Mario Pavone The Tampa Quartet - Isabella (June 2021 clean feed records)

Mario Pavone recorded two albums in the final stages of a cancer that he fought for 17 years, when 2021 was starting: “Blue Vertical” (Out of Your Head Records) and this “Isabella”. Now that Pavone isn’t with us anymore, the second of these two final editions has a special significance: it’s a pungent tribute to his granddaughter Isabella, who died in 2020 when she wasonly 23 years old and whom, he said, «stole my heart since her birth». The feelings involved are deep and they’re reflected in the inner tissue of the music. Pavone had one thing in mind: «My joy will be in re-uniting with her.»

This is the antecipation of that joy turned into music. An autodidact double bassist with very personal techniques (firstly shown to the world when he joined Bill Dixon and Thomas Chapin) and a rich musical mind needing the collaboration of others (Marty Ehrlich and Steven Bernstein in the past) to put it on paper, this time he had trumpeter Dave Ballou as the arranger and accomplice in translating his ideas to a group sound. With his son Michael playing guitar and with friends Mike DiRubbo and Michael Sarin, Pavone created the most beautiful suite about the noblest of all emotions, love, and about how love survives even death.

1. Twardzik 06:45

2. Philosophy Series 06:20

3. Blue Vertical 07:27

4. Isabella 07:05

5. Good Treble 07:43

6. OKWA 05:03

7. 2/3rds Radial 04:59

8. Double Elkna 01:07

Michael Pavone guitar

Mike DiRubbo alto saxophone

Mario Pavone double bass

Michael Sarin drums

All compositions by Mario Pavone (Pavo Publishing/BMI) | All arrangements by Dave Ballou

Recorded on February 28 and March 1 at Springs Theatre, Tampa, Florida | Recorded and mixed by John Stephan | Mastered by David Zuchowski

Produced by Mario Pavone | Executive Producer Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

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Mario Pavone / Dialect Trio +1 - Blue Vertical (June 18, 2021 on Out Of Your Head Records)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mario Pavone / Dialect Trio + 1 - Blue Vertical (OOYH 010)

To be released June 18, 2021 on Out Of Your Head Records

"Mario Pavone’s jazz can possibly be heard two different ways: the rhythmic and harmonic grids of bebop and all that descends from it, and the cathartic tracing-in-air of free jazz." --Ben Ratliff, New York Times

Mario Pavone / Dialect Trio + 1 - Blue Vertical (OOYH 010): Blue Vertical is to be the final recording by the legendary bassist and composer Mario Pavone, who passed on May 15 2021. Though in the final stages of a 17-year battle with cancer, Pavone pushed throughout the past seven weeks to make sure this music would be a part of his recorded legacy. On March 25 and 26 2021 he gathered his Dialect Trio with Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey (an active group since 2014), and the addition of his longtime collaborator Dave Ballou on trumpet, to record the music that has become Blue Vertical. Blue Vertical is releasing simultaneously with the album Isabella (Clean Feed), both of which are dedicated to Mario's granddaughter, Isabella Pavone, a 23-year-old mother of four who died tragically in June 2020.

In the wonderful interview Mario Pavone Makes His Final Statement with journalist Kevin Whitehead, which was featured recently in Downbeat Magazine, Mario Pavone said:

“I’m just happy to get these two releases done. It took every bit of energy, and the music is what got me through. I’ve had a great life and I’m so appreciative of all the players who jumped in and generously contributed, from the heart. I’m grateful, happy, satisfied with my life, ready to move to this next cycle.”

The recording shows his partners in the Dialect Trio (Mitchell and Sorey) to be in their typical telepathic form, following Pavone into every nook and cranny of these compositions. Dave Ballou on trumpet (who also arranged all of this music for Pavone) adds another very welcome dimension to the overall sound. The way the trumpet melodies align with Mitchell’s right hand is stunning, and Ballou is clearly an equal member of a quartet and not the fourth wheel in a trio. The band plays with a sensitivity that is appropriate for the moment, but the recording is also joyous and celebratory. Mario Pavone has released 34 albums over the course of an almost 60-year career. Blue Vertical is the testament of a life truly well-lived, and a beautiful final gift from an absolute master of this music. 

