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ALBUM REVIEW July 9, 2020

Enrico Pieranunzi: From Always to Now

Read "From Always to Now" reviewed by Paolo Marra

Forty-one years after its original release on a little known but quite active independent label from the '70s, Edi Pan, Alfa Music has recently reissued From Always to Now, one the most important records by pianist and composer Enrico Pieranunzi. From Always to Now represents the high point in the pianist's hard-bop phase, during which Pieranunzi's impetuous style was heavily influenced by McCoy Tyner. Shortly afterwards, inspired by his collaboration with Chet Baker, Pieranunzi would embrace the more meditative and ...

RADIO September 12, 2019

Italian Jazz

By Bob Osborne

This week we take a look at Italian Jazz with a selection of music from a variety of great players with the main focus being on pianist Enrico Pieranunzi Playlist Enrico Pieranunzi “Amarcord" from Fellini Jazz (C.A.M. Jazz) 00:00 Sebastiano Meloni “Nocturne" from Pictures of a Quartet (Slam Productions) 07:44 Carla Marciano Quartet “Handshake" from Stream of Consciousness (Alfa Music) 12:46 Paolo Pavan “Screw Up" from Black Hand (Self-released) 22:29 Salvatore Tranchini “Sad Day" from Faces (Red Records) ...

ALBUM REVIEW June 25, 2019

Enrico Pieranunzi / Thomas Fonnesbæk: Blue Waltz - Live at Gustavs

By Jakob Baekgaard

The best thing about a live recording is that it captures music made in the moment at a particular time and place. Indeed, when Italian pianist, Enrico Pieranunzi and Danish bassist, Thomas Fonnesbæk teamed up for two evenings of live recording at Gustav's Bistro, nobody could know how special it would be. In fact, Pieranunzi had played at Gustav's before and connoisseurs of Copenhagen Jazz Festival would know that the restaurant was a special spot for hearing music in tandem ...

ALBUM REVIEW November 8, 2016

Enrico Pieranunzi: New Spring - Live At The Village Vanguard

By Budd Kopman

Pianist Enrico Pieranunzi's latest offering, New Spring --Live At The Village Vanguard ties together, in different ways, two previous CAM Jazz releases. The most recent is the studio album Proximity featuring saxophonist Donny McCaslin (who also plays in the live album) in a bass-less quartet. The earlier album is Live At The Village Vanguard with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Marc Johnson, and is one of Motian's last recordings before his death. Thus, New Spring, recorded over two ...

ALBUM REVIEW January 25, 2016

Enrico Pieranunzi: Proximity

By Budd Kopman

Enrico Pieranunzi is the senior statesman of mainstream jazz piano in Italy. His recording career goes back to 1975, with more than forty albums on such labels as Soul Note, Enja, Egea and currently CAM Jazz. His music is romantic, lyrical mainstream using lush arrangements and harmonies. The current group could be termed his “American" quartet, with saxophonist Donny McCaslin (on tenor and soprano saxophones), stylistically wide-ranging trumpeter Ralph Alessi (on trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn) and bassist Matt Penman bringing ...

EXTENDED ANALYSIS April 24, 2014

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

By Gabriel Medina Arenas

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 ...

EXTENDED ANALYSIS October 29, 2013

Enrico Pieranunzi: Live at the Village Vanguard

By Dan McClenaghan

Italian jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, with his melodic romanticism and wondrous sense of harmony, deepened by by his classical training, gets compared often and aptly to the legendary and game-changing pianist Bill Evans (1929-1980). While Pieranunzi's style is more gregarious, and less introspective than that of Evans--and often more abstract--he does share with the late piano icon a penchant for the mode of the interactive trio. In the case of Live at the Village Vanguard, the comparison can be pushed ...