Jazz Articles about Enrico Pieranunzi

Enrico Pieranunzi/Paul Motian: Doorways

by John Kelman
February 13, 2005

The amount of musical liberty in an ensemble seems inversely proportionate to the number of players involved. The smaller the group, the more exposed the players. While the piano inarguably possesses the broadest range, so that its pairing with virtually any other instrument provides for the richest possible palette, there's something about a piano/drums duo that makes for the most complete musical environment coupled with the greatest potential for free exchange. Both instruments possess the capacity for a wide range ...

Enrico Pieranunzi: FelliniJazz

by John Kelman
February 12, 2005

Despite a clear understanding of the jazz tradition that pervades everything he touches, Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi cannot escape his own ethnic roots. On albums as diverse as his pensive duet album with bassist Marc Johnson, Trasnoche (EGEA, 2003), and the chamber jazz of Les Amants (EGEA, 2004), Pieranunzi's impressionistic improvisational style marries comfortably with a certain indescribable Mediterranean sensibility. One can't exactly place one's finger on it, but there's always a hint of warm breeze or the sense of ...

Enrico Pieranunzi/Paul Motian: Doorways

by Ty Cumbie
January 31, 2005

Not long ago I heard the excellent pianist Russ Lossing's fine recording As It Grows with Paul Motian on drums. Now comes another excellent, very different pianist, Enrico Pieranunzi, also with Motian and a new record that recalls the glory of Jarrett's time on ECM. Doorways covers wide territory, both charted and uncharted. Pieranunzi has fine jazz chops and improvises with intricacy and subtlety. Tenorist Chris Potter adds a big, warm, emotive sound, reminiscent at times of Jan ...

Enrico Pieranunzi/Paul Motian: Doorways

by Mark F. Turner
December 5, 2004

Doorways is an exhilarating duo release featuring veteran musicians drummer Paul Motian and pianist Enrico Pieranunzi. While Motian may be more recognized in the U.S. for his work on hundreds of recordings, Pieranunzi is also a force to be reckoned with both as a musician and composer, as witnessed on the recent recording FelliniJazz . He gives new listeners a further display of the brilliant capabilities he has honed over the many years in Italy and Europe with numerous projects ...

Enrico Pieranunzi & Paul Motian: Doorways

by Chris May
November 29, 2004

Another landmark album in the long and distinguished careers of Enrico Pieranunzi and Paul Motian, Doorways is one hour of sumptuous and transcendentally beautiful music fashioned with the simplest tools--a piano and a drum kit (and on three tracks only, a saxophone). Simultaneously lyrical and percussive, rhapsodic and vigorous, it speaks equally to the emotions and the intellect and conjures up a bigger cosmos than you would think possible from such a restricted palette.

Along with Pieranunzi's and ...

Enrico Pieranunzi: FelliniJazz

by AAJ Staff
November 20, 2004

While created in order to serve a greater vehicle, soundtrack music often takes a life of its own. Such is the case with Nino Rota's compositions for Italian director Federico Fellini's classic films, collected, arranged, and reinterpreted on FelliniJazz by pianist Enrico Pieranunzi. When taken out of the context of the (mostly) '50s movies from which these themes came, these pieces have a remarkable durability. Credit Pieranunzi for resurrecting and reconstructing them--and he's not new to soundtracks--along with his all-star ...

Enrico Pieranunzi: Les Amants

by John Kelman
August 19, 2004

After having released seven recordings for the Italian EGEA label in settings ranging from solo to trio, when pianist Enrico Pieranunzi was asked what he'd like to do next, he immediately replied, “a CD with piano, sax, bass and--a string quartet." Given the green light, Pieranunzi put together a series of pieces that seamlessly combine the rich culture of the string quartet with the improvisational verve of a jazz chamber trio. The result, Les Amants , successfully marries these two ...