Giovanni Mirabassi & Sarah Lancman - Intermezzo

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:02
Size: 89,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:51) 1. Il poeta
(4:41) 2. Estate
(4:50) 3. Parlami d'amore mariù
(3:57) 4. Ah che sarà, che sarà
(3:42) 5. Vedrai, vedrai
(5:27) 6. La canzone di marinella
(5:32) 7. Almeno tu nell'universo
(3:36) 8. Sabato italiano
(3:21) 9. Senza fine

Giovanni Mirabassi remains one of my favorite Jazz pianists. I really love his trio efforts, be it on Terra Furiosa, Live in Toyko, or, probably my preferred one, Architectures.

Mirabassi is Italian, but has been living in Paris for many years. As mentioned above, he trio output (mainly with Gianluca Renzi and Leon Parker) is fantastic, but he’s also collaborated with some excellent singers, e.g. Angela Elvira Herrera Zaparta and Maikel Ante Fajardo on Adelante, and on Sarah Lancman’s previous 2018 albums A Contretemps and Inspiring Love. Both albums only featured Sarah on the title, now we have a recording where both Lancman and Mirabassi share the cover. The two already met in 2015 and have toured together.

Sarah Lancman is a young French singer, who studied in Paris, and has released three albums so far. There is no shortage of excellent Jazz singers today, but still, Lancman has a very recognisable, unique voice. Not suprisingly, she won the first price in a jazz contest hosted by Quincy Jones.

So what do you get? Well, you could argue, is this still Jazz?

You basically get beautiful duos where Mirabassi plays in a very intimate and connected way with Sarah, who singing exclusively in Italian (note the album cover kind of gives it away) on this album.

Every once in a while, Olivier Bogé joins playing the saxophone, with a sound somewhat reminiscent of Stan Getz. So who cares if this is Jazz or not? All of this is just hugely enjoyable, beautiful, intimate music, and really worth checking out
https://musicophilesblog.com/2019/06/07/an-excellent-new-vocal-jazz-album-with-giovanni-mirabassi-and-sarah-lancman/

Personnel: Sarah Lancman : vocal; Giovanni Mirabassi : piano; Olivier Bogé : saxophone

Intermezzo

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Sarah Lancman - Inspiring Love

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:48
Size: 116,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:12)  1. Inspiring Love
(5:00)  2. Behind the Clouds
(2:19)  3. On the Other Side of the World
(6:18)  4. J'ai voulu partir
(4:17)  5. Never Say That You Love Me
(6:33)  6. The Gift
(4:26)  7. Reste là
(4:01)  8. Qui ?
(3:46)  9. Mysterious Lane
(3:37) 10. Talk to Me
(4:14) 11. Our Secret

“She is really the great new voice of Jazz“ this is what Quincy Jones said to Sarah Lancman when she won the Grand Prix of the International Competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2012. 17 gold Records, Music awards, Django d’or, Grand Prix de l’Académie du Jazz Django Reinhardt, no need to introduce the italian pianist  Giovanni Mirabassi. They are now accomplices of their new album “Inspiring Love” released since November 18 whose 10 original compositions were recorded in New York, high place of this music. More... https://couleursjazz.fr/sarah-lancman-4tet-the-sunside-paris-december-26/

“Sarah Lanchman has the purity of Julie London and the depth of Shirley Horn. She is the hope and Jazz singer we all expected “~ Wendy Oxenhorn, Executive Director of the Jazz Foundation of the United States of America.

Personnel:  Sarah Lancman – voice ; Giovanni Mirabassi – piano ; Gianluca Renzi – doublebass ; Gene Jackson – drums ; Alex Sipiagin – trumpet and flugelhorn.

