I’m happy to announce the release of my new duo album „Little Peace Lullaby“!!!
2014 italian master pianist Stefano Battaglia and me met at Vienna’s famous concert hall, the Musikverein, to record my cycle of songs entitled „Little Peace Lullaby“. Inspired by scandinavian, mediterranean, persian and in particular eastern european contemporary romantic music the „Lullabies“ are a collection of personal dedications and love songs for people who have enriched my life. Now the songs appears by famous german jazz label Enja/Yellowbird Records.
With the silent and subtle „Little Peace Lullabies“ I would like to thank all the people who support my work and believe in my music – all my listeners!!!
Playing with great italian piano master Stefano Battaglia is like coming home. Everything is easy, you always feel comfortable and together we are telling wonderful small musical stories. Our collaboration started in 2013 when I wrote a message to Stefano just to tell him that I’m a big fan of his music. Within an hour he replied and two months later we met for the first time and started our corporate journey into our musical universe. Since then we’re working most of the time in the duo context.
Our music is inspired by contemporary classical, scandinavian, mediterranean and oriental music as well. In 2016 our first album „Little Peace Lullaby“ was released. Recorded in the so-called „Glaeserne Saal“, part of the world famous viennese Musikverein, „Little Peace Lullaby“ is a subtle cycle of love songs. Stefano and me have performed meanwhile a lot together and toured countries like Austria, Poland, South Korea, Turkey and the Iran. Beside the duo we also perform regularly in trio setting with persian Sufi goddess Sahar Lotfi. In late 2016 together with Stefano and the highly talented young austrians Judith Ferstl and Judith Schwarz on double bass and drums I’ll present a completely new quartet program.
'He reminds me of the young Django Bates, and the impression Django made on me in the 1980s - great improv chops, strong character as a player and a composer, evident love of the jazz tradition without wanting to repeat the past, very English sense of humour. He’s the kind of artist you always want to stay tuned in to, because you know he’s going to keep on coming up with surprises.’ JOHN FORDHAM
Elliot Galvin is one of the rising stars of UK jazz. A superbly gifted composer and pianist, whose maverick imagination and magpie like ability to blend a disparate world of influences into his own unique musical vision has seen him compared to Django Bates, although in truth he sounds like no one except himself. From deconstructing standards to creating his own microtonal melodica, Galvin’s music is both playful and deadly serious, drawing on a wide range of influences from Keith Jarrett to Stravinsky, Ligetti, Deerhoof and the Beatles as well as the films of David Lynch, the Dada movement and the literature of James Joyce.
A regular collaborator with Laura Jurd, he also plays in a free improv duo with Mark Sanders. But his main artistic vehicle is the Elliot Galvin Trio, which in 2014 was announced winner of the European Young Jazz Artist of the Year Award in Germany. That same year they released their debut album ‘Dreamland’ to rave reviews, with the Guardian calling it “audaciously accomplished” ****, Jez Nelson (BBC Radio 3, Jazz on 3) saying it was “Perhaps one of the strongest debuts that I've heard from a UK artist in a long while... extremely bold and progressive" and The German magazine 'JazzThing' naming it as an album of the year.
Punch is their second album and their debut for Edition Records.
PHRONESIS TICKET COMPETITION
We have a pair of tickets to give away for our 'Parallax' album launch show at Cadogan Hall in London on Sunday 12th
"The Mingus Suite" del compositore e arrangiatore Adriano Clemente è un ritratto jazz in sette movimenti ispirati dalla musica di Charles Mingus. Il disco - prodotto da Dodicilune e distribuito in Italia e all'estero da IRD e nei migliori store digitali a partire dal prossimo 27 maggio 2016- è un'idea che si è sviluppata nel 2013 partendo da alcune melodie composte da Clemente per il suo Akashmani Ensemble basate sulla struttura blues tipica della tradizione di Ellington e Mingus.
«Mentre i vari movimenti prendevano forma coerentemente, ebbi l'idea di un potenziale pezzo teatrale che metta in scena la morte del grande bassista e compositore mentre suona sul palco, ricordando quello che Mingus stesso aveva scritto nelle sue note di copertina a "Mingus at Monterey": una strana cosa successe mentre eseguivo "A Train". Mi attraversò la paura di morire. E la superai. Stavo guardando il cielo, e mi dissi: "Bene, eccomi qui, tesoro. Signore, credo che sia giunto il momento". Suonerò ancora meglio perché voglio essere perfetto quando morirò», precisa Clemente, in quest'opera affiancato da Francesco Lento (tromba), Mario Corvini(trombone), Daniele Tittarelli (sax alto), Marco Guidolotti(sax baritono, clarinetto, clarinetto basso), Riccardo Fassi(piano), Dario Rosciglione (contrabbasso), Andrea Nunzi(batteria), Roberto Ottaviano (sax soprano) e Raffaele Toninelli (contrabbasso).
Il primo tempo, "Inner Fires" (Fuochi Interiori), raffigura Mingus che suona durante il suo ultimo concerto con la sua band, e riflette una delle caratteristiche delle composizioni di Mingus nei cambi di tempo e di alternanza degli stati d'animo feroci e pacifici. Dopo un’introduzione, un assolo di contrabasso improvvisato di Dario Rosciglione conduce alla sezione centrale del primo movimento, eseguita in tempo veloce. Nel secondo movimento, "Memories of Duke" (Ricordi di Duke), Mingus ricorda la sua infanzia, quando ascoltò per la prima volta "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" di Ellington alla radio, citato brevemente alla fine del motivo. La coda al pianoforte è stata improvvisata da Riccardo Fassi.
