘40s and ‘50s. The disc features Ben Perowsky on drums; Frank Perowsky, his father, on tenor saxophone and clarinet; and Sam Yahel on organ. The chosen songs are mainly standards associated with a few of the "founding fathers": Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Horace Silver - as well as a grateful nod to "pre-bopper" Fats Waller. The trio performed most of these songs during a gig last month at the Cornelia Street Café, where pianist Kevin Hays was a last-minute replacement for Yahel.

The disc opens with Davis' "Vierd Blues," which begins with Frank Perowsky stating the theme alone on sax as Yahel and Ben Perowsky fall in behind him. Ben keeps a solid, steady, cymbal-dominant groove going throughout. After they run through the theme twice more, Frank launches into a languid, bluesy solo, initially spare but increasingly more inventive as he warms to the task, after which the notes and ideas come out in spurts and brief flurries. Yahel ably complements the sax solo, then takes a slick turn of his own as Ben maintains a solid, cymbal-laden groove.

Frank switches to clarinet for Fats Waller's "The Jitterbug Waltz." His swinging solo after the opening theme is exploratory and deft. Yahel shadows the clarinet during the statement of the theme, percolates beneath Frank's solo, then takes his own sparkling turn at the helm before they take the song out. The song is a patient brew, building to a quiet intensity.

After Ben leads in on the drums, Frank and Yahel share some spirited byplay on the head of Horace Silver's burner "Quicksilver," racing along like neck-and-neck sprinters. Frank and Yahel take solos, then trade fours before restating the theme. The intro to "All Of You" is slow almost to the point of being melancholy, but it's quickly upgraded to its standard midtempo pace. The drummer begins with brushes but then switches to sticks as the groove expands, deepens and picks up. On the ballad "My Foolish Heart" the interplay among the trio is pitch-perfect.

Standouts on the disc include the fine arrangement of "Star Eyes," a song made popular by Charlie Parker; and "Donna Lee," written by Miles Davis and recorded by Bird when Miles was part of his band. Yahel lays out on this tune while the Perowskys - with pére on the clarinet - happily race through it. The disc ends with another father-son duet on another Davis composition, "Four," where Frank goes back to tenor sax.

Frank Perowsky plays both the tenor sax and clarinet with great fluency and confidence, sometimes approaching songs from unexpected angles and perspectives. Ben Perowsky is solid on drums, and Yahel brings out all of the colors in the organ, turning his left hand into a fourth member of the band by providing a consistent bass line. Bop On Pop is a well-executed tribute to the musicians who laid the cornerstones of the foundation of jazz today.

This review originally appeared in All About Jazz-New York June 2003.

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