Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Ilaria Capalbo: Karthago

12

Ilaria Capalbo: Karthago

By

View read count
Ilaria Capalbo: Karthago
Bassist and composer Ilaria Capalbo was born and brought up in Italy but spends much of her time in Sweden, where she recorded Karthago and assembled the band which performs on it. It is always a joy to encounter for the first time a musician who sounds so fresh and original and whose music is such a delight. Ciao, Capalbo.

Karthago was inspired by the ancient city of Carthage, which during the age of the Roman Empire lay on the North African coast, south west of the toe of Italy, in what is now Tunisia. The city is said to have been founded, unusually, by a woman, Queen Alyssa aka Dido. For over a century, Carthage was intermittently at war with Rome, whose army destroyed it in 146 BC.

Enough history. Karthago is in effect a suite, composed and arranged by Capalbo for a quintet, which is expanded on the opening track only to a septet. The music is elegiac and sometimes poignant, but never mournful and always lyrical and intensely, shimmeringly beautiful. There are occasional solos but they are brief—the emphasis throughout is on group playing, which moves seamlessly back and forth between arranged and improvised sections, both of which feature high degrees of counterpoint and collective interaction.

On the evidence of this album, Capalbo is not only a terrific bassist and composer, she also knows how to put together a well matched group of musicians: all here listen to each other with as much care and attention as they bring to performing their individual roles. Alto saxophonist and clarinetist Thomas Backman, tenor and baritone saxophonist Fredrik Nordstrom, guitarist Andreas Hourdakis and drummer Fredrik Rundqvist are together and separately key to the success of the music. Karthago is a perfect album with which to begin a New Year. It bolsters one's faith in the future of jazz.

Track Listing

Beloved; Part l Ab Radice; Karthago; Mare Nostrum; Scintilla; Moth; Part ll Ago Radices; What Remains of Those Days.

Personnel

Ilaria Capalbo
bass, acoustic
Thomas Backman
saxophone, baritone
Fredrik Nordstrom
saxophone, tenor
Additional Instrumentation

Ilaria Capalbo: double bass; Thomas Backman: alto saxophone, clarinet; Fredrik Nordström: tenor and baritone saxophones; Andreas Hourdakis: guitar; Fredrik Rundqvist: drums; Tobias Wiklund: cornet (1); Mats Äleklint: trombone (1).

Album information

Title: Karthago | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Bluenord Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.