Trovesi Fugasi

The virtuosic duo of multi-reedist Gianluigi Trovesi (performing here on clarinets) and accordionist Gianni Coscia makes its first ECM appearance with In cerca di cibo. Over the course of an affectionate hour, these two points of light join to create a binary star that shines in full spectrum. The album’s title means “In search of food,” thus indicating seeds sown and re-sown until they bear new fruit to nourish the ears. It also points to the music’s folk origins, glazed and fired to perfection.

Is it jazz? Some of it is, but much of it isn't. Then what is it? The Ensemble FisFuz (for the purpose of pronunciation, there's an umlaut over the `u' in `Fuz') plays world music, an amalgam of sounds and themes from Spain and Portugal, the Middle and Far East, Mediterranean and Klezmer music, and, yes, with Trovesi several albums his affinity for folk music and a variety of popular forms. And as his marvelous duet albums with accordionist Giani Coscia (see esp. In cerca di cibo, 2000) have shown, he can improvise on almost any melody! Although he melds well with clarinetist Maye, and they do wonderful harmony and counterpoint passages together, it is easy to tell when Trovesi is in the lead -there is a bluesy tone to his clarinet, a way he skews notes as though swerving up to them at moments. Maye plays equally well -her clarinet solos sound `purer', as I just said, less blues-intonated.

“For all its ingenuities, this is just a degree less welcoming and appealing than its predecessor [From G to G]. Much of it revolves around the ancient European melody L’Hommes Armé, out of which came pieces by numerous composers …. Five tunes – ‘Tango,’ ‘Tengo,’ ‘Tingo,’ ‘Tongo,’ and ‘T’Ungo’ – are used to interlude the big pieces, which are themselves broken up into diverse fragments; and then there’s a crackpot version of ‘Mood Indigo’ and a tribute to Eric Dolphy based on a re-harmonization of ‘Miss Ann.’ Trovesi’s team play with their usual aplomb but, as delightful as it often is from moment to moment, the record never quite coheres or compels the was From G to G did."

This hugely enjoyable and highly inventive album is dedicated to the late Umberto Eco, a lifelong friend of accordionist Gianni Coscia and an ardent champion of this particular duo. Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loanna, a meditation on the nature of memory, inspires Trovesi and Coscia on their own nostalgic and exploratory journey, referencing music mentioned in the novel and free-associating upon its philosophical themes. As ever, the Italians cast a wide net, playing songs associated with Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller and George Formby, paraphrasing Janáček, dipping into movie music, and improvising most creatively while keeping their dedicatee in view. Repertoire revisits “Interludio”, a piece that Umberto Eco and Gianni Coscia collaborated on 70 years ago, and Gianluigi Trovesi crafts a new composition on the letters of Eco’s name. From multiple perspectives, a brilliant tribute.

After the intoxicating heat of Mediterraneo, released in 2013, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata – again in the company of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, soprano Raquel Andueza and alto singer Vincenzo Capezzuto – now head to the cooler climes of England with Music for a while, an album based on the haunting, graceful and sometimes deeply moving music of Henry Purcell.

Specially priced limited edition anthology with selected tracks from ECM releases of 2000. As with "Selected Signs I" (1997), the album, assembled by producer Manfred Eicher, creates its own atmosphere and reveals a suite-like logic and continuity.

La produzione di ECM è sconfinata ed estrarne una raccolta antologica sarebbe stato davvero improbo. Musica Jazz ha voluto così sottolineare un aspetto non sempre chiaro ai più, ovvero la qualità artistica e strumentale dei musicisti italiani, caratteristiche che hanno meritato l’attenzione di Manfred Eicher e del suo staff. E anche in questo caso la selezione non è stato semplice, costringendo a trascurare – obtorto collo ma per prosaiche ragioni di spazio – alcune eccellenti produzioni del passato.