Jazz Articles

Mauro Schiavone: UFO

by Mark Corroto
January 18, 2014

The amalgamated form of a fully integrated jazz trio is thing of beauty. A united ensemble finds each note played by the pianist somehow anticipated by bass and drums. When said trio is primed even for improvised passages, then the performance is something special. Perhaps pianist Mauro Schiavone's trio record should have been titled “ESP" instead of UFO. The disc contains five trio pieces, three with the addition of guitarist Francesco Guaiana, and one that adds ...

Paolo Sorge Electric Guitar Quartet: Tetraktys

by Mark Corroto
December 23, 2010

A few years ago, there seemed to be a new saxophone quartet springing up every five minutes. The configurations typically featured differing sounds from the saxophone family, from the tiny sopranino to the huge baritone. So why not showcase the various sounds of the electric guitar in a quartet?Led by Paolo Sorge, this foursome does just that. Together with Giancarlo Mazzù, Fabrizio Licciardello and Enrico Cassia, Sorge's quartet winds its way though a jazz program. with some classical ...

OnGaku2: Kado - Live @ Area Sismica

by Mark Corroto
November 19, 2010

D.H. Lawrence once wrote, “we don't exist unless we are deeply and sensually in touch with that which can be touched but not known." That reflection keeps reverberating during the 43 minutes of this improvised performance by guitarist Elia Casu and drummer Paolo Sanna. Their interaction is at times beyond music, and that is not some “new age" shamanist statement. This session easily transcends the conscious act of listening to enable a meditative response. The recording ...

Riccardo Pittau Congregation: V IV MMV Death Jazz

by Mark Corroto
May 16, 2009

Italian jazz continues to surprise and impress American ears. And just as a West Coast musician would not be labeled in the same jazz category as a Chicago or a Texas player, Riccardo Pittau's jazz cannot be pigeonholed as Italian or Sardinian (his residence) jazz.

His Congregation music falls somewhere in the wormhole opened up in the post-Milesian, creative jazz that spawned the NY Downtown scene, M-Base, Amsterdam, and Chicago's new jazz experiments. That vaporous quality of music-making ...

Gaspare De Vito: Passing Notes

by Mark Corroto
November 15, 2008

An attempt to define Italian jazz is similar to trying to identify an American by only traveling to Texas. Just as American jazz differs from New York to Chicago or L.A., the jazz of Italy has many facets and it continues to surprise and entertain with its many flavors and eccentricities.

Enter saxophonist Gaspare De Vito, whose jazz is rooted in both Cuba and Africa. On Passing Notes, he assembles a percussion-laden quartet for some stripped-down ...