Enrico Pieranunzi: Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron: Play Morricone 1 & 2

Film lovers all over the world recognize Ennio Morricone as one of the best score composers of all time. His music has been used in more than 500 movies and TV shows. About 60 of them have won Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA awards and other honors.

Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson and Joey Baron started a trio in 1984 and one of their most interesting projects has been to create and record jazz arrangements for some of Ennio Morricone's vast list of compositions.

Pieranunzi has recorded in dozens of films whose soundtracks were composed by Morricone and it was Pieranunzi who created most of the jazz arrangements and fused them with his classical music technique.

Morricone celebrated the result and said he is "euphoric for the positive performances where the original pieces, rediscovered and respected, have a new physiognomy, and the jazz interpretation of the three great soloists doesn't destroy the pieces but values them."

This double album was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the trio and the music was recorded between 2001 and 2004.

Ennio Morricone and his son Adrea won a BAFTA award in 1991 for the score of the film Cinema Paradiso and its main theme is "Novo Cinema Paradiso." The trio was able to translate the romanticism and drama of the movie with a new jazz sound. The 1988 film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore won 20 awards, among them five BAFTA, one Oscar and one Golden Globe.

Heroism and love are felt through the trio instruments in "Correva L'Anno Di Grazia 1870," a melody included in the film of the same name directed by Alfredo Giannetti and starred by Anna Magnani and the famous Marcello Mastroianni. The 1972 TV film is about the Italian unification.

It's easy to imagine the exciting and steamy encounters of the two young lovers portrayed by Massimo Ranieri and Florinda Bolkan with the trio interpretation of "Incontro." The melody is included in the eponymous 1971 film. Pieranunzi's piano sound is extremely passionate and Johnson's double bass brings the drama to the piece.

"Mio Caro Dottor Gräsler" is the favorite song on the album for Joey Baron and in his opinion the performance is magical. The trio's music flows seamlessly and organically. Baron plays his drums with authority in this melody included in the 1990 film, also known as "The Bachelor," directed by Roberto Faenza and starred by Keith Carradine, Miranda Richardson, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Pieranunzi's and Baron's performance is formidable in "Il Vizietto," from the 1978 film "La Cage aux Folles," which was adapted and remade in 1996 with the title "The Birdcage" starred by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a gay couple who pretend they are a heterosexual couple. The piano and the drums sound stressed and running constantly like the main characters of the acclaimed film.

Paradoxically, one of the most relaxing melody of the album is "I Malamondo," included in an eponymous 1964 documentary about European strange behaviors, like having orgies in graveyards and nude skiing in Switzerland.

Play Morricone 1 & 2 is not only an album for cinephiles or Moriccone's fans, it is an enjoyable collection of jazz pieces that evoke images and feelings of romance, justice and patriotism.