Daniele D’Agaro Adriatics Orchestra | Comeglians | El Gallo Rojo Records

Free clashes of the “Furlania” (lands of Friuli) in that of the comelican valley, recorded during the small jazz festival organized by D’Agaro in August 2006. Gluttony allegiance towards its own free jazz background, as if it were the first time. There are tasty Ellingtonian echoes in the growl of the arrangements, played by a luxurious orchestra, led by the creative drums of the ever-great Han Bennink. — Giovanni Natoli Continue reading

Mickey Finn | Dudek! | El Gallo Rojo Records

Music in its purest state. Improvisation intended as a method of instant collective composition. Sonorous symbols which are as bare and essential as Zen aphorisms are dropped onto hypnotic and feverish pulsations. Gashes of a new psychedelia, with a visual valence that is cinematographic. Dilutions of sound meet with a killer instinct for proportions and colours. Displacements in real time, guided only by sparse but very distinct micro-thematic reference points. Enrico Terragnoli’s guitar is a box of sounds with unlimited secret compartments. Giorgio Pacorig’s Rhodes distances itself from the limits of its own tradition. Danilo Gallo’s bass meanders darkly around the gut and Zeno De Rossi’s drumming here is absolutely unbeatable. — Giorgio Signoretti Continue reading

Franco D’Andrea Quartet | Sorapis | El Gallo Rojo Records

Newly awarded as European jazz musician of the year from the Franch Jazz Academy, Franco D’Andrea carries on his fellowship with El Gallo Rojo with this second work. He surprises us giving up to that live dimension that he and his quartet accustomed us to: Sorapis is a studio recording. The listeners may be reassured: the freshness of their approach and the intensity of their performance are untouched. The stretched gait of the stream of consciousness that connects, often as medleys, original compositions and tunes coming from the jazz tradition is also intact. The more concise forms and the clearness of the sonic layers give us the meaning of the passage under the magnifying lens of the recording studio: D’Andrea is once again a poet of the synthesis. — Francesco Bigoni Continue reading

Achille Succi & Salvatore Maiore | Pequenas Flores do Inferno | El Gallo Rojo Records

Succi is always a melodic player and hence even his free improvisations contain motivic phrases that help create a structure. Indeed, the strength of the music lies in the structure that supports these twelve striking miniatures. […] Fabulous music that will entrance for every single second of its forty-four minutes. — Budd Kopman, All About Jazz – 6.5.2007 Continue reading

Standhard3io & Silvia Donati | Cocktail Saturno | El Gallo Rojo Records

A new and subversive drink against the summer that makes inexorable and hot….. You, drink Cocktail Saturno! Raise the glasses! Toast! The blue color and intense flavor will take you into a cosmic and interstellar travel to enjoy very close the galaxy of a changing and amending flavour, like a chameleon. A standard trio (right and duty quote) + voice that accompanies you in the jazz universe, without the fear of displacement, to and caress the ears (and heart) of the listener to often engaging sounds, sometimes hard (think a certain punk idea), which tend to open and be admired. To listen in several hours of the day … Martino Fedrigoli Continue reading

Zeno de Rossi Shtik | The Manne I Love! Vol.1 & 2 | El Gallo Rojo Records

De Rossi’s take on Manne is reminiscent of John Zorn’s tribute to Ennio Morricone on The Big Gundown (Nonesuch, 1986), where the Downtown saxophonist/composer combined various musicians to salute the spirit of the noted film composer. Like Zorn, De Rossi chooses not to adhere to strict covers remakes, employing Daniele D’Agaro and Francesco Bigoni, on his cover of Sonny Rollins’ trio session, Way Out West (OJC, 1957), as a two-tenor saxophone conversation, under which he applies his deft beats. Throughout the set, De Rossi’s passionate playing is the constant—like Manne, always swinging and tasteful. […] Throughout, De Rossi delivers a drum clinic. Accenting, driving, and swinging the tribute, he makes you want to dig in, dig? — Mark Corroto, All About Jazz – 21.12.2010 Continue reading

Pepe Medri & Timbuctu Orkestra | Fernando | El Gallo Rojo Records

A good artistic fellowship needs lucky encounters and a balance of personalities that is often hard to reach. I can tell that Pepe Medri’s Timbuctù Orkestra has these features. The credit is to give to Pepe’s music, which comes from tango and folk music and trusts to the collective arrangement of an ensemble made from musicians coming from jazz and contemporary classical music. The balance produced, between folk roots and free-improvised areas, strictness and naïvety, is real magic. — Dimitri Sillato Continue reading