Franco Ambrosetti - Nora

Styles: Flugelhorn and Guitar Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:03
Size: 127,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:38) 1. Nora's Theme
(7:05) 2. Morning Song
(7:48) 3. All Blues
(5:32) 4. Falling in Love
(5:55) 5. Autumn Leaves
(6:37) 6. Sweet Journey
(6:04) 7. It Happened Quitetly
(8:23) 8. After the Rain

When Alan Broadbent isn't playing extraordinary jazz piano with his trio, he's typically hard at work arranging and conducting a large orchestra for a jazz artist or vocalist. In the case of Swiss flugelhornist Franco Ambrosetti's new album, Nora (Enja), Alan is at the helm of a 22-piece string orchestra, and the result is gorgeous, reflective and perfect for this time of year. The album also features guitarist John Scofield, bassist Scott Colley, pianist Uri Caine and drummer Peter Erskine.

Ambrosetti began his recording career as a leader on trumpet in Milan in 1965 with A Jazz Portrait of Franco Ambrosetti, featuring Franco D'Andrea (p) Giorgio Azzolini (b) and Franco Mondini (d). Remarkably, he is self-taught, and his tone is deliciously embracing. Coming up in Italy over the years, he played with a long list of touring American jazz greats, including Kenny Clarke, Dexter Gordon, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, Geri Allen, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker and Mike Stern.

John Scofield has recorded with Ambrosetti multiple times. The first was in 1978 on The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band in Germany, followed by Movies in 1986, Movies, Take 2 in 1988, Cheers in 2017, Long Waves in 2019 and Lost Within You in 2020. For Alan, this is his first Ambrosetti collaboration. And what a score he has written. Ambrosetti was looking for a project on the same scale as Bird With Strings and Clifford Brown With Strings two of his favorite albums that marry a strong soloist and an understanding orchestral background. Mission accomplished on Nora.

The opening track is Nora's Theme by Ambrosetti, which sets the mood. Nora is Nora Helmer, the lead character in Ibsen's A Doll's House. Ambrosetti wrote the theme for a 1997 production of the play that starred his wife, Silli, in the Nora role. So in truth, Nora's Theme is a deep, passionate love song for his wife.

Moving forward, the album feels like the soundtrack to a romantic suspense movie set in Malibu, starring Kim Novak or Sandy Dennis. It's soft and panoramic, but there are undertones of psychological drama to come. The songs that follow Nora's Theme are George Gruntz's Morning Song of a Spring Flower, Miles Davis's All Blues, Victor Feldman's Falling in Love, the standard Autumn Leaves, Ambrosetti's Sweet Journey, Johnny Dankworth's It Happens Quietly and John Coltrane's After the Rain. Alan's arrangements remain wonderfully atmospheric and Ambrosetti's flugelhorn soars gracefully through the mist birdlike, but with strength and purpose.

Ambrosetti's tone throughout has a melancholy, sunny afternoon feel as if you're driving along country roads this fall with the trees ablaze in color. You can't help but think things over as you listen. The combination of Ambrosetti's soulful flugelhorn and Alan's empathetic and ruminative strings pull you in deeper on each track. [Photo above of Alan Broadbent conducting by Joe Vella]

Also unbeatable is the new 3D sound technology used to record the music. The fidelity creates the sensation that you're seated in the middle of the recording studio. As you listen, all that's missing are snapping logs in a fireplace. This album and Alan deserve a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and another for Ambrosetti for Best Improvised Jazz Solo.By Marc Myers https://www.jazzwax.com/2022/10/franco-ambrosetti-nora.html

Personnel: Franco Ambrosetti, flugelhorn; John Scofield, guitar; Scott Colley, bass; Uri Caine, piano; Peter Erskine, drums; Sara Caswell, violin, concertmaster; Alan Broadbent, arranger, conductor

Nora

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Franco Ambrosetti - Cycladic Moods

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:11
Size: 146,8 MB
Art: Front

( 8:38)  1. Instant Correlation
( 3:34)  2. Cycladic Suite: Mystic Dawn
( 6:19)  3. Cycladic Suite: Agean Waves
( 3:52)  4. Cycladic Suite: Seven Bofors
( 2:49)  5. Cycladic Suite: Where the Sun Never Sets
( 6:59)  6. In Real Time
(21:31)  7. Mirobop
( 4:56)  8. Blues for My Friends
( 3:28)  9. Peace