Inspiring Love

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Mélanie Dahan - Latine

Styles: Vocal, Chanson
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:52
Size: 135,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:32)  1. Utile
(3:59)  2. Berimbau
(5:48)  3. Retrato em branco e preto
(3:25)  4. Vingt ans
(4:45)  5. Que feras-tu de ta vie ?
(4:30)  6. Luiza
(5:00)  7. Le prochain amour
(4:53)  8. El cosechero
(4:31)  9. Flor de lis
(5:41) 10. J'ai eu trente ans
(5:38) 11. Catavento e girassol
(6:04) 12. Que reste-t-il de nos amours ?

Following the success of her first album ("La Princesse et les Croque-notes") and numerous concerts, Mélanie Dahan returns to us in a formula favorable to the expression of her great qualities as an interpreter. She continues to create bridges between French chanson and jazz and we also embark this time in a program more mixed, with Latin sounds. This second opus balances with grace and elegance between France, Brazil, Argentina and reflects nicely the diversity of its influences. Two, three repertoires, therefore, with common roots, which she declines in several forms and colors, in ease from one register to another, and in a style that belongs only to her. It succeeds the tour de force to offer an extraordinarily coherent, dark and luminous universe in the same inflection. Everything Mélanie sings is borrowed from a gentle sensitivity to the service of a refined phrasing, a gourmet mastery of words, a natural know-how. Loving the nuance and the beautiful and just phrase, she has the ability to move and touch the heart without resorting to artifice. The arrangements accord soloists large spaces in which they can move freely. For the occasion, she surrounded herself with the accomplices of her first album: the lyrical flights of harmonic sculptor Giovanni Mirabassi, Marc-Michel Le Bévillon's balloon, round and melodic double bass, and a perfectly Cuban drummer: Lukmil Perez. She made a wish: to record half of the disc with a string quartet, the Storycordes (arrangements: Marc-Michel Le Bévillon), where she only has to distill her delicate voice which finds in this context a new setting. https://www.amazon.fr/Latine-Giovanni-Mirabassi/dp/B004Z1Z9D8

Personnel:  Melanie Dahan : voix;  Giovanni Mirabassi: piano;  Marc-Michel Le Bévillon : Ctb;  Lukmil Perez: Batterie;  Eve-Marie Bodet : violon;  Johan Renard: violon;  Frédéric Eymard: alto;  Clément Petit: violoncelle;  Marc Berthoumieux: accordéon

Latine

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Mélanie Dahan - La Princesse Et Les Croque-Notes

Styles: Vocal, Chanson
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:21
Size: 127,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. La Salle Et La Terrasse
(4:29)  2. L'enfant Maquillé
(6:52)  3. La Princesse Et Le Croque-Notes
(6:14)  4. Les Poètes
(4:57)  5. J'aimerais Tant Savoir
(1:44)  6. Rimes
(4:10)  7. Je Hais Les Dimanche
(6:29)  8. Si Tu Me Payes Un Verre
(5:17)  9. A Bicyclette
(3:42) 10. La Mer À Boire
(1:01) 11. Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit
(5:22) 12. Le Petit Bal Perdu

There is a certain something about La Princesse et les Croque-Notes, and it is the same je ne sais quoi that exists in the first blush of wine and in the beguiling smile of Mona Lisa. It is that mesmerizing something filled with duende and saudades. It is Spanish and African and Brazilian all rolled into French, but above all it is, tantalizing, memorable, chanson and jazz. Melanie Dahan is a vocalist of the highest order and on this record she connects the art of chanson from its earliest times through modern chanson turning the music of Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel and Leo Ferre into contemporary standards swirling in a powerful vortex of jazz. Blessed with a gymnastic contralto Dahan stretches her lithe voice to leap and dart and soar across a vocal stratosphere as if she were painting a canvas delicately with sound. Whether she is channeling pathos or being heraldic, Dahan appears able to pirouette across space, glide subtly between tones and she can vault from rhythmic precipice to rhythmic precipice, always seeming to recover enough to take flight again.

