Label: ECM Records, 2024
Personnel - Giovanni Guidi: piano; Thomas Morgan: bass; João Lobo: drums; James Brandon Lewis: tenor saxophone (#1,4,5, ).
Italian jazz pianist and composer Giovanni Guidi, who gained international prominence playing with legendary trumpeter Enrico Rava, has released his latest album, A New Day, the fifth on the ECM label. This album features him in trio and quartet settings with regular collaborators, American bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo, as well as a new musical partner, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who blends his melodies terrifically with the group ethos.
Defined by the leader as a journey of discovery, the program opens with “Cantos del Ocells”, a traditional Catalan lullaby popularized by Joan Baez in the ‘60s. Taking on the shape of a tearful, spacious ballad, the piece is texturized with breathable piano atmospherics, a serene bass foundation, and unobtrusive percussion, with pragmatic saxophone considerations hovering atop. Other album highlights delivered in quartet include the collectively improvised “Only Sometimes”, where Morgan creates a reliable atmosphere before turning into a modal mood over which Lewis produces stimulating Coltranean lines that grow fervently spiritual; and “Luigi (the Boy Who Lost His Name)”, a poignant lament showcasing a folk radiance in the melody and where Lobo’s brushwork occasionally plods against the harmonic flow with contrasting timbral elegance.
The album features mostly open, introspective numbers, and the trio works are no exception to the rule. “To a Young Student” embraces a pensive chamber minimalism with dark tones produced by bowed bass and piano; “Means For a Rescue” makes good use of silences and enhances enigmatic expressions, later stirred by Guidi’s animated chordal activity as the pulsing tension increases; whereas the delicate interpretation of the standard “My Funny Valentine” melts down into a light and loose approach that still makes it identifiable.
Guidi and his peers find freedom within open structures and rubato dramatization in a record replete with intimacy and restraint. Although not transcending at all times, Guidi proves to have a singular voice, being a legitimate representative of the European jazz sphere.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Cantos del Ocells ► 04 - Only Sometimes ► 05 - Luigi (the Boy Who Lost His Name)