If piano is the instrument on which Europeans are most prominent in jazz, trumpet is next: Think Tomasz Stanko, Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler and, more recently, Mathias Eick. Franco Ambrosetti is in that mix. He often works in groups led by bassist Miroslav Vitous, where his selective contributions can be striking in their off-center lyricism. But Ambrosetti’s latest album as a leader is more nice than striking. In the current jazz marketplace, flooded with CDs, nice does not get you noticed. In his liner notes, Ambrosetti says that working with Vitous exposed him to “a different, wider and surprising world ... away from the well-known orthodoxy.” Yet Cycladic Moods is often predictable, even generic, within in its category of postmodern modal jazz.

Competency is not an issue. Pianist Geri Allen sounds somewhat under wraps, but her measured forays are poetic. Tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton is conventional yet muscular and fluent. Ambrosetti’s own solos, in his wide range of trumpet colors, are always personal. Drummer Nasheet Waits makes this refined music snap. The only weak link is Ambrosetti’s son Gianluca, with his thin, unattractive soprano saxophone tone. The centerpiece is not the suite that gives the album its name, but “Mirobop,” a 21-minute breakout on a line by Vitous. This is the track intended to embody the ensemble objectives announced by Ambrosetti in his liner notes: “free improvisation” and “unexpected new paths” based on “intense listening to each other.” But because the spontaneous exchanges conform to familiar patterns of the free-jazz genre, they are less exciting than Ambrosetti intends. But then you come to the last song, a lovely, fervent reading of Horace Silver’s “Peace” by Ambrosetti and Allen, and you think, perhaps there is no such thing as too many nice jazz albums.

 ~ Thomas Conrad  

http://jazztimes.com/articles/54359-cycladic-moods-franco-ambrosetti

Cycladic Moods

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Franco Ambrosetti - Close Encounter

Styles: Flugelhorn,Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:20
Size: 100,4 MB
Art: Front

( 8:29) 1. Close Encounter
( 5:46) 2. Napoleon Blown Apart
( 8:21) 3. Sad Story Of A Photographer
(14:36) 4. Morning Song Of A Spring Flower
( 6:07) 5. Rumba Orgiastica

Franco Ambrosetti's debut for Enja (his previous releases were all for Italian labels) finds the talented cool-toned flugelhornist holding his own with the notable sidemen (Bennie Wallace on tenor and soprano, pianist George Gruntz, bassist Mike Richmond and drummer Bob Moses). The sometimes episodic repertoire (two Ambrosetti originals and one apiece by his father Flavio, Gruntz and Kuhn) is quite obscure and generally hard bop-oriented. Everyone plays well on this lesser-known but enjoyable effort.~Scott Yanowhttps://www.allmusic.com/album/close-encounter-mw0000906992

Personnel: Franco Ambrosetti – flugelhorn, trumpet; Bennie Wallace – tenor saxophone; George Gruntz – piano; Mike Richmond – bass; Bob Moses – drums

Close Encounter

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Franco Ambrosetti Band - Lost Within You

Styles: Trumpet Jazz, Post Bop
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:48
Size: 167,3 MB
Art: Front

(10:36) 1. Peace
( 7:12) 2. I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Outta My Life
( 6:52) 3. Silli in the Sky
( 7:35) 4. Love Like Ours
( 6:56) 5. Dreams of a Butterfly
(11:25) 6. Body and Soul
( 7:19) 7. People Time
( 7:42) 8. Flamenco Sketches
( 7:07) 9. You Taught My Heart to Sing

Lost Within You is a masterpiece of smoldering passion and beauty ignited by the exquisite trumpet and flugelhorn melodies of Franco Ambrosetti. Ambrosetti assembled an enviable ensemble: bassist Scott Colley and drummer Jack DeJohnette in the rhythm section, plus guitarist John Scofield, and Renee Rosnes and Uri Caine switching turns as pianist. But the star of Lost Within You is Ambrosetti's haunting, delicate and graceful sound, revealed in one masterful ballad after another. "Miles Davis was one of the great inspirations for that," Ambrosetti recalls. "From listening to Miles play ballads, I started to understand and I was able to go inside the ballad and play these long notes that he was playing. Miles showed me how you stretch the notes out like you're really singing or crying, and I think I can express my feelings better that way."

