Giancarlo Nino Locatelli: A Decent Run

Who needs poetry in an age of internet memes, infinite scrolling and artificial intelligence? Poems ask us to linger over words, to discover meaning in silence as much as in language. Memes, by contrast, are consumed in an instant and forgotten just as quickly. We live in a culture that increasingly prizes immediacy over reflection, image over text and distraction over contemplation. So who still needs poetry? Italian clarinetist Giancarlo Nino Locatelli makes a compelling case that we all do.

With A Decent Run, Locatelli pays tribute to his friend, the English poet Tom Raworth (1938—2017), celebrating not only the poet's language but also his wit, spontaneity and irrepressible curiosity. Their friendship stretched back decades, including their collaboration on Il Grande Quarto D'Oraem (C.M.C., 1998).

Raworth's unmistakable voice can also be heard on No Hard Feelings—for Steve Lacy (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2026), recorded in 2000 with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. Throughout his career, Raworth approached language as an improviser approaches sound, constantly shifting, playful, surprising and alive. Locatelli responds in kind.

The project also recalls Steve Lacy's enduring fascination with poetry, particularly his collaborations with vocalist Irene Aebi. Locatelli employs the wonderfully versatile Carla Kihlstedt as both violinist and vocalist, allowing Raworth's poems to exist simultaneously as spoken text and song. On most tracks, listeners first hear the poet's own recorded voice before Kihlstedt transforms the same words into melody. The effect is not simple repetition but expansion, each interpretation uncovering new emotional contours within the text.

On "Vita Cortese 'Tara'" and "Oppio Inglese," the dialogue becomes even richer. Kihlstedt's English settings are joined by Valeria Sturba's sung Italian translations, creating a multilingual conversation that mirrors the music's layered construction. Raworth's poetry is heard, sung, translated and ultimately echoed through Locatelli's clarinet, whose supple phrasing often functions as another voice altogether. Rather than illustrating the poems, the instruments participate in them, extending their rhythms, pauses and playful ambiguities.

Like The Lion for Real (Antilles, 1989), Hal Willner's celebrated tribute to Allen Ginsberg, A Decent Run assembles an eclectic community of artists around a poet's work. Locatelli draws from his extended Pipeline family: Andrea Grossi, Cristiano Calcagnile, Sebi Tramontana, Luca Tilli and Alberto Braida, while also incorporating what he calls "clandestine" contributions: fleeting sonic cameos from admirers of Raworth including Joëlle Léandre, Steve Beresford, John Corbett, Larry Ochs, Bruce Ackley and Mazen Kerbaj. These brief appearances feel less like guest spots than affectionate marginalia, a chorus of friends paying their respects.

The album takes its title from Raworth's own farewell: "Bits of it all / have been fun / and it's been / a decent run." That modest summation becomes the emotional center of the recording. Spoken word and song intertwine with improvisation, chamber music, ambient textures, electronics and flashes of rock, creating a sound world as fluid and unpredictable as Raworth's verse itself. Nothing feels overly scripted; instead, the music unfolds with the same openness and spontaneity that animate the poet's writing.

A Decent Run ultimately reminds us that poetry is not merely something to be read on a page. It can be spoken, sung, translated, improvised and reimagined across artistic disciplines. Locatelli's tribute is less a memorial than an ongoing conversation, one in which language and music continually illuminate one another. In an era increasingly dominated by disposable content, A Decent Run argues that poetry still matters, not because it offers easy answers, but because it teaches us how to listen more deeply.