Connie Crothers | Richard Tabnik | Roy Campbell | Roger Mancuso | Ken Filiano | Band Of Fire | NA 1050

Fire creates its own sonic universe. Its timbre comes from the burning, while the elemental transmutation breeds new forms of light and ash. It roars and whispers, constantly susurrating just below the energy that bespeaks its crackling multiplicity, its multileveled and precisely detailed identity. The title”Band of Fire” captures the essence of this music with uncanny perfection. Connie Crothers, Richard Tabnik, Roy Campbell, Ken Filianoand Roger Mancuso share a common tradition, but their musical vision refuses to be bound by it. The freedom they created at The Stone, on November21″, 2010, grounded in hard-won precision, tempered through improvisation, is released in bursts of flaming energy. Old forms burn as the quintet’s creative energy destroys and recreates them with new life. Continue reading

Sabir Mateen | Silvia Bolognesi | Holidays In Siena | Rudi Records

Poetry’s strength is unexpected. It always surprises us, probably because there is lesser and lesser of it around us. It overcomes geographic distance, generational features and language differences. It drags us to a sublime level, since it moves into a space without reference points and crosses the boundaries of what we can see, hear think and imagine. But how it comes that we speak of poetry for a musical artifact? Because Sabir Mateen and Silvia Bolognesi, in “Holidyas in Siena”, are poets, first of all. Far from a worn out romantic concept (inspiration, destiny…) they create sounds, mix, contrasts, silence spots, that show not only contemporary anxiety but also the joy of playing together. Not only Mateen and Bolognesi have all this and much more, but they are also driven elsewhere, far away, by their poetic license that set them free. So far away that somebody will not like “Holidays in Siena”. Perhaps the same person in which no consequences are left by Fontana’s scratches, by Rothko colors, by Joyce words or by Cage’s silences. Because poetry, music, art are for everyone, but not everyone knows it.– Paolo Carradori Continue reading

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

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