Enzo Pietropaoli - The Princess

Styles: Contemporary Jazz 
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:38
Size: 135,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:01)  1. Jealous Guy
(5:06)  2. A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall
(5:37)  3. Night and Day
(6:18)  4. Scaleno Beat
(7:06)  5. Father Son
(5:11)  6. The Princess
(4:24)  7. Supereroa
(5:35)  8. Philadelphia
(7:52)  9. The End
(4:23) 10. God Only Knows

It can be risky for jazz musicians to play pop songs. They have to navigate the memories that each composition holds for the listener while also making the music distinctive and personal. Miles Davis could do it with Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," and of course Sonny Rollins can make any popular song his own. Add to that list, Enzo Pietropaoli. The bassist has been exploring popular music with his quartet, which has released three volumes of Yatra (Via Vento Jazz). Here he gets more intimate with a piano trio session, performing mostly slow tempos and meditative pieces.

His trio has the same lineup as the Yatra quartet, minus trumpeter Fulvio Sigurta. It comprises pianist Julian Mazzariello, drummer Alessandro Paternesi, and Pietropaoli on double bass. The seven covers and three original tracks on The Princess invite a type of nostalgia, not for the way it was, but for the sense of possibility those particular songs spurred in us when we heard the originals. Take Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows." Played at an achingly decelerated pace, the trio teases out the unsung lyric to great effect, making the Beach Boys into the most romantic band ever. Not your era? Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam wrote "The End," and the trio performs it with the same magic. The formula is consistent here. Pietropaoli has a knack for diving deeper into pop music to reawaken the message. Bob Dylan's warning call "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" is reiterated with Mazzariello's very simple piano lines and Paternesi's brushes. Where an act like The Bad Plus tends toward the overelaborate cover song, this trio favors the understated. Even when they travel back to 1932 for Cole Porter's "Night And Day," there is no hint of saccharine. Just the most gentle swing. Of the three Pietropaoli originals, "Supereroa" is the one composition that reroutes the trio into an up-tempo (think Ahmad Jamal) swing. The title track opens with a bass solo, before walking the same territory as the cover tunes. It's begging for someone (anyone?) to write some lyrics. Mark Corroto https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-princess-enzo-pietropaoli-via-veneto-jazz-review-by-mark-corroto.php

Personel: Enzo Pietropaoli: double bass; Julian Mazzariello: piano; Alessandro Paternesi: drums.

The Princess

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Diane Schuur - Running on Faith

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:48
Size: 154,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:24)  1. Walking on a Tightrope
(4:52)  2. The Danger Zone
(4:38)  3. All Blues
(5:52)  4. Something so Right
(7:15)  5. Let It Be
(5:32)  6. The Sun Will Shine on You
(6:51)  7. Everybody Looks Good at the Starting Line
(4:59)  8. There is Always One More Time
(6:17)  9. Chicken
(3:30) 10. This Bitter Earth
(4:38) 11. Running on Faith
(4:22) 12. Way over Yonder
(3:33) 13. Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Veteran Diane Schuur writes in liner notes that her CD running on faith is the first time she chose all of the included material. “I’ve been focusing on the condition of our world, about what is, about what can be,” she explains. Her tone is forcefully expressive; numbers are a mixture of singing, parlando, a little preaching, and irrepressible instrumental breaks. Ernie Watts (tenor and soprano sax) and Kye Palmer (trumpet and flugelhorn) are top of the line. “They got me ‘Walkin’ on a Tightrope,’ headin’ for The Twilight Zone” asserts at-ti-tude. Back-end vibrato is an undulating hum. Control of slip/slide octaves makes the rendition her own. Schuur unexpectedly goes high for just a word here and there. Dropped Gs sound natural. Rhythm is infectious. And oh the trumpet! “The Danger Zone” is all dive bar. The vocalist is talking TO us.  Tempo arrives like a rubber-soled, tapped foot. The sax has its way with this tune. (Both songs were written by Percy Mayfield)

Miles Davis’ “All Blues” became iconic as an instrumental. The lyrics, though minimal, may be a revelation. Muted horn glides. Thom Rotella’s quick-fingered guitar goes for the gut. Musicians are all in. “Let It Be” (Paul McCartney) begins halting. Just when I dread the band laying siege, expecting loss of uncluttered openness, the tune takes off with evangelical abandon. (Still, I’d love to hear the accompaniment cut to the bone.) The cynical “Everything Looks Good at the Starting Line” (Paul W. Thorn/William M. Maddox), with back-up vocals, straddles gospel and blues. An extended instrumental has the feel of a New Orleans marching band. You can almost see Schuur’s head nodding “no.” She comments from experience. In direct contrast, “This Bitter Earth” (Clyde L. Otis) conjures satin and a spotlight. Circling brushes (Kendall Kay), delicate piano (Schuur), and nodding bass (Bruce Lett) make the palpably melancholy song more smoothly lyrical than others in the collection. “Running on Faith” (Jerry Lynn Williams) and “Way Over Yonder” (Carole King) are gospel without the flash. The first muses with sincerity, the second, pours like molasses. Both seem personal. Schuur closes with a gorgeous, minimalist piano rendition of the traditional “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Did I say gorgeous? Good listening, fully fleshed character, fine musicianship. Cohesive arrangements have clear intention. We get it. http://cabaretscenes.org/2020/03/26/diane-schuur-running-on-faith/

Running on Faith

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