Full of Life

Enrico Rava | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Camjazz
• ASIN: B0009R1SL4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,093 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Recuerdos

2. The Surrey With the Fringe on Top

3. Mystere

4. Miss MG

5. Moonlight in Vermont

6. Boston April 15th

7. Happiness Is to Win a Big Prize in Cash

8. Nature Boy

9. Full of Life

10. Visions

11. Miss MG [Alternate Take]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CamJazz on a roll, July 7, 2005

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Full of Life (Audio CD)

The newish (at least to North American ears) Italian label CamJazz, having scored big with some fine releases by Enrico Pieranunzi, Kenny Wheeler, and Salvatore Bonafede, has apparently scoured and scrounged to find discs of comparable accomplishment. With Full of Life, picked up, it appears, from WEA, featuring a European band fronted by veteran trumpeter Enrico Rava, they've succeeded big time.

Featuring a pianoless quartet (leader Rava, trumpet and flugelhorn; Javier Girotto, baritone and soprano sax; Ares Tavolazzi, double bass; and Fabrizio Sferra, drums), the music may initially sound somewhat strange to American ears: there's little of the boppish heat usually associated with an outfit thus configured. Instead, we get a kind of very attractive West Coast cool jazz vibe filtered through a sunny Neapolitan lens, gloriously represented, e.g., by their take on "The Surry with the Fringe on Top." Probably the closest referent would be the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker quartet, but although there's some similarity to that group, in the end, this band establishes a voice and vibe uniquely its own.

Concentrating mainly on ballads--as seems to be, generally, the MO for these CamJazz releases--the group also successfully ventures into boppish up-tempo numbers: "Miss MG" (with two takes), "Happiness Is to Win a Big Prize in Cash," and the title track.

Leader Rava sounds great. With spot-on intonation and attractive solo statements, he makes a strong impression. Javier Girotto, someone I've never heard of before, also shines on baritone and soprano sax. I'm especially taken by his feathery tone on the big sax. I must confess, I've never been attracted to the gruffer way most baritone saxophonist approach the instrument--e.g., the late Nick Brignola. Girotto regularly finds the more lyrical side of the instrument--to great effect, at least to these ears.

This very attractive disc continues a streak of winners from CamJazz. Entirely worth checking out.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Minimalist Jazz, March 29, 2006

By 

W. Giles - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Full of Life (Audio CD)

For listeners who dig stripped down cool-toned minimalist jazz this is a perfect example. Kinda reminds me of piano-less quartet stuff from the west coast days.

I have 2 other cd's by Rava that are also very nice, but this one gets more play.

The music has a light open sound. Great music for late at night!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brava, August 23, 2009

By 

IRate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Full of Life (Audio CD)

A sharp late-career work , FOL lives up to its title, providing, even in so much of Rava's deceptively laid back approach, a tighter repertoire of better compositions and chemistry than standards would suggest..