John Abercrombie Quartet

Enzo Pietropaoli (born in 1955) is an Italian jazz bassist. Pietropaoli has performed or recorded with, among others, Chet Baker, Lester Bowie, Woody Shaw, Kenny Wheeler, Franco Ambrosetti, Bob Berg, Johnny Griffin, Michael Brecker, Lee Konitz, Archie Shepp, Phil Woods, Curtis Fuller, Toots Thielemans, Richard Galliano, Gianni Coscia, John Taylor, Rita Marcotulli, Cedar Walton, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Ginger Baker, Han Bennink, Billy Cobham, Kenny Clarke, Maria Pia De Vito, Norma Wynstone, Gianmaria Testa.

Stalwart Italian jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava introduces his new working quartet for this Wild Dance, joined by longtime playing partner trombonist Gianluca Petrella. Petrella contributed to Rava's three ECM post-millennium quintet albums Tribe (2011), The Words & The Days (2005) and Easy Living (2003). The basic quartet features a guitar rather than piano, recalling Rava's 1970s ECM recordings with John Abercrombie, The Pilgrim And The Stars (1975) and The Plot (1976). Guitarist Francesco Diodati is more of a texturalist in the Bill Frisell mode, contributing to the group sound in different ways from tune to tune. "I often prefer to hear a guitarist playing behind a soloist—not least because guitarists can't play chords with 10 fingers," Rava jokes.

In 1994 Hein Van de Geyn created his group BASELINE with John Abercrombie and Joe LaBarbara. He received the Bird Award and the prestigious Prins Bernhard Fonds Music Prize (for the stimulation of young musicians and his merit for European Jazz) and was elected as "Best European Acoustic Bass Player".

Better known as a big band and session player, tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Bob Mintzer expanded his playing and his repertoire on this '90 quartet date. Working with guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Peter Erskine, Mintzer moved into more probing, unpredictable, and challenging areas and played with more fire and conviction. Abercrombie, Johnson, and Erskine each fulfilled their reputations; the results were both enlightening and surprising.