Globe Unity - Italy: Gianni Basso/Renato Sellani, Norberto Tamburrino & Giorgio Gaslini

Gianni Basso/Renato Sellani Body and Soul Venus 2008	Norberto Tamburrino Reflection(s) On Monk Philology 2009	Giorgio Gaslini Fonte Funda Suite—La Notte Black Saint 2009

After World War II's wave of adulation and imitation, it's clear that many Italian musicians have branded jazz with individual characteristics. To jazz, they bring a poetic sense of eternal cantabile, drama, film, classical and folk influences.

Saxophonist Gianni Basso and pianist Renato Sellani, Piemontese octogenarians, pay retrospective homage on Body and Soul, caressing Swing Era favorites with devotion and delight, grace and poetry. Basso models his brimming, avuncular style on Coleman Hawkins, complete with gruff, burly tone, nowhere more in evidence than on the pace-setting title track. Sellani approaches Teddy Wilson with a conservatory touch, discreetly tasteful and tidy, bubbling over but occasionally, as on "Watch What Happens". This Legrand tune, along with "Beyond The Sea" and Latin classics, give away their European bent.

Norberto Tamburrino—born in 1964 when Monk's career was declining—shows little direct influence on Reflection(s) On Monk, except in two bars of "Straight No Chaser," "Out of a Blue Reflection" and a lanky, cheery "Crepuscule With Nellie" with curious major modulations. Instead, the pianist leans toward Horace Silver's rhythmic spunk ("Latin Way To Freedom"), Dave Burrell's playful revisionism and Bud Powell's linear drive; a live trio ends the album, bouncing straight-eighth Lennie Tristano on "All The Things You Are". Tamburrino's Monkery shine broadly in unreconstructed rag and stride motifs and genial, spiky lyricism. Tenor saxophonist JD Allen contributes searchingly to three long opening tracks.

Giorgio Gaslini emerged in the '50s as a Milanese Dave Brubeck—pianist, composer, leader, international figure. Like Brubeck, Gaslini leaves indelible imprints and ably reinvents himself for four generations; unlike Brubeck, Gaslini explored fresh forms (theater, film, dance) and edgy collaborations with freethinkers like Steve Lacy and Anthony Braxton. 80 this fall, Gaslini romps through well-conceived, cleanly executed suites, a sparkling retake of his snappy score (sax, piano, bass, drums) for Antonioni's noir-ish, existential La Notte (1955) and the crisply contemporary Fonte Funda composed 50 years later. Shifting, unexpected twists squeeze and loosen within strict structures, Gaslini exercising rich appreciation of dramatic denouement. The suites engage as incidental music and reward revisits: alert ensembles (trio, quartet) flit alluringly through kaleidoscopic scenarios, showing Gaslini's trenchant wit and brisk purpose weathering well.

Tracks and Personnel



Body and Soul

Tracks: Body And Soul; La Mer; Star Dust; Ma L'Amore No; Deep Purple; Pennies From Heaven; My Foolish Heart; I Should Care; Watch What Happens; Miss Bo; Solamente Una Vez; I Love you.

Personnel: Gianni Basso: piano; Renato Sellani:tenor sax.



Reflection(s) On Monk

Tracks: The Room Of Illumination; Out Of A Blue Reflection; The Latin Way Of Freedom; New Years Of Soul; Hearts In Expansion; Good Times Of Lucy—Song For My Baby; Crepuscule With Nellie; Situazione Tipica Autunnale; All The Things You Are.

Personnel: Norberto Tamburrino: piano.



Fonte Funda Suite—La Notte

Tracks: 1. Sfere Rotanti; Fonte Funda—I; Angoli; Fonte Funda—Ii; Glis-gam; Fonte Funda; Interactions; Quartetto Sotto Le Stelle; Voci Dal Fiume; Jazz Interludio; Notturno Blues; Jumping Deer; Valzer Lento; Country Club; Blues All'alba; Lettura Della Lettera; Finale.

Personnel: Giorgio Gaslini: piano; Roberto Bonati: bass; Robertp Dani: drums; Riccardo Luppi: tenor sax.