Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Virginia Genta: Rough Enough
Virginia Genta: Rough Enough
By
Virginia Genta is a young Italian saxophonist that has already established herself on the international free jazz scene with the hard working, constantly touring Jooklo Duo (with David Vanzan on drums) and through countless collaborations with important figures in improvised music, from Sonny Simmons and Famoudou Don Moye to Thurston Moore and Kawabata Makoto. This new recordabout 10 minutes of music released in a beautifully packaged 7" on Holidays Recordsconsists of a solo tenor sax improvisation referencing both 1960s Fire Music and European free improv.
A thorough exploration of the physical limits of the saxophone, and mostly devoted to its upper register, the performance is entirely focused on the moment of creation, a urgent musical expression devoid of structural considerations. Both spontaneous, with a powerful, primal expressive urge, and brilliantly constructed, based on the exploration of sound and timbre with an obsessive attention to detail. Both sides follow a similar concept, with seemingly unrelated episodes that keep the tension high, following an inner logic that never fully reveals itself. The phrasing is dictated by breath length, giving the proceedings a natural, inevitable quality, with a clever use of silence that underlies the sonic character of each phrase, amplifying its impact. Every sound produced is explored in depth, with repetitions and micro variations, always on the border between violent manifestation and abrupt disappearance. Genta moves in this liminal zone with an impressive instrumental control, giving equal weight to traditional technique, multiphonics, phantom sounds and accidental rhythms.
Rough Enough is an effective portrait of one of today's free jazz most interesting voices, and a showcase for Genta's uncompromising vision and peculiar ideas about improvisation, rooted in a glorious past but looking straight to the future.
A thorough exploration of the physical limits of the saxophone, and mostly devoted to its upper register, the performance is entirely focused on the moment of creation, a urgent musical expression devoid of structural considerations. Both spontaneous, with a powerful, primal expressive urge, and brilliantly constructed, based on the exploration of sound and timbre with an obsessive attention to detail. Both sides follow a similar concept, with seemingly unrelated episodes that keep the tension high, following an inner logic that never fully reveals itself. The phrasing is dictated by breath length, giving the proceedings a natural, inevitable quality, with a clever use of silence that underlies the sonic character of each phrase, amplifying its impact. Every sound produced is explored in depth, with repetitions and micro variations, always on the border between violent manifestation and abrupt disappearance. Genta moves in this liminal zone with an impressive instrumental control, giving equal weight to traditional technique, multiphonics, phantom sounds and accidental rhythms.
Rough Enough is an effective portrait of one of today's free jazz most interesting voices, and a showcase for Genta's uncompromising vision and peculiar ideas about improvisation, rooted in a glorious past but looking straight to the future.
Track Listing
Rough; Enough.
Personnel
Virginia Genta
saxophone, tenorVirginia Genta: tenor saxophone.
Album information
Title: Rough Enough | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Holidays Records
Comments
About Virginia Genta
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToTags
virginia genta
CD/LP/Track Review
Nicola Negri
Holidays Records
Sonny Simmons
Famoudou Don Moye
Thurston Moore
Kawabata Makoto
Rough Enough