Just wanted to let everyone know that I was the subject of a short documentary, "What's Jazz?: The Lou Caputo Story," made by my son Matt Caputo and his friends from Elmwood Films. This little film is a timeline of my musical career up to now, including The Not So Big Band. It is loaded with old photos, archival footage of me playing and stories from my many years in music; including playing the 50th birthday party of Bill Clinton, performing and recording with legendary conga player Candido, with Tony Bennett at John Mayer's father's birthday party, performing at Ronnie Scott's in London, and also with The Not So Big Band through the years.
Also wanted to let you know that we have launched a Facebook fan page at long last and you can hit like on that here:
Compuesto por tres músicos de absoluta referencia en este país, Giulia Valle (compositora y contrabajista), Marco Mezquida (piano) y David Xirgu (batería), el Giulia Valle Trio significa la continuación de reconocidísimo Giulia Valle Group, pero en formato más reducido. Ahora nos presentan su nuevo álbum “Live in San Francisco” grabado en el festival de Jazz de la ciudad norteamericana el pasado mes de junio. El Giulia Valle Trio representa la libertad total de expresión e interacción entre sus tres miembros. Sus tres integrantes se conocen a la perfección y verlos y escucharlos supone un viaje para todos los sentidos, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que el repertorio está basado en música de la muy creativa y reconocida a nivel internacional Giulia Valle.
Su música, intensa y sorprendente, te atrapa desde el primer momento y te lleva por toda suerte de caminos. Se trata de una música "viva", repleta de matices y contrastes, en la que intensidad rítmica y melodías arrebatadoras, alto voltaje y situaciones intimistas se entrelazan, sorprendiendo al oyente a todo momento. Giulia es a día de hoy considerada una de las más sorprendentes compositoras de la escena jazzística nacional e internacional, y se está forjando un nombre tanto a nivel europeo como en la escena estadounidense.
"Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic." is one of my favorite movie quotes, taken from the 1982 picture „The State of Things“ by Wim Wenders. In the first rehearsal of the music on this recording we didn’t have enough time to work out the complete arrangement of the tune with the working title “The State of Things”. So at the first concert we played only the rehearsed part, and the title took on an enhanced meaning. It gave me the certainty that I’d found the right title, not only for this tune but for the whole production. It shows the state of things concerning my music--deriving the description from a more musical point of view, yet always keeping in mind this wonderful, dark movie and that splendid quote. Once again I am more than thrilled to have had the possibility to convert my ideas into sound with these extraordinary musicians. This time enriched by Jim McNeely as our guest at the piano, not only adding brightness through his soloing but also complementing and enhancing the musically rich color palette of the ensemble. So I hope that listeners might let themselves go completely into our music. And maybe one or another image might arise in the mind at times in color, other times in black and white.
1. Vertical Convertible (feat. Jim McNeely) 5:59
2. The State of Things (feat. Jim McNeely) 16:41
3. Up (feat. Jim McNeely) 10:42
4. Shimmering Daylight on a Wooden Pale (feat. Jim McNeely) 7:44
5. Number 18 as a Basic Idea (feat. Jim McNeely) 11:21
6. Poem for Them (feat. Jim McNeely) 5:55
7. Conversion Non Vertical (feat. Jim McNeely) 6:31
This re-release of the 1999 recording Live At Birdland has been remastered for optimal sound quality and includes a bonus track not previously included on the album. Lee Konitz was born in 1927 in Chicago. When he was 11 years old, he received his first instrument, a clarinet, but later dropped the instrument in favor of the tenor saxophone. He eventually moved from tenor to alto. His greatest influences at the time were the Swing big bands he and his brother listened to on the radio, in particular Benny Goodman. He started his professional career in 1945, and played with all the greats, from Miles Davis to Joe Henderson. Kenny Wheeler was born in 1930 in St. Catharines, Ontario. He studied trumpet in Toronto and moved to London in 1952. Versatile artist as he was, he played free improv in the Globe Unity Orchestra of Alexander von Schlippenbach as well as jazz-rock in the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble.
He passed away on September 18, 2014. Light shines on this rerelease, on the glistening vibrato of the alto saxophone, the lyrical melancholy of the flugelhorn, the spinning web-like weaving of the piano as well as the clever architecture of the bass. Everything joins into a shimmer mesh of interaction and strategy of technical brilliance and solo sophistication.