DeJohnette sketches an abstract introductory framework on piano to the opening "Peace," from which Ambrosetti's trumpet rises up like shimmering heat to meet and complete. When the rest of the ensemble settles in, the mood shifts from beautiful to transcendent jazz music. Solo drums curiously open the classic "Body and Soul," but bass and piano quickly settle down into a slow-rolling tempo and a mood that's both ballad and blue although DeJohnette insists on busting up the middle section with harder and sharper beats. Caine builds up funky blue offbeats and phrases and then crosses them together to build more complex melodies and harmonies in his solo. But Caine is only the second-best soloist here. Ambrosetti's sound thoroughly ghosts Davis' moody brooding: part smoldering anger, part aching sadness, part bitter loneliness, and part peaceful resignation. That's a lot to pack into a sound, but Ambrosetti does it.

Rosnes jumps in on "Flamenco Sketches," a landmark of Davis' work with pianist Bill Evans, and her melancholic deep touch is perfect for this mood and for highlighting Scofield's guitar alongside the Spanish tinges of this tune. Rosnes' thoughtful fire also polishes the middle piano trio section into a warm glow. McCoy Tyner's "You Taught My Heart to Sing" closes Lost Within You. A love song and the word "sing" are entirely appropriate to end a set of music like this. Rosnes, Scofield and Ambrosetti all stretch out in solos like housecats settling down for a nap, with Scofield's guitar drifting in and out of the blues and the leader's horn so softly but clearly articulating each note that it almost sounds like whispered speech.
~CHRIS M.SLAWECKI https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lost-within-you-franco-ambrosetti-unit-records3619

Personnel: Franco Ambrosetti: trumpet; John Scofield: guitar; Renee Rosnes: piano; Uri Caine: piano; Scott Colley: bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums; The Franco Ambrosetti Band: band/orchestra.

Lost Within You

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Franco Ambrosetti - Grazie Italia

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:48
Size: 155,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:20)  1. Roma non fà la stupida
(5:52)  2. Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)
(3:37)  3. Vecchio frack
(7:48)  4. Tintarella di luna
(5:31)  5. E se domani
(6:56)  6. Donna
(4:55)  7. E la chiamano estate
(8:10)  8. Le tue mani
(9:05)  9. Caruso
(4:42) 10. Nun è peccato
(3:48) 11. Che cosa c'è

Franco Ambrosetti has had dual careers as a very successful businessman, and as a fine trumpeter and flügelhornist inspired by Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. His father Flavio Ambrosetti was an excellent saxophonist. Franco had piano lessons for eight years but is self-taught on trumpet, which he did not take up until he was 17. In 1972, he was one of the founders of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, and through the years he has recorded quite a few worthy hard bop-ish albums for Enja in addition to leading his own groups.~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/franco-ambrosetti-mn0000195215/biography

Personnel:  Franco Ambrosetti (trumpet), Furio di Castri (double bass), Alfredo Golino (drums), Antonio Farao (piano), Gabriele Comeglio (alto saxophone), Gianluca Ambrosetti (soprano saxophone), Dado Moroni (piano), Roberto Gatto (drums) ), Maurizio Giammarco (tenor saxophone), Enrico Rava (flugelhorn), Flavio Ambrosetti (tenor saxophone), Franco Ambrosetti (flugelhorn), Enrico Rava (trumpet), Dado Moroni (organ), Alfredo Golino (percussion), Maurizio Giammarco (soprano) saxophone).

