Erika Dagnino & Stefano Pastor | Cycles | Slam Productions

Cycles is a remarkable work with literary and psycho-philosphical groundings and overtones, by a remarkable violinist, Stefano Pastor, in equal collaboration with poet Erika Dagnino. Pastor has, of course, a European sensibility—he and Dagnino are, after all, Italian—but his innovative improvisational conception is rooted in the development of the jazz tradition; it is not a eurocentric classical derivation. I shall not say much about either the music or the words, which, with attention, will sound and speak for themselves. And attention is in order—in the order and the chaos. — Anthony Barnett Continue reading

Angelo Contini | Gianni Mimmo | Stefano Pastor | Forgiving July | Amirani Records

The output is a strange chamber music with sudden strokes of controlled (even not) violence. The relationship finds its way among oblique narrations, with lyrical and dramatic moments, and intriguing harmonic textures . In fact the woodwind-string-brass trio is a very unusual interesting tone melange and the improvisation strategies are here enahanced with subtleness and intensity. Tensive-relaxed ! sincere-cuttin edge ! sculpting light atmospheres ! Contemporary avant-jazz / experimental background and extended instrumental skills give a rich nuance palette, a multi-perspective idea of music and vivid listening experience. Continue reading

Erika Dagnino | Narcéte | Slam Productions

The quartet we are about to hear presents us with the most unusual of outfits — unusual not so much in its aim to link poetry with jazz music (or vice-versa, if you wish), hardly anything new, as for the peculiar path it takes in reaching such goal: namely, a gradual and thoughtful testing process of the project through different «live» situations. Give credit for it to the friendship and mutual regard among the artists. Haslam and Waterman go back a long time, same as Pastor and Dagnino; plus, this was not the first time Haslam and Pastor, Dagnino and Haslam have worked together. Credit is also due to a shared interest in «music and poetry», following a tradition of long standing in both Italy and Great Britain. — Gennaro Fucile Continue reading