Monday, June 26, 2023

Michele Calgaro - Progressions

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:23
Size: 113,2 MB
Art: Front

(0:40) 1. Natural Bop Killers
(5:45) 2. Basso Fondo
(5:44) 3. Progression
(7:36) 4. Il Valore Delle Differenze
(7:39) 5. In Pursuit Of The 27th Man
(2:35) 6. Intro Monadi
(8:02) 7. Monadi
(6:59) 8. Mari Land
(4:20) 9. Love Is This Thing Called "What?"

Appreciated teacher he has directed the Thelonious music school in Vicenza since 1991 Michele Calgaro is here in his second round as sole leader, four years after «Round about Monk», also published by our label. In truth, some time before he had shared the authorship of another album with Canadian saxophonist Robert Bonisolo, "The Edge", recorded in quartet with the addition of some songs by Paolo Fresu.

Bonisolo, with whom Calgaro has been playing regularly for almost twenty years, is also present in this «Progressions», an album enriched by the presence of a prestigious guest, Alex Sipiagin, a Russian trumpeter who has moved permanently to the United States since 1992 , soon becoming one of the absolute protagonists of the New York jazz scene.

The quintet from Calgaro, completed by another of its tried and tested partners, the precious drummer Mauro Beggio, instead sees Michele's brother, Lorenzo, and the American Marc Abrams split in the role of double bass player who, like and even more than Bonisolo, can now be considered Italian in all respects. Unlike the previous recording, entirely dedicated to Thelonious Monk, here Michele Calgaro also tests himself as a composer, demonstrating that he has now acquired a decidedly personal style, which knows how to be poetic and reflective (in the sweet ballad Monadi, signed by Lorenzo , as well as in Mari Land, which starts with the trio alone and then sees the addition of Bonisolo's sax and Sipiagin's flugelhorn), but when necessary also rightly stringent and aggressive (in the modal Progression and in the pressing gait of Love is this thing called “What?”).

It is no coincidence that the only standard present on the album arranged in a very original way is a piece by the "master" Horace Silver, the compelling and too little performed In pursuit of the 27th man. But Calgaro's quintet can also be convincing in the two compositions in medium tempo, which are moreover articulated and complex, such as the hypnotic melody of Basso Fondo and the suspended scale of Il Valore delle Difference, capable of paying due tribute to Wayne Shorter without this lose in originality. credits released April 24, 2021 Translate by Google

Personnel: Alex Sipiagin (trumpet, flugelhorn), Robert Bonisolo (tenor sax), Michele Calgaro (guitars), Lorenzo Calgaro (double bass on 1–2–6–7–9), Marc Abrams (double bass on 3–4–5–8), Mauro Beggio (drums).

Progressions

Andre Ceccarelli, Jean-Michel Pilc, Thomas Bramerie - Twenty

Size: 126,9 MB
Time: 55:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz: Piano Jazz
Art: Front

01. All Blues (6:06)
02. Cry Baby Cry (6:15)
03. On Green Dolphin Street (5:20)
04. Twenty (4:42)
05. Opus #3 (5:08)
06. Ne Me Quitte Pas (4:33)
07. Old Devil Moon (6:40)
08. Things Are (3:17)
09. Straight No Chaser (3:18)
10. L'auvergnat (4:34)
11. Solar (5:07)

A piano trio that forensically examines some quite familiar modern jazz standards (‘All Blues’, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, ‘Straight No Chaser’, ‘Solar,’ etc) placing them alongside a sprinkling of originals and a Francophone perennial Jacques Brel's ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ recorded in an Antibes studio in August last year. Very simply presented with just basic artwork the music does the talking and does so conversationally perhaps though a little too relentlessly in the more detailed passages. Pianist Pilc, one of the big latterday piano stars of French jazz now a citizen of the US, digs down very deeply here to the innards of what makes a trio tick followed faithfully by the tonally commanding bassist Bramerie and drummer Ceccarelli terrier-like in the chase.The trio achieve great heights even transforming something as dog-eared as ‘Old Devil Moon’ into something fresh and inviting. A virtuoso display that moves beyond technique in its best moments.

Twenty

Bill Evans - Coffee and Cigarettes

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:17
Size: 180,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:00) 1. Some Other Time
(3:40) 2. Lucky to Be Me
(7:36) 3. Night and Day
(4:54) 4. What Is There to Say
(7:36) 5. Detour Ahead
(6:42) 6. Peace Piece
(4:41) 7. I Wish I Knew
(3:28) 8. Haunted Heart
(5:55) 9. Sweet and Lovely
(4:58) 10. My Foolish Heart
(7:12) 11. My Romance
(3:34) 12. Tenderly
(7:00) 13. Waltz for Debby
(5:54) 14. Young and Foolish

" I remember finding that somehow I had reached a new level of expression in my playing. It had come almost automatically, and I was very anxious about it, afraid I might lose it", Evans said.

One of the new pieces was Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time". Evans started to play an introduction using an ostinato figure. However the pianist spontaneously started to improvise over that harmonic frame, creating the recording that would be named "Peace Piece“.

According to Evans: "What happened was that I started to play the introduction, and it started to get so much of its own feeling and identity that I just figured, well, I'll keep going."

"Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall. I had to change the way the band sounded again for Bill's style by playing different tunes, softer ones at first.“~ Miles Davis

Personnel: Bill Evans - piano; Sam Jones - bass; Philly Joe Jones - drums; Paul Motian- drums

Coffee and Cigarettes