Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Enrico Pieranunzi: As Never Before & Yellow and Blue Suites
Enrico Pieranunzi: As Never Before & Yellow and Blue Suites
Enrico Pieranunzi
As Never Before
CAMJazz
2008
As Never Before unites Pieranunzi with one of the musicians he most admires, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and a rhythm section with which he's worked frequently, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron. The compositions are all Pieranunzi'sexcept for two collective improvisationsand they're a perfect fit for Wheeler, as closely matched to his lines as his own pieces might be. Pieranunzi's vehicles can at once lend themselves to a host of moods. Often a surge of energy from one player will break through a certain somber or pensive moment, or a sudden aside may clarify and collect a host of relationships. It's a command of architecture coupled with an awareness of each instant's potential exchange that unites the four musicians, creating an energy and drive rarely glimpsed in the lyric tradition to which they belong. On pieces like "Soundings" and "Many Moons Ago," Pieranunzi plays with a force and authority that carry his lines into fresh harmonic and rhythmic terrain. The result is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful recordings of the year.
Enrico Pieranunzi and Marc Johnson
Yellow and Blue Suites
Challenge
2008
The special relationship between Pieranunzi and Johnson comes to the fore on Yellow and Blue Suites, a live 1990 recording from Lausanne, Switzerland that has been released on CD for the first time. At times Johnson acts as accompanist, pressing his lines so closely to Pieranunzi's that the bass seems to merge with the piano, but always adding a special rhythmic spring. At other times, the bassist's lines dart out into soulful or kinetic leads. There's something slightly miraculous in Pieranunzi's playing, an alchemical balance between the limpid and the resilient, whether he's exploring the slower, minor-keyed "Singing All the Time," building to the cascading scalar runs of "Je Ne Sais Quoi" or exploring a host of tempos in the sparkling "I Hear a Rhapsody". The clarity of execution consistently mirrors the clarity of Pieranunzi's thought.
Tracks and Personnel
As Never Before
Tracks: Soundings; Improheart; A Nameless Gate; As Never Before; Many Moons Ago; Impromind; Song for Kenny; Time's Passage; Winter Moon.
Personnel: Enrico Pieranunzi: piano; Marc Johnson: bass; Joey Baron: drums; Kenny Wheeler: trumpet, flugelhorn.
Yellow and Blue Suites
Tracks: Je Ne Sais Quoi; I Hear A Rhapsody; I Should Care; Frame Line 1; Princes and Princesses; Frame Line 2; Yesterdays; Singing All Time; Minding No Time; Blue Igor; Blue Monk.
Personnel: Enrico Pieranunzi: piano; Marc Johnson: bass.
< Previous
3 Dimensions
Next >
Shortcut
Comments
About Enrico Pieranunzi
Instrument: Piano
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar To