Enrico Rava / Fred Hersch - The Song is You

September 14, 2022

Label: ECM Records, 2022

Personnel - Enrico Rava: flugelhorn; Fred Hersch: piano.

Italian trumpeter and flugelhornist Enrico Rava and American pianist Fred Hersch have been performing in a variety of settings for more than five decades, showing a particular fondness for the duo format. Rava paired up with other pianists in the past such as Enrico Pieranunzi, Ran Blake, and Stefano Bollani, whereas Hersch established duo associations with vocalist Jay Clayton, guitarist Bill Frisell, reedist Michael Moore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. The Song is You marks their first musical encounter on record, as well as Hersch's first appearance on the ECM Records.

With the natural ability to find their own spaces, the duo embarks on a set of ballad standards, one casual improvisation, and one original from each musician. They belt the poignant Brazilian poem “Retrato em Branco e Preto” - composed by Tom Jobim and Chico Buarque - with that genuine pathos that serves so well the emotionally driven style of Rava. Hersch is pretty efficient both in his harmonic choices and improvised abandonment. The following number, “Improvisation”, is exactly what the title suggests. They opt not to speed up, maintaining a similar flow of the aforementioned song but going motivic in the communication.

Hersch’s mature original “Child’s Song” was written for the late bassist Charlie Haden and plays like a lullaby smoothed out by beautiful melody. In turn, Rava’s “The Trial”, formerly included on the albums Noir (1996) and Happiness is (2003), lets us realize that a rich sound can have a light touch.

Regardless of the originals added, Rava and Hersch don’t take particularly new directions here, but their interpretation of standards always brings subtle variations and transformative ideas to the table. This is the case with the stripped-down version of “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”, which rises into staccato piano comping and unabashed brass emotion; and “The Song is You”, another ballad that goes abstract up to a point in its denouement. The infrequent risk-taking factor is still spotted on Monk’s classic “Misterioso”, a ride that, going from quiet to playful, has Hersch exploring wonderful intervals and chord sequences around which Rava’s horn hovers and darts with poise. The album is finalized in solo piano mode with “Round Midnight”, another paradigmatic tune drawn from Monk’s repertoire.

This is not a mandatory listening, but a competent jazz recording with a few intimate musical moments to admire.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Retrato em Branco e Preto ► 03 - I’m Getting Sentimental Over You ► 04 - The Song is You

Andrew Cyrille / William Parker / Enrico Rava - 2 Blues for Cecil

January 13, 2022

Label: TUM Records, 2022

Personnel - Enrico Rava: flugelhorn; William Parker: double bass; Andrew Cyrille: drums.

I’m a long-time admirer and follower of the music put out by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava (here on flugelhorn only), the bassist William Parker, and the drummer Andrew Cyrille, as leaders. These brilliant musicians, who often write with improvisation in mind, are constantly open to ideas, remaining alert and responsive to every sound that surrounds them.

Although appearing together for the first time as a trio on 2 Blues For Cecil , they were all part of the groundbreaking Cecil Taylor Unit in the past, but at different times. Cyrille and Parker played in the cited group for 11 years each, 64-75 and 80-91, respectively; Rava appeared twice alongside the free jazz piano genius in 1984 and 1988. This dedication to the memory of the pianist comprises four collective improvisations, one jazz standard, one original by Parker and two apiece from Rava and Cyrille.

“Improvisation No.2” is way more reflective and sparse than “Improvisation No.1”, which opens the record with singing bass lines and likable figures, ever-sparking drumming filled with multi-timbral discernment, and crystal-clear horn playing that manages to be agile and searing. Also collective improvisations, “Blues For Cecil No. 1” and “Blues For Cecil No. 2” have different feelings. The former starts off slowly and then swings conveniently with Parker mutating rhythmic flows with vision; the latter is a more conventional 12-bar blues limned with expressive melody and groove.

Rava populates his hasty, if carefully calibrated, 1991-penned “Ballerina” with restless trumpet, but it’s his other composition, “Overboard”, that enthralled me the most. This Ornette Coleman-inspired piece was revisited many times before, but is built afresh here with beautiful trumpet lines and an enveloping rhythmic web consisting of sure-footed bass walks and intense tom-tom focus.

Whereas Cyrille’s “Enrava Melody” was written for the trumpeter, who, blowing with ascendant verve, combines sophistication and stamina, Parker’s open piece “Machu Picchu”, grounded on a three-time-feel bass ostinato, is a static yet dazzling showcase for Rava’s melodic impressions. The trio concludes with a brushed, harmonically broken reading of Rodgers/Hart’s “My Funny Valentine”.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Improvisation No. 1 ► 08 - Overboard ► 09 - Machu Picchu

Enrico Rava - Edizione Speciale

October 14, 2021

Label: ECM Records, 2021

Personnel - Enrico Rava: trumpet, flugelhorn; Francesco Bearzatti: tenor saxophone; Giovanni Guidi: piano; Francesco Diodati: guitar; Gabriele Evangelista: double bass; Enrico Morello: drums.

Enrico Rava ranks high among the contemporary trumpeters/composers of the past five decades. He has been lauded for an incredible facility to incorporate jazz tradition and avant-garde liberties in his very personal music. This new ECM outing, recorded live two years ago at the Jazz Middelheim in Antwerp with an Italian sextet of talented musicians, shows his outstanding versatility through music that forges ahead with personality and style.

