Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Umbria Jazz Winter, Days 3-5: December 30, 2011-January 1, 2012
Umbria Jazz Winter, Days 3-5: December 30, 2011-January 1, 2012
Umbria Jazz Winter #19
Perugia, Italy
December 28, 2011-January 1, 2012
Stan Tracey Trio
Stan Tracey
piano1926 - 2013
It was easy to imagine a Woody Allen scene developing in his mind as he winked, playing smoothly, backed by
Clark Tracey
drumsb.1961
Franco Cerri Quartet
An Italian giant of jazz guitar whose never-ending list of collaborations features the dream of every guitarist—playing on stage, side-by-side with
Django Reinhardt
guitar1910 - 1953
Franco Cerri
guitar1926 - 2021
He has the enthusiasm of a child and the gentlemanly style of a passionate musician who has always loved his audience with the same affectionate joy and warmth he feels for his music. His style is pure grace, with a touch of delicate humor that the audience of Umbria Jazz Winter could see sparkling through the air on "Fine and Dandy." His soft touch turned "Days of Wine and Roses" into a lullaby-like romantic pearl.
Cerri's mystical and heartfelt style was symbolized by his choice of Plato's quote on music: "It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Joining the guitarist were an extremely spiritual Hammond organist, Alberto Gurrisi on "Unforgettable," and sensitive double bassist " data-original-title="" title="">Daniele Mencarelli in the bossa nova central section of the set. Drummer Andrea Melani was swiftly smooth throughout the concert, particularly on "Ultimo Corcovado," mixing the Brazilian atmosphere of the original song with his own personal lyricism.
Cerri's solo piece—an exquisite arrangement of Ennio Morricone's theme for the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America—was a memorable moment of touching delicacy and its emotional depth brought the audience to happy tears.
Chano Dominguez—Flamenco Sketches
Chano Dominguez
pianob.1960
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
The elegantly crafted arrangements were immediately shining in " So What," a delicate solo piano intro slowly followed by drummer Manuel Masaedo's brushes, a percussive double bass by Mario Rossy and the flamenco hand-clapping and heel-thumping of flamenco dancer Daniel Navarro. Blas Cordoba's voice mingled with Masaedo's percussion so easily and smoothly as to seem another instrument.
Dominguez managed to mix in his style the percussive nature of the Flamenco's beats with the essential texture of Miles' original pieces. The flamenco core of the concert was iconized at the centre of the stage by Daniel Navarro and his bullfighter moves, and by singer Blas Cordoba's mystically inspired voice. The Spanish folk musical context imbued all the arrangements without overpowering them. The balance of melody and beat was superb, and the rhythmical changes a delicacy for the ears.
Danilo Rea Trio—with Ares Tavolazzi and Ellade Bandini
After the duo concert with
Michel Camilo
pianob.1954
Danilo Rea
piano
Ares Tavolazzi
bassThe project was a jazz tribute to
The Beatles
band / ensemble / orchestraThe piece was clearly not a simple homage, but a full reworking of the original versions which were smoothly mixed with the signature elements of the trio: Rea's marvelous climaxes, Bandini's surgically precise brush beats in "And I Love Her," and Tavolazzi's's pulsating sound which, on "Come Together," sounded like a giant's heartbeat.
Paolo Fresu & Alborada String Quartet
Trumpeter
Paolo Fresu
trumpetb.1961
Tino Tracanna
saxophone, tenorThe first concert, with the Quintet, demonstrated the impressively wide musical scope of Fresu's arrangements, from a vibrating version of Mia Martini's "Almeno tu nell'universo," with an exquisite piano intro by Cipelli and the heavenly timbre of Fresu's trumpet, to a melancholic "Lascia ch'io pianga," where the rhythm session seemed to literally weave the underlying beats, thread by thread.
The collaboration with the Alborata String Quartet, on the other hand, showed an extremely original dialogue between jazz, contemporary classical music, and the Sardinian folk tradition. Alborada's own name comes from a Spanish dance brought to the Italian island during the Catalan-Aragonese occupation.
The first piece, "Miserere of Santu Lusurgiu," showed its religious melodic line, each phrase imbued with mystical minimalism. The classical atmosphere set by the strings' sonorities in the second piece, "Corale Pop," was emphasized by Fresu's sudden electronic reverberations. On Karl Jenkins' "The Fifth Season," a sophisticated viola intro was heightened by Fresu's flugelhorn, echoing with pure breath sounds passing smoothly through the mouthpiece.
At the end of the concert, an unusual 3/4 version of the Sardinian "Ave Maria" (arranged by Didier Leissen)—a sort of religious hymn for the Italian island—was played by Fresu's half-muted trumpet, while the strings resounded in the concert hall like a Gregorian chant of incredible intensity.
Renato Sellani Trio
Sellani opened his concert with a fast tempo version of "Besame Mucho," relying on a soft touch which created a sharp, stylish contrast with his pace. His notes left the room to a loud, percussive solo on double bass by Massimo Moriconi.
