Perigeo
Live At Montreux

Not "too long ago," in our beloved peninsula, a group was born, consisting of what were then nothing more than five young men passionate about jazz and symphonic/progressive rock. They went by the name of Perigeo, and they were active for almost a decade (1972-1981), during which they produced eight albums, two of which were recorded live, overflowing with class and elegance.

The first lineup, the one most well-known today, included:
Giovanni Tommaso - Double bass and electric bass
Franco D'Andrea - Keyboards
Bruno Biriaco - Drums
Claudio Fasoli - Saxophone
Tony Sidney - Guitar

The music offered by this fantastic quintet stood midway between the jazz of the finest Pat Metheny (who later reached his creative peak with "Still Life (Talking)") and the progressive rock that was so fashionable at the time, thus influenced by Genesis, King Crimson, and so forth.
After the first three albums, named "Azimut," "Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere," and "Genealogia," recorded respectively in 1972, 1973, 1974, the group decided to return to the market with their first live album, recorded in Montreux and aptly named "Live at Montreux", in which they revisit over an abundant hour of music, their entire enthralling career. The opening is entrusted to the short but characteristic "Rituale", a piece that immediately highlights not only the band's technical abilities, truly first-rate, but also clarifies what to expect from Perigeo’s music: calm pieces with relaxed yet complex rhythms and, moreover, instrumental improvisations of great value and, last but not least, numerous forays into typically English-style progressive rock that brings to mind works like "Islands" by their peers King Crimson.
The album continues with the long suites typical of their music such as "Genealogia" or even "Via Beato Angelico", "Old Vienna" up to the concluding "In Vino Veritas", all based on great complexity from an instrumental point of view, yet never excessive in structure and free from unnecessary frills. It’s also worth noting how, despite it being a completely instrumental album with no sung parts, one can listen to the entire work without losing attention, underscoring the great depth in composition they were endowed with.
Without boring you with an unnecessary track-by-track, which in works like these is particularly out of place due to the impossibility of describing all the emotions that such an elaborate album can express, I wish to highlight the performance of each individual musician, starting with that of leader Giovanni Tommaso, who delivered truly excellent performance completely devoid of imperfections. Another standout member is certainly Fasoli, who with his sax draws truly passionate melodic lines that significantly enrich the sound, steering it, along with D'Andrea’s keyboards, towards territories even closer to jazz.
As for the guitars, Tony Sidney’s work might be a bit overshadowed (unfortunately) and stands out only in certain moments when the music reverts to progressive or when the opportunity arises to unleash extremely technical yet melodious solos imbued with musical sense (a quality many guitarists today sadly lack), as can be noted in the beautiful "Old Vienna".

This "Live at Montreux" ultimately does not betray the expectations arising from listening to the previous discography of these Romans, confirming the good work done up to then and also highlighting their excellent live performance capabilities.

 Tracklist

1) Rituale (02:57)
2) Via Beato Angelico (09:36)
3) Polaris (09:07)
4) Alba Di Un Mondo (03:22)
5) Old Vienna (11:06)
6) Un Cerchio Giallo (09:55)
7) Genealogia (15:35)
8) In Vino Veritas (11:04)