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Rating:
The feeling is that Mr. Rava & Company are having a great time reinterpreting in an exquisitely instrumental way some tracks, not necessarily the most famous ones, taken from the discography of the late (so-called) King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Having passed the seventy-year mark some time ago, the Triestine trumpeter boasts a long and diverse career and it seems unlikely he feels the urgency to prove anything to anyone: the extensive discography is there to attest, for anyone who may have doubts.
The discovery and subsequent infatuation with Jackson's compositions happened, by the scruffy jazzman's own admission, recently and only after the passing of the American singer-songwriter.
The album unfolds through nine tracks, stripped of their original layered pomp, captured live during evenings held at the Parco della Musica in Rome last year; the ensemble works wonderfully and the result is very enjoyable even for those who approach the listening experience with some prejudice that an operation of this kind might generate: the original exoskeleton is enriched by a large collective based on a lively brass section that supports Rava's sparkling trumpet, which sifts through and manipulates the soft airs of various “I Just Can't Stop Loving You/Smooth Criminal” and the more dynamic “Thriller” or “They Don't Care About Us“, rearranging, expanding and at times completely transforming them.
It's not improbable that some purists might wrinkle their noses at this excellent collection, but as the good John Zorn teaches, "Jazz Snob Eat Shit.”
Indeed.
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