Massimo Citro

Massimo Farao' is a wonderful Italian pianist who has played and recorded with Red Holloway, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Tony Scott, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jeff Tain Watts, Jack DeJohnette and Chris Potter, among others. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates.

Massimo recorded a stream of great performances in his short lifetime, and this one is no exception. If some of the material sounds a tad dated, the vast majority is first-rate, and Urbani makes the most of all of it. The best pieces are the familiar ones: the two alternate takes of "What's New" and the startling different versions of "The Way You Look Tonight." Urbani's quartets always feature the leading Italian jazzers, and this one includes bassist Giovanni Tommaso, creative original pianist Danilo Rea, and the ubiquitous Roberto Gatto. On two of the less interesting numbers written by Tommaso, the group is joined by tenor saxophonist Maurizio Urbani. Hearing Massimo on "My Little Suede Shoes" leaves no doubt about his roots, as if the giant picture of Bird on the cover leaflet juxtaposed with the title, "The Blessing" could be misunderstood. A class act, and one that should not disappoint the most discriminating critics of hard bop.

Massimo Faraò (piano), Nicola Barbon (bass), Roberto "Bobo" Facchinetti (drums) and Ernesttico (percussions), featuring Davide Palladin on jazz guitar. Recorded at Riverside Studio in Torino on December 16th, 2019.
Massimo Faraò is a wonderful Italian pianist who has played and recorded with Red Holloway, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Tony Scott, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jeff Tain Watts, Jack DeJohnette and Chris Potter, among others. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates.

Massimo Farao' is a wonderful Italian pianist was born May 16th, 1965, in Genoa. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. He studied piano with Maestro Flavio Crivelli and began his career collaborating with musicians from the Genoa Area, especially with the bassist Piero Leveratto. In 1993 he was invited for the first time in the USA. He plays with Red Holloway and Albert "Tootie" Heath on a tour on the West Coast. In the same year he founded "We love Jazz" Workshop, now become one of the biggest events in Europe for jazz teaching.

Only months after ASV's selection of chamber music by Nino Rota, which I reviewed in the May issue, here is another disc to prove that his output was not restricted to his highly effective film scores. This one is by an expert Milanese group, newly formed by the pianist Massimo Palumbo. Its programme overlaps with ASV's in the two postwar trios; at slightly slower speeds, Chandos's Ensemble Nino Rota gets rather more out of these essays in very mild modernism than ASV's Ex Novo Ensemble.