Her vocals are deliciously dainty on "La Salle et la Terrasse," feminine yet sinewy on "L'enfant Maquille" and majestic on "La Princesse et le Croque Notes," all the while being the model of precision in her interpretations of the inner rhythms and slurring gentility of the chansons of Aznavour and Brassens. On Claude Nougaro and Aldo Romano's "Rimes," she hits the rhythmic center of the music with aplomb and she shows she can skit puckishly on Pierre Bourouh and Francis Lai's "A Bicyclette." On every other song, especially "La mer a Boire," she finds the heart of the piece from the very first notes she begins to sing. This is contemporary chanson at its very best. There are moments though when Dahan steers her song through the heart of the polyphonic song, conjuring up spirits of rondeau, virelai and chanson baladee just a hint though, enough to praise the art and worship at the altar of its high priests and priestesses from Daufay to Piaf.

In a miraculous manner, Dahan the producer has also managed to bring just that perfect musical balance to the instrumentation of each song with the core group of bassist Marc-Michel le Bevillon and drummer Matthieu Chazarenc. But the most magnificent interplay is between vocalist and pianist. On songs like "La Salle..." and the title track, when vocalist and pianist get into the heart of the song, it feels as if medieval sorcery is at work. Not since Chick Corea and Flora Purim on Light As A Feather (Polydor, 1973) and specially on "500 Miles High," has there been such a sublime, symbiotic relationship between singer and pianist. And now Melanie Dahan and Giovanni Mirabassi on La Princesse et les Croque-Notes intertwine in a marvelous relationship of music and lyric poetry. The art of chanson cavorts sensuously with the art of jazz in an unforgettable way. ~ Raul D’Gama Rose  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/la-princesse-et-les-croque-notes-melanie-dahan-sunnyside-records-review-by-raul-dgama-rose.php
 

Personnel: Melanie Dahan: voice; Giovanni Mirabassi; piano; Marc-Michel le Bevillon: contrabass; Matthieu Chazarenc; drums; Pierrick Pedron: alto saxophone (5, 9).

La Princesse Et Les Croque-Notes

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Giovanni Mirabassi Quartet - No Way Out

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:07
Size: 117,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:32)  1. No Way Out
(7:38)  2. The Snow White Syndrome
(5:31)  3. Two Finger Snaps
(6:30)  4. L'Audace
(3:44)  5. Palm'air
(8:03)  6. What Was That Dream About
(5:59)  7. Canzone
(6:07)  8. Il Bandolero Stanco

A stunning empathy between piano and vibraphone. Refined, balanced double bass and drums. An extremely sophisticated quartet, striking a perfect balance between the enlightened creativity of the 60's and today's modern sound. Pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, who is part of this tight quartet together with Stefon Harris on vibraphone, Gianluca Renzi on double bass and Lukmil Perez Herrera on drums, composed "No Way Out" as his second recording for CAM JAZZ. This album opens with the title track, a statement of intent as to the entire recording. The synergism between Mirabassi and Harris leads to steadily evolving musical ideas that unfold out of the pianist's themes. 

All eight tunes in "No Way Out" are by the band leader: From "The Snow White Syndrome" and "What Was Dream About" to "L'Audace", "Canzone" and "Il Bandolero Stanco" (perhaps a tribute to an unappreciated movie featuring the Italian actor Renato Rascel?), listeners are returned to a Mirabassi in a state of grace, capable of composing in a fresh, highly inspired way, heeding the moods and refinement of the great Blue Note standards from the 60's. He is a full-fledged musician who knows how to express himself, for having accrued valuable artistic experience over his long-standing career: his playing with Chet Baker and Steve Grossman, when he was just seventeen; his moving to and growing up in Paris, when he was just over 20; and, not to forget, being awarded the "Django d'Or" and "Victoires du Jazz" prizes in 2002. All this flowed into "No Way Out", a recording to be listened to and enjoyed inquisitively, carefully and committedly, in order to discover how many ideas pop out of the hat of this talented, distinguished pianist from Perugia. ~ Editorial Reviews  http://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Out-Giovanni-Mirabassi/dp/B00PV3BKK0

Personnel: Giovanni Mirabassi (piano); Stefon Harris (vibraphone); Gianluca Renzi (double bass); Lukmil Perez Herrera (drums).

