Monday, February 22, 2016

Alessandro Collina, Marc Peillon & Rodolfo Cervetto (feat. Mattia Cigalini) - Alto Monk (On Air) 2015



Il trio nasce nel 2010, formato dal pianista Alessandro Collina con Marc Peillon al contrabbasso e Rodolfo Cervetto alla batteria. Ben presto il gruppo si apre alla collaborazione altri solisti di grandissimo valore quali Andy Gravish, Michael Campagna, Fabrizio Bosso, Max Ionata.

Stavolta, per un tributo a un gigante quale fu Thelonious Monk,  è Mattia Cigalini a completare il gruppo. Giovanissimo, classe 1989, Cigalini ha già suonato coi maggiori jazzisti italiani e stranieri quali Fresu, Bollani, Randy Brecker, Uri Caine. Sax alto dotato di stile modernissimo e di un suono potente, sempre al servizio delle idee e della musica, Mattia ha saputo entrare in sintonia con il trio, realizzando insieme un cd dal titolo " Alto Monk ", edito e distribuito da Incipit/Egea, sotto la guida di Paul Jeffrey ( a cui il disco è dedicato ), ultimo sassofonista di Monk da poco scomparso, frequentatore abituale dei palchi e dei jazz club liguri.


Alessandro Collina, piano
Marc Peillon, double bass
Rodolfo Cervetto, drums
Mattia Cigalini, sax

1. Shuffle Boy
2. Bright Missisipi
3. Ask Me Now
4. Bemsha Swing
5. San Francisco Holiday
6. Bye-Ya
7. Ba-Lu Bolivar Ba-Lues Are
8. Ugly Beauty
9. Little Rootie Tootie


Domi

Braskiri - Killing the Mozzarella (2015)




How do you kill a mozzarella and why give that name to a CD? Dirk Balthaus, the Braskiri quartet pianist has the answer. “I’ve had a musical connection for over 20 years with Bert Lochs, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn and has written the tunes on this recording. We’ve made a lot of albums together. It was time to make a new one. Bert is always busy writing tunes. He sets the scenes in his life to music. On tour in Italy he was much impressed by the mozzarella he ate in Naples. He thought it funny to write a tune about how you open a package of mozzarella. You take your knife and you put it in the package, in the plastic, and the water spills out. He thought somehow - that’s killing the mozzarella!”

Killing the Mozzarella, sharp, edgy and humorous, is just one track on the CD of the same name. Capriccioso, comes from the same week spent in the south of Italy. Full of subtle but unexpected harmony it could be a reflection of Naples street life, “…where everything can happen”. Brave Mr Blackbird, lyrical, warm and rather beautiful, describes a bird in Bert Loch’s garden, fed by his children, that returns every year, despite its nest regularly being destroyed by other birds or the cat.

Koempel, pulsating and powerful, though also lyrical, is about mineworkers in the Ruhrgebiet . Both Bert Lochs and Dirk Balthaus come from mining areas. Bert wrote the piece for his father’s father, a real “Koempel”*, a music lover and very gently man. Bert hopes that he looks down from heaven and smiles when they play the piece. Not the Man with the Horn is a homage to Avishai Cohen the bass player, though his namesake Avishai Cohen the trumpeter is also highly respected by members of Braskiri.


Bert Lochs, trumpet, flugelhorn
Steffen Granly, tuba
Dirk Balthaus, grand piano, fender rhodes
Wim Kegel, drums

1. Killing the Mozzarella
2. Brave Mr. Blackbird
3. Koempel
4. Capriccioso
5. Not the Man with the Horn
6. Tale-o-mat
7. Uncloud
8. Elegy
9. Valse du vent


VÍCTOR