Tribe (ECM)
Enrico Rava Quartet
Released October 21, 2011
The Guardian 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2011
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About:
Since his return to ECM with “Easy Living” in 2003, the grand master of Italian jazz has gone from strength to strength, in a series of truly exceptional recordings including “Tati”, “The Words and The Days”, “The Third Man”, and “New York Days”. Enrico Rava is currently playing at a peak of lyrical invention, and his newest Italian quintet is amongst his strongest ensembles. Gianluca Petrella is retained from “The Words and the Days” line-up. Voted Rising Star Trombonist in the Down Beat Critics Poll of 2005, he has a front-line relationship with Rava which recalls Enrico’s affinity with Roswell Rudd back in the heyday of the New Thing. Fast-moving, quick-witted exchanges abound. Enrico has always encouraged younger musicians, and pianist Giovanni Guidi (born 1985) is a real find, a player of creativity and imagination: “When I notice the gifts of a young musician, I immediately involve him in my groups. This is not motivated by altruism,” Rava insists. “Giovanni Guidi is like Bollani and Petrella: he astounds me every time.” Bassist Gabriele Evangelista (b. 1988), another young player of promise, works splendidly alongside widely-experienced drummer Fabrizio Sferra, whose resume includes work with Chet Baker, Paul Bley and Kenny Wheeler. Material on “Tribe” includes new and old tunes by Rava and a brace of collective improvisations. The album was recorded at Arte Suono Studio in Udine in October 2010, with Manfred Eicher producing.
Track Listing:
1. Amnesia (Enrico Rava) 04:34
2. Garbage Can Blues (Enrico Rava) 03:34
3. Choctaw (Enrico Rava) 05:38
4. Incognito (Enrico Rava) 10:00
5. Cornettology (Enrico Rava) 08:16
6. F. Express (Enrico Rava) 07:32
7. Tears For Neda (Enrico Rava) 06:16
8. Song Tree (Enrico Rava) 03:36
9. Paris Baguette (Enrico Rava) 03:39
10. Planet Earth (Enrico Rava) 03:04
11. Tribe (Enrico Rava) 05:00
12. Improvisation (Enrico Rava, Fabrizio Sferra, Gabriele Evangelista, Gianluca Petrella, Giovanni Guidi) 03:37
Personnel:
Enrico Rava: trumpet
Gianluca Petrella: trombone
Giovanni Guidi: piano
Gabriele Evangelista: double-bass
Fabrizio Sferra: drums
Giacomo Ancillotto: guitar
Recorded October 2010, Artesuono Recording Studio, Udine, by Stefano Amerio
Cover Photo: Jean-Guy Lathuilière
Design: Sascha Kleis
Producer: Manfred Eicher
Review:
There’s probably some arcane formula that proves the presence of trumpeter Enrico Rava, trombonist Gianlucca Petrella and young pianist Giovanni Guidi on the same session equals five stars. Petrella and Guidi made the fine We Don’t Live Here Anymore album earlier this year, and this sextet with Rava – for many years one of Miles Davis’s most authoritative disciples – creates an enchanting album of luxuriant brass textures, alluring ballads, bursts of twisting postbop and memorable soloing. There are slow-shifting songs that turn with a Kenny Wheeler-like poignancy or Carla Bley’s wry romanticism, trumpet solos over quietly hustling backdrops, blustery free-jazzy episodes and samba-like sleepwalks. Rava’s high sounds and Petrella’s voice-like phrasing combine with a spellbinding melody to make Tears for Nada a gorgeous contemporary-jazz ballad, while the title track is unexpectedly funky, and Guidi plays like an abstract Herbie Hancock.
John Fordham (The Guardian)
