Togheter

Recorded live in Rome before a polite audience - radio audiences always are - Current Conditions features what Enrico Pieranunzi has called "the trio of my heart", with Marc Johnson on bass and Joey Baron on drums.
It also marks something of a change of direction, ora at least a broadening of his concers away from the deep vein of Romantic melancholia which he's been mining. This was apparent from last year's Enrico Pieranunzi tribute Play Morricone on the same label, which showed a new-found exuberance. Most compositions are by Pieranunzi but there are also what I assume are two free improvvisations credited the three musicians, "Joey's Magic Tricks" and "Trio Reflections". Presented with these in a blidfold test, I don't think Pieranunzi would have been my first guess. Other pieces are more characteristic however.

Tony Joe White, the original swamp rocker, continues to garner critical acclaim; his songwriting skills have only sharpened over the years and he remains a potent force. It was by combining country, rock and funky blue-eyed soul for his 1969 Top 10 Hit 'Polk Salad Annie' that White established his credentials. His album Dangerous was released Columbia Records in 1983, which featured the country hits 'The Lady in My Life' and 'We Belong Together'.

The "Rocky Horror Hammond Show" - or "The Rocky Funky Organ show" - or whatever you want. Italian organist Michele Pintatore, aka Mike Painter, warms up the 50's and 60's rock music at the organ, borrowing a bit from Booker T., but also from samba organ king Walt Wanderley. Mike calls his band the Family Shakers, and that can be understood literally. Hip shaking is announced, the rock legend lives.

Of the eight pieces in program, all for small groups of performers, six are of recent years, one in 1995 and "Song of Farewell" even in 1966. These tracks have in common some key characteristics: the parts of different instruments often move in apparent independence from one another, in a contrapuntal way, also rely mostly on sequences of small intervals. The dominant dynamic is "piano", mostly the "pianissimo", the times are generally slow or very slow. All this combines to create a "timeless", an inner feeling of suspension or extension of time, almost of fixity, which is essentially and strongly contemplative.