Gap Band
Tribute To Nino Rota

"In the studio on Corso d'Italia, he kept the piano with which the musician had composed many melodies that became famous through his films. Rota generally composed at sunset as if in a trance, so much so that at the beginning of their collaboration, when Fellini asked him to repeat a theme he had played a short while ago, the musician remembered nothing. So, Fellini insisted that there always be a recorder at all musical meetings with Rota to not lose any of the Maestro's musical inventions."

This anecdote by Vincenzo Mollica has the flavor of a bygone era. A piano, a recorder, and two of the most complex and fascinating sensitivities ever in their respective Arts. I believe writing music for film is one of the most exhilarating experiences ever in the musical field. For the simple cinema enthusiast - we're always talking about cinema, huh? So no "Natali sul Titicaca" or "Vacanze sul Monte Grappa" -, there's no interest in uncovering what's behind the various techniques of the various crafts involved in making a film. Therefore, the music for films, in a finished product, brings the fortune of films just as much, if not more, than a fantastic story, a cast worthy of the story, well-done editing, and so on. It seems right to me: one need not lose their own emotions just in an attempt to follow the techniques. However, those who want to delve deeper into these wonderful sensations born within them through watching a film discover that behind there are worlds of storyboards, scripts written and rewritten, corrected and re-corrected. And finally, the most fascinating thing according to me: the relationship between composer and director. The composer trying to enter the director's mind, and the director attempting to provide the key of entry through his stories; like the key that opens an old trunk where you can find everything: dreams, madness, visions, nightmares. Thinking of the Fellini-Rota couple, two collaborations from the legendary Ennio Morricone immediately come to mind for me: Morricone-Leone first and Morricone-Tornatore later. I don't know what I would have given to witness their sessions during the days of the Dollar Trilogy or Cinema Paradiso. Entering Fellini's trunk must not have been easy, and those who know not only his films but also his life made up of recurring amarcords particularly from his childhood, know that it must not have been a walk in the park to translate his world into music. But we know, soul mates exist even in this case, and Nino Rota was his soul mate. Undoubtedly. If Fellini thought and Rota composed, surely the one who attempted a real gamble was the third wheel in the situation, that is, the Bolognese saxophonist Piero Odorici. A saxophonist strong and elegant as few, an undisputed master of his instrument and his language. He who excellently managed to shape the worlds of Fellini and Rota through his language, thanks also to a top-notch and functional bandicciuola for the project; it was set up a few years earlier and included, not only as performers but also as arrangers, personalities of the caliber of Marco Tamburini, Marcello & Piero Tonolo, Gianpaolo Casati, and a very young Fabrizio Bosso.

Over the years, they became true grey eminences of Italian Jazz. The band is put at ease by the musical spirit of Rota, by the elegance of his compositions that inevitably refer to Fellini’s best films. What remains is an ancient atmosphere, of a Jazz Band, a Jazz Orchestrina from the '20s and '30s, musical interludes of the old television variety show; all very fitting when it comes to Rota and his Fellini compositions. Brought to the listener with an ancient mood, yet at the same time with a language certainly not stuck to the old pre-Bop revolution schemes: a vigorous, playful, ironic, irreverent, melancholic, elegant, introspective mood. All characteristic and peculiar elements of Fellini's cinema and Rota's compositions. Odorici and his bandmates ventured into a conceptionally daring endeavor, but it was a challenge from which they certainly emerged winners. Splendid Jazz aromas that you will feel through the themes of "La Strada", "I Vitelloni", "La Dolce Vita", "Amarcord", will refer to that time when...

Enrico Pieranunzi also set up something similar some years ago, where in his splendid "Fellini in Jazz," aided by people of such caliber as Wheeler, Potter, Haden, and Motian, he attempted in some way to follow the same path of the Gap Band. Pieranunzi’s album is splendid, delicate; yet too staid... No festivity like in Odorici's work.

I couldn't sign off, given the DeVacanze knocking at the door, without talking about Odorici and this album (rated 4 1/2); after speaking of his friend Atti. The two saxophonists of the last twenty years, along with Daniele Scannapieco, have impressed me the most in the Italian scene. Happy continuation of DeEstate, dear DeBaseriane and dear DeBaseriani.