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Ernesto Cervini: A Canadian Songbook
by Hrayr Attarian
Composer and drummer Ernesto Cervini is a stalwart of the Canadian creative music scene both as an artist and promoter. His ninth release as a leader, the captivating A Canadian Songbook, is a collection of seven intricate pieces, composed by him and other compatriots. Cervini, at the head of his sextet Turboprop, deftly balances collective harmony and individual expressions and delivers all with refreshing spontaneity. The leader starts off his arrangement of pianist James Hill's “Skeletons" with sparse ...
read moreErnesto Cervini's Turboprop: A Canadian Songbook
by Dan McClenaghan
Toronto-based drummer, Ernesto Cervini has a “T" theme going with the groups he leads. There is the funky, forward-thinking Tetrahedron. Then we have the terrific trio (bass, drums and saxophone) TuneTown. And the third: Turboprop, presenting their fourth album, A Canadian Songbook, which digs into the musical soul of their home turf. Turboprop is a sextet with a powerhouse three-horn front line, featuring three of Canada's finest, Tara Davidson on alto saxophone, Joel Frahm on tenor saxophone, and ...
read morePeter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die
by Dan Bilawsky
There's a “square peg, round hole" problem holding vocalist Peter Campbell back in the renown department. He doesn't fall into the resounding soul-stirrer category, à la Gregory Porter, the bop poet-philosopher niche, ruled by Kurt Elling, the pure experimentalist's camp, typified by Theo Bleckmann, the neo-soul realm, occupied by José James, the group-minded singer-songwriter space(s), elevated by artists like New York Voices' Peter Eldridge, or any number of other fairly clear-cut categories. The world of male vocalists is, perhaps, the ...
read moreErnesto Cervini's Turboprop: Abundance
by Dan McClenaghan
Delve into Toronto-based drummer Ernesto Cervini's discography and you find an artist who seems to be trying to be a force for good in the world. His CD releases feature his Ernesto Cervini Quartet, MEM3, Myraid3, and Turboprop (and others, for he is prolific). His is a sound that brims with buoyancy, whether it's a trio outing or a sextet. Abundance is the Turboprop sextet's third outing. The group could be considered Cervini's nod to the Art Blakey ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia: Blued Dharma
by Franz A. Matzner
The duet outing Blued Dharma by pianist Adrean Farrugia and tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm is a nuanced affair suitable as background to a quiet evening but also worthy of closer reading. The title track epitomizes the whole. Contemplative, balanced, subtly blended, tonally stolid, inviting, consequential. Throughout the following seven pieces, the pattern of ruminative exchange continues. Farrugia and Frahm exhibit patient thematic development and fluid, comfortable interaction. Far from a cutting contest, the music reverberates with a common ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia / Joel Frahm: Blued Dharma
by Anya Wassenberg
Long time collaborators and bandmates Adrean Farrugia and Joel Frahm explore the musical possibilities of jazz piano and saxophone on Blued Dharma with a playful and melodic take. The release offers an intriguing variety of expression and approaches. In “Blued Dharma," the title track, the two instruments wind in and around each other in melodic abandon. Frahm is a gifted player who can wring an endless melodic variety out of any chord progression. The songs, all written by ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm: Blued Dharma
by Dan McClenaghan
Blued Dharma, a duet outing by pianist Adrean Farrugia and tenor and soprano saxophonist Joel Frahm, opens with the title tune, a simpatico, lighter-than-air composition. The instrumentalists banter and extemporize, bat ideas back and forth and explore melodic main roads and sideroads. So it is for the full album of inspired interplay. Having played together for nearly a decade in Toronto-based drummer Ernesto Cervini's various bands, the duo has formed a symbiotic camaraderie, a smooth as velvet give ...
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