Customer Reviews

Fellini Jazz

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This spectacular disc illustrates the power of jazz to enrich and transform almost any musical context or genre, here Italian film music, specifically, the (mainly Nina Rota) songs that graced some of renowned director Federico Feline's greatest movies. Deeply rooted in the Italian canzone tradition, this music bears, perhaps, a similar relation to Neapolitan culture as Tin Pan Alley bears to American culture. Moreover, it readily lends itself to a similar process of unfolding and expansion through jazz improvisation, although its antecedents are quite dissimilar from those of its American counterpart.

Deeply linked to the French chanson and the Spanish cancion, the Italian canzone has roots both in local folk musics and arias from light opera, as well as a sprinkling of Southern European jazz and pop music. Typically, canzoni have gorgeous melodies, the tune always taking prominence over the lyrics. Often, this music is specifically composed to evoke well-known aspects either of Italian art, architecture, culture, or geography. Thus it has its own particular flavor, one consciously designed and intended to bring to mind the life and natural beauty of this remarkable country. To the listener used to its American jazz counterparts, it may sound "too pretty"; I freely admit that was my initial and continued response. It took about five or six listenings for me to totally track with the sensibility, but once I did, I was absolutely on board.

The challenge to jazz artists recording an album of canzoni is to retain the inherent beauty of the song form while still imbuing it with sufficient rigor, imagination, and insight to prevent a slip into sentimentalism. Leader and pianist Enrico Pieranunzi manages this task with unfailing taste, wit, and ingenuity. It helps, I believe, to have bandmates not only of the absolute highest accomplishment, but also of a kind of renegade orientation, and Charlie Haden (bass), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet), Chris Potter (saxes), and Paul Motian (drums) fit the bill to perfection. It simply astounds that these musicians, who have never before played together, achieve such cohesion of sound and vision.

Haden, perhaps the premier jazz bassist of his generation, ideally graces these proceedings, employing his trademark gravitas and idiosyncratic note-placement to perfection. Kenny Wheeler, the great and underrated British trumpeter, also uncannily locks into this session. His pure intonation, coupled with odd and understated phrasing and a darkly burnished tone, adds great depth and mystery. Chris Potter, especially on tenor, sounds better here than on any disc I can recall. Possessing tonal and emotional insights beyond his thirty-something years, he walks a thin line between extroversion and sentiment, nearly always negotiating this tricky musical landscape with statements remarkable both for their depth and approachability. The criminally underrated Paul Motian brings something almost impossible to imagine to this session: out-order. One of the first and only jazz drummers to actively and effectively deploy a kind of minimalist approach to his kit, he constantly and insistently ensures that the group avoids the sentimentality trap.

But it's leader Pieranunzi that makes the biggest impression. Perhaps it's because this music springs from deep inside his cultural situatedness, coming forth almost as an artesian well, where the crystalline waters bubble to the surface from impossibly profound subterranean regions. There's simply an ease of execution and understanding that the other players, though they often approach, can never completely nail as Pieranunzi does. This, simply, is the music he was born to play, the jazz album he was born to make.

Personally, this represents, at least for me, music of the absolute highest accomplishment. Yes, it took me a while to appreciate it, but now I can't stop listening to it. Such depth! Such beauty! Such joy! Such sorrow! Do yourself a favor and check out this dazzling recording. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

i'm a lover of nino rota's music scores for fellini's films, so, of course, i had to love this cd even before i bought it, providing pieranunzi's interpretations did not stray far from rota's melodies, and they don't. i suppose i should say something about the line-up: chris potter on sax, charlie haden on bass, paul motian on drums, and kenny wheeler on drums. and i admit, for me, hearing chris potter is often a treat, but as far as i'm concerned, just about anyone can record rota's music and if they stay close to the melody as written by rota, i'm happy.

when first watching fellini and hearing that marvelous dreamy music i knew i wanted to find a jazz recording of the music that added so much poignancy to the films. i'm very pleased enrico pieranunzi recorded these songs.

I am a big fan of Fellini/Rota. This recording could have been great were it not for Paul Motian's one dimensional drumming ----- what's with the ride cymbal? Obviously he does not connect with this music. This recording needed a "set" player; i.e., Peter Erskine, Jack Dejohnette,Joey Baron,Bill Stewart, Billy Kilson,Brian Blade,etc.