The extra slow
Chet Baker
trumpet and vocals1929 - 1988
An original piece by Sellani, originally conceived for a 30-piece orchestra, closed the set. The dynamics passed from one extreme to another, from a ruthless run to a meditative pianissimo. Sellani joked about the fact that the composition was supposed to be his self-portrait, and thus pretty ugly. Yet, the result was a jewel of compositional beauty.
Greta's Bakery
Singer
Greta Panettieri
vocalsStefano Tamborrino
drumsPassing from fast-tempo samba rhythms to more funk jazz sonorities toward the end, the group revealed a high degree of dexterity in a surprisingly wide range of musical idioms, together with the ability to show the full power and sophistication of Panettieri's voice. A voice that will last.
Lydian Sound Orchestra
This was a performance poetry moment dedicated to 9/11, with a loud, lyrical reading, à la Amiri Baraka, accompanied by a percussive double bass, then the beginning of "Un Poco Loco," developed around a deliberately loud and chaotic climax. And this was only one of the surprises realized by the Lydian Sound Orchestra on stage.
Founded by conductor Riccardo Brazzale in 1989, the band shared a series of arrangements with the audience, which were incredibly refined in its choral effects. The abstract, cerebral sonorities of Roberto Rossi's "Qui Porta" were intertwined with
Paolo Birro
pianoThe orchestra's version of Nino Rota's "Amarcord," where
Pietro Tonolo
saxophoneb.1959
Paolo Fresu
trumpetb.1961
Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion with I Solisti di Perugia
As he said while describing his passion for the bandonéon, Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion decided to become a professional musician twelve years ago, while Argentina was facing one of the worst crises in its history. A choice that some may have seen as crazy at the time, yet it brought him to spend the first day of the 2012 Orvieto with the string group I Solisti di Perugia, and his own project dedicated to
Astor Piazzolla
bandoneon1921 - 1992
The intro to the concert developed around long-held notes reminiscent of an extreme minimalist approach to Piazzolla's melodies, with obsessive vibratos held as long as the instrument's breath allowed. Abstract music, yet never detached—rather, the opposite.
On "Oto?o Porte?o," the strings surrounded Jofre's solo with the warm embrace of a single note, while toward the end, after a surprising change of rhythm, the first violin solo resonated with pure romanticism.
Jofre's original compositions were similarly sensitively crafted. On his "Four Tango Movements," the vibratos on bandonéon were so intense as to mimic the depth of a church organ, while on "Hard Tango," initially filled with somber tones, they suddenly turned into a fast-paced joyful hymn to life.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio
Listening to pianist
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
pianob.1963
Each note in this pianist's phrasings felt like a perfect diamond, shining with its peculiar light. Rubalcaba was not afraid of letting the silence flow around his notes. On "Lennie's Pennies," even the breaks seemed to have their own voice.
There was a refinement in the emotional chromaticism of his playing which was almost alchemic in nature. On "Nueva Cubana" Marcus Gilmore's rim shots, bouncy and sharp like carnival fireworks, surrounded Rubacalba's vitally solar fortes on piano, with a repeated high note that felt like joyful laughter.
The researched variations of the Cuban pianist which filled the set with a sense of preciousness were in marvelous dialogue with Gilmore's polyrhythmic sensitivity and double bassist Matthew Brewer's exquisitely soft register.
Gianluca Petrella Septet—Il Bidone
This was a collaboration dedicated to the music of Nino Rota, featuring trombonist Gianluca Petrella, pianist Giovanni Guidi, singer John De Leo, saxophonist Beppe Scardino, electronic musician and DJ Andrea Sartori, double bassist Joe Rehmer and drummer Cristiano Calcagnile.
The set felt like a hyper-technological, futurist 21st century experiment, from beginning to end. If the electronic echoes and distortions contributed to the contemporary feeling of these arrangements, the key to this surrealist set was another thing—magical exchanges between the horns and De Leo's falsetto vocals, alternated with kazoo and toy microphones, Guidi's essentialist piano and Calcagnile's oud drumming style.
It was a Fellinian experiment, filled with laughter, bounciness and a soft, mellow melancholia which ran across the lines through their final accelerated version of "Amarcord."
Photo Credit
Courtesy of Umbria Jazz Days 1-2 | Days 3-5
Tags
Live Reviews
Sara Villa
Stan Tracey
Clark Tracey
Django Reinhardt
Franco Cerri
Daniele Mencarelli
Chano Dominguez
Miles Davis
Michel Camilo
Danilo Rea
Ares Tavolazzi
The Beatles
Paolo Fresu
Tino Tracanna
Chet Baker
Greta Panettieri
Stefano Tamborrino
Paolo Birro
Kyle Gregory
Pietro Tonolo
Astor Piazzolla
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Marcus Gilmore
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