Common View (Challenge Records)
Enrico Pieranunzi
Released February 7, 2020
BBC Music Magazine Greatest Jazz Albums 2020
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/browse/MPREb_n1YgNcc3rDQ
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0MKZB0Q3tyrI0jtacgtQZF?si=fR067Ar4QA2EwKnskl8STA
About:
After more than 30 concerts and many excellent reviews about their first trio albums “Tales From The Unexpected” and “European Trio”, the Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and the Dutch double bassist Jasper Somsen recorded their third trio album with the Catalan drummer Jorge Rossy: “Common View”. The new album is an equal and refreshing collaboration featuring these three masters both as performing artists and composers. Three totally different lives, characters and backgrounds collide as one “Common View”. Release Challenge Records, produced by Jasper Somsen.
Enrico Pieranunzi has long been one of the best-known and appreciated personalities on the European jazz scene. Pianist, composer, arranger, he has recorded more than seventy CDs under his own name, ranging from solo piano to trio, and from duet to quintet. He has played in concert and in the studio with Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron, Paul Motian, Chris Potter and Charlie Haden, performing at all the most important international festivals, from Montreal to Copenhagen, from Berlin to Madrid. Pieranunzi’s formative years embraced both classical and jazz piano, and the influence of Debussy is readily apparent in the lush romanticism at the heart of his music. Emerging in the early ’70s, Pieranunzi’s lyrical approach quickly brought him to the forefront of the European scene, and in 1984 he formed a trio with Marc Johnson and Joey baron, the first of several outstanding groups with American musicians. In 1989, 2003 and 2008 he was voted Musician of the Year in the Italian magazine Musica Jazz critic’s poll and he was 1997 recipient of the Django d’Or Award for best European Jazz Musician. In the recent years Pieranunzi performed and recorded frequently in the United States.
Throughout his career the Dutch double bassist/composer/producer Jasper Somsen has collaborated with some of the very best musicians at the international jazz scene, amongst others: Peter Erskine, Eric Marienthal, Enrico Pieranunzi, Joey Calderazzo, Jeff Ballard, John Beasley, Jean-Michel Pilc, Bob Sheppard, Seamus Blake, Lynne Arriale, JorgeRossy, Kendrick Scott, Justin Faulkner, EJ Strickland, André Ceccarelli, Gary Husband, Gabriele Mirabassi, Bert Joris, Ramón Valle, Yuri Honing and Eric Vloeimans, Maria Mendes, Tania Kross, Pacho Flores, Daniel Freiberg and the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra.
His latest released two albums were recorded in just two days: “A New Episode In Life part I & II” –Jasper Somsen Trio feat. Jean-Michel Pilc & André Ceccarelli. Jasper performs worldwide, is a renowned studio producer, can be heard on 40 albums and was a frequently invited guest teacher at the conservatories in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Arnhem.
Jorge Rossy is internationally recognized as one of the most influential drummers of his generation. His sideman work includes over 80 recordings with renowned jazz musicians Brad Mehldau, Ethan Iverson, Kevin Hays, Albert Sanz, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Steve Swallow, among many others. Jorge has also toured with some jazz greats including Charlie Haden, Wayne Shorter, Lee Konitz, Carla Bley, and Joe Lovano.
Besides his work as a drummer, Jorge has a distinctive voice on the vibes, marimba and piano, and a unique sound as a composer and bandleader. Since his first CD under his own name, Jorge Rossy Trio Wicca (Fresh Sound), recorded in 2006, Jorge has recorded 12 albums as a bandleader or co-leader, to critical acclaim from publications such as Jazz Times, Downbeat, Jazz Around, and All About Jazz.
As a bandleader Jorge Rossy made up of an outstanding cast of musicians, collaborating to create a distinctive sound and an aesthetic full of intimate complicity, collaborating with Al Foster, Joe Chambers, Jimmy Wormworth, Joey Baron, Adam Cruz, Billy Hart, Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, Domenic Landolf, Pietro Tonolo, Javier Vercher, Chris Cheek, Mike Kanan, Kevin Hays, Michael Beck, Doug Weiss, Putter Smith, Nico Moreaux, Masa Kamaguchi, Marc Abrams, Pete Bernstein, Jaume Llombart, Pierre Perchaud and Vincent Peirani.
Track Listing:
1. Falling From the Sky (Jasper Somsen) 04:00
2. Silk Threads (Jasper Somsen) 04:34
3. Sofa (Jorge Rossy) 02:57
4. Turn in the Path (Enrico Pieranunzi) 03:38
5. Love Waiting Endlessly (Jasper Somsen) 04:35
6. Perspectives (Enrico Pieranunzi) 03:56
7. Instant Reveal I (Enrico Pieranunzi / Jorge Rossy / Jasper Somsen) 02:59
8. Who Knows About Tomorrow (Jorge Rossy) 04:48
9. Instant Reveal II (Enrico Pieranunzi / Jorge Rossy / Jasper Somsen) 03:02
10. Recuerdo 04:15
11. Song for an August Evening (Enrico Pieranunzi) 04:49
Personnel:
Enrico Pieranunzi: piano
Jasper Somsen: double bass
Jorge Rossy: drums
Recorded September 10 – 11, 2018, at Motormusic, Mechelen, Belgium
Producer: Jasper Somsen
Engineer: Floren Van Stichel
Mixing: Jasper Somsen, Floren Van Stichel
Mastering: Steven Maes, Jasper Somsen
Cover Photo: Eberhard Grossgasteiger
Review:
Here’s a fine outing from a pianist noted for his ability to stir unexpected concepts into jazz that seem to fit perfectly and naturally but that never seem to occur to anyone else. There are ideas here that Beethoven would have spun into a sonata, Chopin into a slightly wayward dance form or Keith Jarrett into a set-long improvisation, but Pieranunzi (together with his sidemen, both cited as co-composers) simply lets them develop and transform seemingly of their own volition while also discreetly shaping them into what can only be described as romantic post-bop.
All of the above is enhanced by his natural warmth as a performer, even if he does overuse the sustain pedal on occasion. Good tunes with plenty of substance, then, on the third impeccably recorded CD from this empathetically bedded-in trio.
The programme’s relative brevity absolutely works in its favour given the concentrated nature of the music. The piano trio is an overused workhorse that well-intentioned up-and-comers in particular are inclined to flog to death; I do hope a few of them listen to this set.