No Way Out

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Giovanni Mirabassi - Live At Blue Note Tokyo

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:01
Size: 164,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:07)  1. NY #1
(8:16)  2. It's Us
(9:26)  3. World Changes
(8:16)  4. Here's The Captain
(3:59)  5. My Broken Heart
(6:56)  6. It Is What It Is
(9:54)  7. Six For Sex
(9:43)  8. Gold And Diamonds
(7:20)  9. World Changes

"An exceptionally precise and dynamic sound recording. After the release of the two outstanding albums Terra Furiosa in 2008 and Out of Track, last year, the new album by the same trio recorded between 21st and 23rd April at the Blue Note in Tokyo is a great success. This is first due to the melodic and rhythmic richness of the nine compositions of the CD’s répertoire, displaying in turn pianist Giovanni Mirabassi’s elegiac and lilting style (My broken heart, World changes) and the swing and energy that characterize him (NY#1, It’s us). The rich improvisations with their brilliant internal logic are always followed by poetical undulating efflorescences, which are typical of the pianist’s style.  The success of this new album is also due to the trio itself, in perfect osmosis, with exceptional Leon Parker’s impressively precise drum playing and Gianluca Renzi, who constantly creates bass lines which do not only provide the melodic and rhythmic foundations of the phrasing, but can also approach what can sound like the human voice , when playing solo. This new album of remarkable sound quality which is a legendary characteristic of all CDs under Japanese label Vénus, renders Giovanni Mirabassi’s musical generosity when playing in concert, and certainly has the polished touch of all great classics."~ Choc Classica – Jean-Pierre Jackson, December 2010.

"A sense of freedom radiates from Giovanni Mirabassi Trio’s jazz. This gifted jazz pianist is sometimes likened to Bill Evans or the Che … Giovanni Mirabassi’s latest release, live in Tokyo, conveys pure communicative energy (…) The trio inaugurates the recording of an explosive concert given at the mythical Blue Note of Tokyo. We savour a refined répertoire, two-thirds of which are the pianist’s compositions, interpreted all the way through with great complicity between the three musicians. (…) The album ends with World changes, the climax of their musical alchemy. We certainly feel their communicative appetite for playing ! It is a high-class concert ! "~ L’humanité Dimanche – Maud Vergnol, 11-17 November 2010

"One evening in Tokyo… A trio really running well performs brilliantly… Everything is in place in this formation which swiftly carries us along as soon as they start playing… and enthrals us most of the time."
~ La Croix – Yann Mens, 15 November 2010.

"Walking upon the red carpet of the prestigious Blue Note in Tokyo, pianist Giovanni Mirabassi ends a trilogy which started in 2008 with Terra Furiosa (or sensuality after hours) followed by Out of Track (with some incunabula revisited) … The leader is well-known for his propensity to provoke interchange and dramatic progression in his piano playing (…) rendering perfectly identifiable atmospheres for they are so profoundly personal. Live @ the Blue Note, Tokyo constitutes once more a striking confirmation of Giovanni Mirabassi’s very personal style."~ Music Story – Christian Larrède, 17 November 2010.

"Listening to pianist Giovanni Mirabassi’s latest CD, you cannot but rejoice and be moved by the multiple joys that run through it. Every bar of this recording speaks to us… We are enraptured by its elegance, its genius and its enthusiasm…"~ Citizen Jazz.com – Michel Arcens, 6 December 2010.

"This album cannot be ignored… It is a must which will mark the end of the 2010s… An added value to all « good jazz » lovers’ record collections around the world. ".  ~ MyPercu.com – Jimmy Braun, October 2010.   http://www.mirabassi.com/en/a-livetokyo.html

Personnel:  Giovanni Mirabassi (piano); Gianluca Renzi (bass); Leon Parker (drums)

Live At Blue Note Tokyo

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