Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Rave for Rava

Paolo Fresu gets some of his kung fu from trumpeter Enrico Rava, a contemporary of Tomasz Stanko and the dean of an impressive body of Italian jazz musicians, which rivals the Scandinavians' in my opinion.

I bought Rava's "Live at Birdland Neuburg" from the good folks at Indie Jazz this month and it's a keeper. Rava with a young German quartet plays "My Funny Valentine" more as affirming anthem than soulful ballad, certainly not as the heart string-plucking piece, say, Chet Baker makes of it. "You Don't Know What Love Is" is rendered as an avant-garde vamp with a reggae back beat. In contrast to the original, they take a group improvisation-oriented approach to Sonny Rollins' "East Broadway Rundown," which you don't even hear people trying to play much, probably because Mr. Rollins set such a high standard.

I'm thinking of making "Certi Angoli Secreti," one of three Rava compositions on the disk, the theme song for those noirish interludes of my life. Outstanding stuff.

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