Record Reviews

LORENZO DE FINTI ~ MYSTERIUM LUNAE LOSEN 268 (Barcode: 7090025832680) ~ ITALY ~ Jazz Recorded: 2021 Released: 2022 This is the third album on the Norwegian LosenFind albums on this label Records label by Italian pianist / composer Lorenzo De FintiFind albums by this artist, recorded in a quartet setting with trumpeter Alberto MandariniFind albums by this artist, bassist Stefano Dall`OraFind albums by this artist and drummer Marco CastiglioniFind albums by this artist. The album presents five original compositions, all co-composed by De Finti and Dall`Ora, one of which appears here in two versions: studio and live-in-the-studio. The music is highly melodic, with long, suite-like themes slowly developed by the instrumentalists, somewhat similar to the modus operandi of Progressive Rock in the early 1970s, but performed by acoustic instruments and featuring more improvisation. The omnipresent Italian proximity to Classical Music forms and sometimes bombastic expressionism always sounds great to those who love and appreciate that musical idiom, myself included. The music develops slowly and requires patience from the listener, which today is an asset not commonly present, but those who are willing to follow the pace of the music are richly rewarded by melancholic ventures, full of majestic themes, moving cadences and almost Baroque ornamentations. All four members of the quartet are seasoned instrumentalist, able to create the atmospheric vistas this music requires. Personally I especially love the superb bass parts by Dall`Ora, who is the most Jazz spirited player on this album, but as already stated all the performances as truly engaging. Overall, this is a beautiful album, especially for lovers of melodic / lyrical / melancholic Jazz, but also to listeners originating from Prog and Classical Music should be able to find this music fascinating. Definitely well done!

Updated: 18/10/2022Posted: 18/10/2022

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ANNA GADT ~ MYSTERIUM LUNAE HEVHETIA 0170 (Barcode: 8588005258326) ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2017 - 2018 Released: 2018 This is the fifth album by Polish vocalist / composer Anna GadtFind albums by this artist and her second cooperation with the fabulous Polish piano trio RGGFind albums by this artist, which comprises of pianist Lukasz OjdanaFind albums by this artist, bassist Maciej GarbowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Krzysztof GradziukFind albums by this artist. Cellist Annemie OsborneFind albums by this artist from Luxembourg is the guest artist. The album presents seventeen pieces some of which incorporate four poems written by the Polish / Jewish poet Boleslaw LesmianFind albums by this artist, but most feature only wordless vocalese. Nine of the pieces were composed by Gadt, one each by Ojdana and Garbowski and the remaining six are improvisations. The album was recorded at the excellent Studio Tokarnia and engineered by Jan SmoczynskiFind albums by this artist, with the usual superb sound quality. From the very onset of the album it is obvious that this is her most ambitious effort so far, mostly improvised and full of complex melodic themes, which last sometimes only for a brief moment before being transformed into another improvised passage. With wordless vocalese dominating the proceedings, this is perhaps the boldest step in Polish vocal Jazz since decades, bridging the void stretching over forty years into the past, when Urszula DudziakFind albums by this artist created her revolutionary vocal experiments in the early 1970s. Gadt is exceedingly fortunate to develop the collaboration with RGG, who are one of the most open minded and technically proficient Polish ensembles able to match her vision, which as a result goes way beyond accompaniment and becomes a fully integrated musical creation. The piano trio also moves consistently over time towards more open formats and Improvised Music, and proves to be a most amicable companion to Gadt, which is fully demonstrated herein. It is also very satisfying to see Gadt embarking upon the ambitious and highly aesthetic Jazz & Poetry idiom, especially in view of the fact that a century old poems are able to become a part of today´s Avant Garde, alive and kicking, timeless and penetrating. Words and sounds combined are able to build highly complex and intricate intellectual structures, which can be, when properly executed like in this case, more potent than simply the sum of their ingredients. Overall this is a brilliant piece of contemporary music, fascinating, exciting and challenging, which is a sublime proof of the fact that music knows no limits and there is always a way to step beyond the horizon. My sincere thanks to the musicians involved, not only for the intellectual pleasure their music bestows upon the listener, but primarily for keeping the ray of hope alight in a word full of mediocre darkness. Hats off Milady and Gents!

Updated: 17/12/2018Posted: 20/03/2018

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