Giovanni Tommaso Quintet
To Chet

Refined Energy Jazz 

It might be pleonastic on my part, but it's better to clarify right away that Italian jazz has been a source of numerous, delightful surprises for years now. Artists like Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu are rightly celebrated wherever they perform. Double bassist Giovanni Tommaso is just slightly less famous than these stars, but he is a superb musician, "the brain" behind countless successful musical projects (one name above all: Perigeo).

In this 1989 album, Tommaso puts together a dream quintet, in which each musician probably represents the best available talent in Italy on their instrument: the versatile drummer Roberto Gatto, who played a significant role in promoting electric jazz "Italian style" in the eighties and nineties (see Lingomania), and then Danilo Rea, an excellent pianist, also a former member of Lingomania. Finally, a front line formed by two trumpeters Paolo Fresu and Flavio Boltro, two champions pitted against each other, just to take a bit more risk...

The atmosphere might remind you of the Blue Note records of the early sixties, but it’s just a starting point, because the uniqueness, I would say "Italianity" of the compositions, and the originality and versatility of the musicians involved keep changing the game. Among all the themes proposed, it’s hard to find one that is less than splendid: the melancholic resolve of "November", the reflective "Pigeons Traveling (To Chet)", the delicate "First Steps", the dazzling "O' zone mio", the brightness of "Jazzfunktion" and "Summer Song".

Gatto is the rhythmic and percussive security that any good jazz combo wishes for, Fresu and Boltro are in top form, constantly challenging each other for the most unpredictable and calibrated solo. The leader conducts expertly, making his delightful double bass clearly heard, avoiding overly ostentatious solo moments, although his solos, sparingly distributed throughout the tracks of the album, remain engraved in your memory...

Yet, everything takes a backseat compared to Danilo Rea’s astounding skill, still a youngster but already equipped with his "Jarrettisms" and various, happy insights, revealing himself as the true keystone of this sonic construction. Listen to his masterful work in "O' zone mio" (a track that alone is worth the purchase of the CD): a genuine connection channel between rhythms and brass, erases the line between accompaniment and solo, weaving with the two trumpeters a dense and constant interplay that is so natural it seems the musicians are reading a sheet of music instead of improvising. Author of lyrical interventions ("November"), dancing and moody in "Say Yes", then attentive, precise, imaginative, and punctual, a real blessing for Tommaso and for our ears.

There are countless delights generously scattered throughout these forty-four minutes of music. A beautiful work, at the end of which one can only exclaim: long live Italian jazz, and may there be a hundred more of these albums!