Enrico Rava - On The Dance Floor (2012)

Enrico Rava - On The Dance Floor (ECM, 2012)

Personnel:
Enrico Rava: trumpet
Andrea Tofanelli: trumpet, flugelhorn
Claudio Corvini: trumpet, flugelhorn
Mauro Ottolini: trombone, tuba
Daniele Tittarelli: alto saxophone, flute
Dan Kinzelman: tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Franz Bazzani: keyboard
Giovanni Guidi: piano, Fender Rhodes, toy piano
Dario Deidda: bass
Marcello Giannini: electric guitar
Zeno de Rossi: drums
Ernesto Lopez Maturell: percussion

Tracklisting:
01 - Speechless
02 - They Don't Care About Us
03 - Thriller
04 - Privacy
05 - Smile
06 - I Just Can't Stop Loving You / Smooth Criminal
07 - Little Susie
08 - Blood On The Dance Floor
09 - History

It was only after Michael Jackson’s death that Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava gradually became aware that he had for many years been ignoring, in his words, “one of the great protagonists of 20th century music and dance. A total artist. A perfectionist. A genius. I felt the need to delve more deeply into Michael’s world. There was only one way to do that: play his songs.” Thus this live album, recorded at the Rome Auditorium with the Parco della Musica Jazz Lab. Enrico’s trumpet is at its most extroverted here, vaulting above the spirited arrangements by Mauro Ottolini. Michael Jackson’s protean pop songs have never been heard quite like this. Rava is currently playing European festivals with this programme.[ECM]

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL! You are a genius!

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Franco D'Andrea - Traditions and Clusters (2012)

Franco D'Andrea - Traditions and Clusters (El Gallo Rojo, 2012)

Personnel:
Franco D’Andrea: piano
Daniele D’Agaro: clarinet
Mauro Ottolini: trombone
Andrea Ayassot: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Aldo Mella: double bass
Zeno De Rossi: drums
Han Bennink: snare drum

Tracklisting:
CD1:
01 - I’ve Found A New BabyTurkish Mambo
02 - Strawberries
03 - Clusters N.1
04 - Monodic
05 - Clusters N.2
06 - Half Of The Fun
07 - Clusters N. 3
08 - Caravan

CD2:
01 - March
02 - Vis Libera
03 - A4 + M2
04 - Turkish Mambo
05 - Half The Fun
06 - M3/Caravan
07 - Into the Mystery
08 - Old Time Blues

It is a satisfying musical experience when a performance can deliver traditional jazz without the music being reduced to orthodoxy. Such is the resonance of Franco D'Andrea's sound.

The seventy-something Italian pianist follows Soprais (El Gallo Rojo, 2011), with his long-established quartet, by adding the early jazz instruments of clarinet and trombone, played respectively by Daniele D'Argaro and Mauro Ottolini. On the live Traditions And Clusters he also invites his contemporary , drummer Han Bennink, to sit in on two tracks.

With Bennink in the house, the music skates, skips, and glides between what was once the new thing (circa 1920) to the new thing, without becoming estranged. The opener, clocking in at 24 minutes boils "I've Found A New Baby" (made famous by Benny Goodman's Orchestra) before segueing into Lennie Tristano's "Turkish Mambo," and then George Gershwin's "Strawberries." Decorated by clarinet and trombone, the conventional gets a kick in the backside. Same for Duke Ellington's standard "Caravan," that is referred to as context, but not as a limiter on D'Andrea's examinations.

These are not neocons faithfully reproducing a bygone era, but prospectors mining the past for modern innovation. D'Andrea, like Thelonious Monk before him, begins in the jazz tradition, but twists the sound to make it his own. The Clusters referred to in the title are group improvisations by his quartet that are takeoffs on D'Andrea originals or a song penned by Billy Strayhorn. Drummer Zeno De Rossi (perhaps the modern heir to the Bennink sound) replaces Bennink and saxophonist Andrea Ayassot and bassist Aldo Mella remain a stable improvising component to D'Andrea's quartet.

The second disc finds the D'Andrea Quartet expanded to a sextet with D'Agaro and Ottolini. The band once again mines Ellington Strayhorn, and Tristano, as well as touches of Chick Corea and Misha Mengelberg. The delicate dance, push and pull between traditional jazz and the abstraction of free music get a crowd-pleasing workout here.[allaboutjazz]

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Mickey Finn + Cuong Vu - Gagarin! (2009)

Mickey Finn + Cuong Vu - Gagarin! (2009)

Personnel:
Coung Vu: trumpet, fx
Enrico Terragnoli: guitars, podophono
Giorhio Pacorig: rhodes, piano
Danilo Gallo: acoustic bass guitar, 12strings bass, doublebass
Zeno De Rossi: drums, percussion

featuring Carla Bozulich vocals on #7

Tracklisting:
01. The Lady Is a Trans (Danilo Gallo)
02. Again, Again (Cuong Vu)
03. Serpente (Enrico Terragnoli)
04. I Met Einstein In A Dream (Zeno De Rossi)
05. Land Mine (Giorgio Pacorig)
06. Gian Maria Volonte' (Zeno De Rossi)
07. I Can't Feel It Anymore (De Rossi / Bozulich)
08. Jean Gabin (Zeno De Rossi)
09. ... And Again (Cuong Vu)
10. Amy (Danilo Gallo)

A truly remarkable quintet, Mickey Finn, embellished by Cuong Vu's trumpet: electric sounds - echoes of Miles Davis in the Seventies and English rock, posterities from Chicago and some funk - spreading in dreamlike and restless landscapes, haunted by low-fi ghosts.
Excellent performance by Giorgio Pacorig on keyboards and Enrico Terragnoli on guitar, backed by a sulphurous Danilo Gallo on bass and by Zeno De Rossi on drums, while Cuong Vu, as usual, paints his poignant and lysergic lines.
One of the songs also features of Carla Bozulich's intense voice. The album pays tribute to Soviet aviator and cosmonaut Jurij Alekseevič Gagarin, the first man in space.
[el gallo rojo]

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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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