Rita Marcotulli
Koinè

Here's a unique and very beautiful album, for the one who writes. Nordic European atmospheres mixed with Italian tradition; with an added splash of healthy Africa never went amiss. The smell of tomato and basil sauce; pellet stove blazing and evening tranquility. With a small glass of malvasia as an appetizer. Wine for dinner? Red, please! Recorded in 2002, this is the troubled and very labored fruit of one of the few Italian jazz pianists internationally known and rightly recognized: Rita Marcotulli. Our girl often plays with big guns, and judging by her artistic path and this work in particular, she must be a person of non-trivial sensitivity, not to mention a thoroughly prepared and astute instrumentalist. This album represents a successful attempt to innovate her figure as a well-rounded musician, momentarily freeing herself from typical jazz canons, as well as adding a valuable contribution to contemporary Italian proposals of great quality and varied content. All in a singularly attractive graphic frame and without fear of comparison with artists more accustomed to the genre. A difficult album to review because it unexpectedly confounds expectations and nonetheless leaves you with a strong aftertaste of an obligatory and quick return to listening. Not to mention of malvasia. Another drop of Sicily, please. You're welcome, no problem! A lot of musicians involved: Javier Girotto and Andy Sheppard sax, Palle Danielsson, Anders Jormin, and Luca Bulgarelli bass, Roberto Gatto, and Audun Kleive drums, Stanley Ray Adams trombone, Pietro Tonolo reeds and arrangements, “Metaxu” electronic effects, Anja Garbarek and Lena Willemark vocals, Stefano Bellon string arrangement… etcetera!!!

1) “G. Continuo/Fragment1” is a “joke” between musicians. A very pointed track; certainly recorded with much concentration and attentive listening to the collective. A hint of electric piano, quite a bit of double bass, an acoustic piano that slowly carves its niche in the economy of these six minutes. Then follows a cello spinning and swirling.
2) “Fragment” is a one-minute acoustic piano interlude. Worth listening to: delicate and strong at the same time.
3) “Interference” is a very delicate sung piece; whispered: so as not to wake anyone. Acoustic piano with rarefied and discreet orchestral accompaniment. Anja Garbarek's voice and acoustic piano both in the foreground. Beautiful lyrics, in English.
4) “Afromenia” is a very particular track: at the vertices of an ideal equilateral triangle are the percussion and the very original voice of Arto Tuncboyaciyan (don’t even try calling him by his surname: it's useless!); then the cold jazz of the north and finally our eclectic warmth. Tribal sensations in the heart of Piazza Vittorio in Rome or Piazza Maggiore in Bologna. Two cities very advanced, as a crucible of events, musical progression and possibilities of intense international cultural exchanges.
5) “Fragment2” lasts only 34 seconds and is another nice little solo piano interlude in the style of “Pollini meets Bill Cunliffe”; classical rather than otherwise. Don't know Bill Cunliffe? Too bad. We'll talk about it... (Google it, google it...)
6) “Il richiamo” tells the story of Lena: a little girl growing up in the woods with her grandmother… etc. etc. An engaging track, to be handled with care; it wins you over with challenging sounds but is objectively well designed. It opens with the call of the grandmother for the cows at pasture: a very loud and sharp cry, followed by the singing accompanied by the piano. The dialogue continues with the sax beside it, then embracing gypsy melodies. After halfway, there’s a radical shift to more ethereal and dreamlike things. Awakening on a gloomy day. Varied, intelligent, and effective.
7) “Numeri” is another oblique track: at first, it seems like Zappa meets the Italian melodic tradition. Gianmaria Testa, a singing train conductor from Cuneo who has enormous success in France but is almost unknown here, sings the track in a heartfelt and emotional way. Very beautiful.
8) “Koine’”. What can be said about this performance which gives the album its name? It’s a piece led by a distant piano, with echo and electronic effects surrounding it; relentless and continuous melodic progression. Based on a handful of chords and rhythmic flavors that taste of Greece. Strong Area sensation in the air. Ideas of Milton Nascimento halfway through. Portuguese or Neapolitan market at the end. A saucerful of secrets. Ballarò and the fish sellers with paper-wrapped parcels. Sensations of 1970s music. A gem of experiences narrated by Rita to your heart. Avitabile, Esposito, Senese, and the Neapolitan rock-jazz school concentrated in a few minutes.
9) “Just feel”. Piano, guitar, double bass and few effects characterize the construction of a track built on a simple, simple loop. Melody that goes, turns, returns once again and ends suddenly. 1970s colors here too. Cramps and Mauro Pagani.
10) “Fuori dal tempo” is practically the prologue of…
11) “E per non fare la fine di quella talpa”: together they form an intimate track: first with solo voice and then with sax, piano, and effects (few). The narrated introduction by Giammaria Testa presents a few verses that make one reflect. Or that start making you think about your own things. Maybe it’s his way of “distilling”, maybe it's the overall mood of the album.

Maybe it's that human beings are complicated: intelligent or stupid; strong like Samson, but ultimately fragile as a child on the first day of school or a balloon in the wind. Giammaria Testa knows something about this. The result is that this album breaks into your mind. Homeopathy of Nino Rota in the last track, at the end of a beautiful journey: intelligent and tasteful, for a mature and highly crafted work, evidently. One that will not fail to leave a smile on the face of those who love true intimacy, new music, and an intelligent, evolved dialogue far from the coarse mediocrity that is always lurking when reason dozes off. Sleep peacefully. For a while.