"Urban Jungle" (Giungla Urbana), il primo intermezzo, è il suono della città presente intorno al club dove Mingus sta suonando, con il tipico caos e la violenza. È formato principalmente da cinque linee melodiche con le quali gli artisti hanno la libertà di interagire. Nel terzo tempo, "Circus" (Circo), Mingus ritorna con la mente ai giorni della sua infanzia. La sezione centrale è stata completamente improvvisata in studio, con Mario Corvini al trombone come solista principale.
Sul palco la band suona un blues minore ("Blues in Rags" (Blues Vestito di Stracci, quarto movimento), dove tutti i musicisti hanno la possibilità di eseguire un assolo, dopo il quale segue il secondo intermezzo, "Night City Blues" (Blues di città nella notte), su di una struttura blues di dieci battute. Il quinto tempo ritrae Mingus addormentato, in una ballata ispirata al famoso "The Man who Never Sleeps" ("L'uomo che non dorme mai"), con assoli di Marco Guidolotti al clarinetto, Dario Rosciglione al basso e Francesco Lento alla tromba.
Dopo una ripresa di "Urban Jungle" come terzo intermezzo, la band suona "Last Blues" ("L’Ultimo Blues"), una variazione su “Goodbye Porkie Hat” o "Theme for Lester Young", la melodia che Mingus compose sul palco dopo aver appreso della morte del grande sassofonista, che in questo caso rappresenta la morte dello stesso Mingus. Il brano inizia con un assolo improvvisato di Daniele Tittarelli seguito da un'introduzione scritta. Gli assoli sul tema sono di Daniele e di Riccardo Fassi. Il settimo ed ultimo tempo, "Requiem", si apre con un’introduzione straziante improvvisata sul clarinetto basso da Marco Guidolotti e continua con lo stile delle funeral marching bands di New Orleans, con assoli di Mario Corvini al trombone e di Francesco Lento alla tromba. Alla fine del "Requiem", il basso di Mingus riecheggia ancora in una sezione improvvisata da Dario Rosciglione, il quale riprende poi il tema del primo movimento, "Inner Fires" ("Fuochi Interiori"): il suo spirito sopravvive nella sua musica come i fuochi interni del suono primordiale, la forza creativa dell'universo.
Oltre alla suite sono presenti due composizioni. La prima è "Brown Bear’s Love Waltz" (Il Valzer d’Amore dell’Orso Bruno), il cui titolo originale era "Waltz for Sun Ra", con il baritono di Marco Guidolotti che espone il tema. L'ultimo brano, "For my Father", è eseguito dal compositore stesso al pianoforte in coppia con Roberto Ottaviano al sax soprano. Le linee sinuose del soprano esprimono l'ascesa dell'anima umana come un uccello liberato dalla sua gabbia.
Liner Notes (short english)
"The Mingus Suite, a Jazz Portrait in Seven Movements inspired by the music of Charles Mingus (1922-1979), is an idea that started in 2013 after I had composed a few tunes based on the blues structure for my Akashmani Jazz Ensemble. While the various movements took shape into a coherent whole, I thought of a potential theatrical piece showing Mingus's death while playing on the bandstand, remembering what he himself had written in "Mingus at Monterey": A weird thing happened during "A Train". The fear of my death surged through me. And I overcame it. I was looking at the sky, and I said "Well, here I come, baby. Lord, I guess this is it." So I'm just gonna play better cause I want to sound good when I die. The first movement, Inner Fires, depicts Mingus playing his last concert, and reflects one of the characteristics of his compositions in the tempo changes and alternation of fierce and peaceful moods. After an intro by the horns, an improvised bass introduction opens the way to the up-tempo first section. In Memories of Duke, Mingus remembers his childhood, when he listened for the first time to Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" on the radio. The coda on the piano is an improvisation. Urban Jungle, the first interlude, is the sound of the city with its chaos and violence. Circus, whose central section has been improvised, brings Mingus back to his childhood. He wakes up from his reverie and the band plays Blues in Rags, the fourth movement, and then a second interlude, Night City Blues. The fifth movement, While You Are Asleep, is a ballad inspired by "The Man who Never Sleeps". After a reprise of Urban Jungle, the band plays Last Blues, a variation on "Theme for Lester Young", the tune that Mingus composed on stage after knowing of his death, and here a representation of his own death. An improvised solo followed by an introduction for alto opens the song.
The last movement, Requiem, is opened by the mourning sound of a bass clarinet improvisation, and continues in the style of the funeral marching bands. At the end, Mingus's bass again resounds in an improvised section, leading to a reprise of Inner Fires: his spirit survives in his music as the creative force of primordial sound. Besides the suite, we have two compositions, Brown Bear's Love Waltz, and For my Father, which was composed a few days after my father's death and recorded as a duet with Roberto Ottaviano. The sinuous lines of his soprano express the ascent of the human soul like a bird set free from its cage." Adriano Clemente
TRACKLIST
The Mingus Suite
1st mov. 1) Inner Fires
2nd mov. 2) Memories Of Duke
interlude 3) Urban Jungle I
3rd mov. 4) Circus
4th mov. 5) Blues In Rags
interlude 6) Night City Blues
5th mov. 7) While You Are Asleep
interlude 8) Urban Jungle II
6th mov. 9) Last Blues
7th mov. 10) Requiem/Inner Fires Reprise
11) Brown Bear's Love Waltz
12) For my Father
All compositions and arrangements by Adriano Clemente (Dodicilune edizioni)
(P) 2016
Dodicilune ED357
8033309693576
MUSICISTI
• AKASHMANI ENSEMBLE (1 - 11)
francesco lento, trumpet
mario corvini, trombone
daniele tittarelli, alto sax
marco guidolotti, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