Grazie Italia

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Franco Ambrosetti - Gin and Pentatonic

Styles: Fluegelhorn, Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1985
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:19
Size: 156,8 MB
Art: Front

(10:44)  1. Miss, Your Quelque Chose
( 4:22)  2. More Wings for Wheelers
( 8:10)  3. Yes or No
(13:16)  4. Gin and Pentatonic
( 6:17)  5. Autumn Leaves
(10:54)  6. Ode to a Princess
(14:35)  7. Atisiul

Franco Ambrosetti has had dual careers as a very successful businessman, and as a fine trumpeter and flügelhornist inspired by Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. His father Flavio Ambrosetti was an excellent saxophonist. Franco had piano lessons for eight years but is self-taught on trumpet, which he did not take up until he was 17. In 1972, he was one of the founders of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, and through the years he has recorded quite a few worthy hard bop-ish albums for Enja in addition to leading his own groups. ~ Scott Yanow https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/gin-pentatonic-feat-michael-brecker-kenny-kirkland/1360388464

Personnel:  Franco Ambrostetti, Fluegelhorn, trumpet;  Michael Brecker, tenor sax;  John Clark, french horn;  Kenny Kirkland, piano;  Buster Williams, bass;  Daniel Humair, drums;  Lew Soloff, trumpet;  Michael Mossman, trumpet;  Steve Coleman, alt sax;  Alex Brofsky, french horn;   Howard Johnson, tuba, bariton sax, piano

Gin and Pentatonic

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Franco Ambrosetti - Cheers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 66:46

Size: 152.8 MB

Styles: Contemporary jazz, Trumpet jazz

Year: 2015

Art: Front

[8:05] 1. Autumn Leaves

[5:42] 2. No Silia, No Party

[8:23] 3. I'm Glad There Is You

[8:52] 4. Bye Bye Blackbird

[7:50] 5. Drums Corrida

[7:11] 6. Someday My Prince Will Come

[8:28] 7. The Smart Went Crazy

[6:48] 8. Midnight Voyage

[5:23] 9. Body And Soul

Franco Ambrosetti - flugelhorn; Kenny Barron - piano; Buster Williams - bass; Jack DeJohnette - drums; John Scofield - guitar; Randy Brecker - trumpet; Greg Osby - alto saxophone; Gianluca Ambrosetti - soprano saxophone; Antonio Faraò - piano; Uri Caine - piano; Dado Moroni - piano;Terry Lyne Carrington - drums.

Franco Ambrosetti is a Swiss jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer born in Lugano, Switzerland, perhaps most noteworthy for his many albums released on the jazz recording label Enja Records. Ambrosetti's father, Flavio, was a saxophonist who once played sax opposite Charlie Parker. Franco worked professionally with his father frequently in a group which also included George Gruntz, among others. Franco has classical piano training and is also a self-taught trumpeter. Ambrosetti has worked with several American and European musicians in recordings and at jazz festivals and concerts, including Kenny Clarke, Dexter Gordon, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, Hal Galper and Romano Mussolini. Ambrosetti also holds a Masters Degree in economics from the University of Basel.

Cheers

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Franco Ambrosetti - A Jazz Portrait of Franco Ambrosetti

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:01
Size: 170,1 MB
Art: Front

(7:15)  1. Enriquete
(3:06)  2. Blue in Green
(5:01)  3. My Shining Hour
(5:34)  4. My Old Flame
(8:36)  5. Bye Bye Blackbird
(6:48)  6. Like Someone in Love
(5:08)  7. Minority
(2:03)  8. Blue in Green (take 2)
(2:28)  9. Blue in Green (take 3)
(3:50) 10. My Shining Hour (take 2)
(3:46) 11. My Shining Hour (take 3)
(0:50) 12. My Old Flame (take 2)
(7:38) 13. Bye Bye Blackbird (take 2)
(0:19) 14. Like Someone in Love (take 2)
(7:01) 15. Like Someone in Love (take 3)
(4:31) 16. Minority (take 2)

Franco Ambrosetti has had dual careers as a very successful businessman, and as a fine trumpeter and flügelhornist inspired by Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. His father Flavio Ambrosetti was an excellent saxophonist. Franco had piano lessons for eight years but is self-taught on trumpet, which he did not take up until he was 17. In 1972, he was one of the founders of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, and through the years he has recorded quite a few worthy hard bop-ish albums for Enja in addition to leading his own groups. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/franco-ambrosetti-mn0000195215/biography

Personnel:  Franco Ambrosetti (trumpet), Giorgio Azzolini (bass); Franco D’Andrea (piano); Franco Mondini (Batteria)

A Jazz Portrait of Franco Ambrosetti

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