Rava’s “Infant”, the most fascinating number on Edizione Speciale, develops with a manic glee, starting with rhythmic accentuation in the melody and gorgeously synced movements. The outstanding guitar dissonances heard after the theme statement are infused with bright harmonics and foreboding noise, catching the attention. The mood recalls the spontaneity of one of my favorite albums of all times - The Pilgrim and the Stars (ECM, 1975), which featured Rava alongside American guitarist John Abercrombie and the Nordic rhythm section of Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. The squalling guitar playing of Francesco Diodati continues after Giovanni Guidi’s piano whirls, which usually crash in the lower registers with indomitable energy, and the improvisations succeed one after another, with bassist Gabriele Evangelista, saxophonist Francesco Bearzatti, and Rava, who concludes the section with a mix of angularity and feathery etherealness.

A pair of tracks combine two different tunes. One of them takes us from “Once Upon a Summertime”, originally a French ballad composed by Michel Legrand, to the medium-fast tempo that characterizes Rava’s 1996 piece “Theme For Jessica Tatum”, in which the improvisations stretch for a bit too long. The other one starts off with the very Italian melody of “Le Solite Cose”, which leads to “Diva”, a post-bop piece where Rava applies all the color and amplitude at his disposal. He repeats the feat on the popular Cuban song “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás”, during which both the group and the audience seem to have had so much fun.

Rounding out the track list, we have “Wild Dance”, which prematurely fuses melancholy nostalgia and contemplative spirituality before reaching an ambiguous, noisy nebulae in its effect-drenched sonic cosmos; and “The Fearless Five”, another old tune (first recorded in 1978 with trombonist Roswell Rudd in the lineup) that, featuring an animated trumpet/sax duel, brings into the fold elements of disparate forebears such as Andrew Hill, Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Infant ► 04 - The Fearless Five ► 05 - Le Solite Cose / Diva

Enrico Rava / Joe Lovano - Roma

August 27, 2019

Label: ECM Records, 2019

Personnel - Enrico Rava: trumpet; Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, tarogato; Giovanni Guidi: piano; Dezron Douglas: double bass; Gerald Cleaver: drums.

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and American saxophonist Joe Lovano, two formidable improvisatory forces and master impressionists, have been determinant in the evolution of jazz as a style. However, their connection with the German-based record label ECM occurred in different time periods. Whereas the trumpeter made his debut in 1975 with the masterpiece The Pilgrim and the Stars, the saxophonist only recently brought his ample musical charms to the cited imprint with the co-led project Trio Tapestry.

They now record together for the first time, forming an implacable bond and co-leading a corkscrewing Italian-American quintet whose remaining members belong to a younger generation and come from distinct backgrounds - Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi has been Rava’s faithful collaborator for many years, bringing his modern creative style to the table; American bassist Dezron Douglas has demonstrated a voracious appetite for hybrid styles where he typically bridges the worlds of jazz, funk, and soul; and the well-versed Brooklyn-based drummer Gerald Cleaver is frequently spotted in avant-jazz settings.

The five tracks on this album were recorded live at the Auditorium Parco Della Musica, Rome, with the group kicking things off with two beautiful Rava compositions. The opener, “Interiors” (retrieved from the 2009 album New York Days), starts as a sluggish waltz guided by sparse piano, earth-toned bass notes, and brushed snare drum. The melody is first introduced by Lovano and the music becomes wondrously polyphonous after Rava steps in. The trumpeter takes it to an emotional peak, driving us through peaks and valleys while boasting his enormous pitch range and dauntless rhythmic acrobatics. Though, he never eschews that incredibly melodic quality that defines his style. An exquisite bolero ambiance takes form as Guidi begins to talk, smooth and reserved at first, and then confident and fluid. The second piece is the old “Secrets” (included in the 1987 album of the same name), a breezy 4/4 cruise where the two frontmen cut loose with sharp statements. Rava's balance between tension and relaxation draws instinctive reactions from Cleaver, while Lovano shows off his dazzling post-bop language with a preference for the lower and middle registers.

The quintet swings hard and true on Lovano’s “Fort Worth” (a funky 24-bar blues originally included in the 1992 album From The Soul), which gets underway with an anxious bass pedal in tandem with a ride cymbal continuum. The saxophonist simply knocks us out in his tradeoffs with Rava. The lancinating propulsion of his phrasing is what drives this high-flying blowing jam into a heated climax.

Lovano lends another two compositions to the project: the more abstract and bemused “Divine Timing”, a new composition, and the innocuous “Drum Song”, which opens an 18-minute medley that also comprises John Coltrane’s “Spiritual” and Harold Arlen’s ballad standard “Over The Rainbow”. This three-song aggregation induces an initial rubato feel processed with a conscientious bass proem, prayerful Hungarian tárogató lines, and the skittering motion of Cleaver, who builds tension around the toms and cymbals. It then changes to that Coltranean 3/4 modal aura filled with spiritual chants, before ending with Guidi’s benevolent solo rendering of the above-mentioned and million-times-played standard.

Rava and Lovano not only vouch for thrills that give you a good shake, but also search for spirituality with pathos and fervor.