Martin Johnson wrote a heartfelt and enlightening appreciation of Mario Pavone for NPR, which is well worth a read for additional background info. You can find the article HERE

A full bio, additional info, and media spanning Mario's entire careeer are available at mariopavone.com

1. Twardzik

2. OKWA

3. Blue Poles

4. Isabella

5. Philosophy Series

6. Blue Vertical

7. Good Treble

8. Legacy Stories

9. Face Music

Mario Pavone - bass, compositions

Dave Ballou - trumpet, arrangements

Matt Mitchell - piano

Tyshawn Sorey - drums

This album is dedicated to Isabella Pavone (November 12,1996 - June 10, 2020)

All compositions by Mario Pavone (Pavo Publishing ) / BMI, and produced by Mario Pavone.

All arrangements by Dave Ballou.

Recorded on March 25 and 26, 2021 by Dave Stollar at Samurai Hotel Studio, Astoria, Queens, NYC.

Mixed by Ed Tetreault. Mastered by Michael MacDonald at AlgoRhythms Mastering.

Artwork and design by TJ Huff (huffart.com). Cover photo by Maurice D. Robertson.

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Peter McEachern Trio: Bone-Code (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Peter McEachern had a long-standing collaboration with Mario Pavone by the time he met Michael Sarin in the early 90’s. The three musicians recorded “Insomnia” by Thomas Chapin as part of Chapin’s Trio Plus Brass, a formidable octet. McEachern repaid Chapin’s invitation by asking him to play on his CD “Shockwave”, and their paths continued to cross along the years. Pavone invited the trombonist for six of his records, and in addition McEachern and Sarin had an intriguing duo. “Bone-Code” is the culmination of those experiences under the spell of Chapin’s idiosyncratic saxophone lines, and Pavones’s eclectic compositions, but also of unexpected turns like McEachern’s stint with minimalist composer LaMonte Young, and his study of monophonic and microtonal music. This is coupled with the blues feeling he mastered with his twelve-year collaboration with bluesman Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. All this is evident in an album dedicated to his trombone concepts and to his friend, trombonist Roswell Rudd. Ever present is McEachern’s love of field hollers, which contributed to the birth of jazz and blues and for the trombone trio format lead by the likes of Albert Mangelsdorff, Ray Anderson, and George Lewis, mixing tradition and innovation.

Peter McEachern  trombone

Mario Pavone  double bass

Michael Sarin  drums

Recorded at Stone Studio Lakeville Ct June 20 and 21, 2017 by Graham Stone | Mixed and Mastered By Graham Stone

Produced by Peter McEachern | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

Mario Pavone - Vertical (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2017)

By now, Mario Pavone doesn’t need more presentations: he’s on the top of the jazz nobility of today, after a life of partnerships with the greatest, namely Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, Thomas Chapin, Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Marty Ehrlich and others of similar status. In his own bands, Pavone chooses the best in activity: his new opus, “Vertical”, include the contributions of Tony Malaby, Oscar Noriega, Dave Ballou, Peter McEachern and Mike Sarin. With such luminaries, the music could only have a solar quality: it’s colorful, bright, warm and intense. 

The compositions extend the percussive approach to the double bass which imediatly identifies this extraordinary musician: Pavone’s integrated work with drummer Sarin is propulsive, nervous and energetic, cutting through the clouds of sound formed by the reeds and the brass instruments. The horn frontline can be formed by only four contributors, but sometimes it seems we’re in front of an entire orchestra.

This is dense and intense music, full of grain and humanity, powerful and fragile at the same time, meticulously structured and spontaneous in the same measure, with motivating theme lines and loose improvisations. It has everything you can ask for in just a jazz album.

1. Ellipse 6:16

2. Vertical 7:19

3. Suitcase In Savannah 4:26

4. Broken 2:40

5. Cube Code 5:55

6. Blue Drum 1:52

7. Start Oval 5:07

8. Horizontal 2:15

9. Two Thirds Radial 6:20

10. Axis Legacy 5:03

11. Voice Oval 4:55

Mario Pavone double bass

Dave Ballou trumpet

Tony Malaby tenor, soprano saxophone

Oscar Noriega clarinet, bass clarinet

Peter McEachern trombone

Michael Sarin drums

All compositions by Mario Pavone (Pavo Publishing/BMI) | All arrangements by Dave Ballou

Recorded on June 16th, 2016 at Systems Two , Brooklyn NY by Mike Marciano | Mixed and mastered at Systems Two by Max Ross

Produced by Mario Pavone | Executive Producer Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos