BIJA TRIO – Bija
SLAMCD 556
Gabriele Di Franco, leader, guitar and loops; Francesco Pellizzari, drums and percussion; Marco Puzzello, trumpet and flugelhorn; with guests Emanuele Coluccia, saxophone; Stefano Luigi Mangia, voice
Recorded at Guagnano, Italy in October 2013
The Bija Trio hails from Salento, the southernmost peninsula of Puglia, Italy's heel. Noted for the country's very best, hand-made pasta, orecchiette, its exceptionally flavoursome green and black olives and the finesse of its vivid red, dry, but velvety smooth wines, it also seems to have produced a fair number of Italy's budding musicians. The music itself contains a quantity of references to what I think of as 'folk' without any sense of disparagement; I am not too surprised at this given that Salento is very rural, very agricultural, outside of its larger towns. It will have drawn upon the cultures which surround it, especially perhaps from the much less wealthy of the nearby provinces.
All five musicians display a diversity of backgrounds to their individual musical heritage, but none of it really explains 'Bija', except perhaps that of Stefano Luigi Mangia who amongst other studies has undertaken explorations into the traditional singing techniques of Pakistan and Northern India, while his penchant for vocal studies in the composition of eccentric modern-day music has led him towards the 'practicality of the impossible', as demonstrated in the music of John Cage, most especially in his ‘Freeman Etudes’ for violin. The 'Etudes' are notoriously difficult, both for the violinist and for the audience, practically impossible indeed. The score starts from a position traced from a star atlas which determines the position of every note in its timing and its pitch. Then every fine distinction, every change even in bowing technique is notated and every other characteristic of each note is determined by chance. The musician's achievement in playing these pieces is obvious, but equally remarkable is that of John Cage in composing them. It was perhaps this and the nature of the 'singing' which gave rise to the notion of 'Bija', via the idea of the Mantra and thence to the Bija Mantras, Sanskrit ideas of seeds of creativity, instruments of thought and resonance.
The music is very open; all players are in never ending discourse despite their differences in background. Marco Puzzello has played with the Blue River Trio and was noted for his rendition of Chet Baker's ‘Tenderly’, while Francesco Pellizzari also contributed to Blue River's soul funk from his background of soul/funk/prog-rock and multi-stylistic drumming. He even found a place with 'Smooth Jazz from the States', which includes the likes of Herb Alpert, FourPlay and Spyro Gyra. Gabriele Di Franco is generally recognised as a modern jazz guitarist and composer with lots of awards behind him, while Emanuele Coluccia is a freelance arranger, composer, pianist, saxophonist and teacher. He has played in all kinds of settings, with small and large jazz bands and big bands, as well as groups performing traditional music from Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
Although I commented above on the difficulties inherent in performing and listening to some of John Cage's pieces, I was just looking at the possibilities for the origins of this album and its title. I should say that there is no such difficulty in listening to 'Bija' but that it is quietly contemplative, in a Herb Alpert-ish sort of way: open but certainly not free.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
SLAMCD 556
Gabriele Di Franco, leader, guitar and loops; Francesco Pellizzari, drums and percussion; Marco Puzzello, trumpet and flugelhorn; with guests Emanuele Coluccia, saxophone; Stefano Luigi Mangia, voice
Recorded at Guagnano, Italy in October 2013
The Bija Trio hails from Salento, the southernmost peninsula of Puglia, Italy's heel. Noted for the country's very best, hand-made pasta, orecchiette, its exceptionally flavoursome green and black olives and the finesse of its vivid red, dry, but velvety smooth wines, it also seems to have produced a fair number of Italy's budding musicians. The music itself contains a quantity of references to what I think of as 'folk' without any sense of disparagement; I am not too surprised at this given that Salento is very rural, very agricultural, outside of its larger towns. It will have drawn upon the cultures which surround it, especially perhaps from the much less wealthy of the nearby provinces.
All five musicians display a diversity of backgrounds to their individual musical heritage, but none of it really explains 'Bija', except perhaps that of Stefano Luigi Mangia who amongst other studies has undertaken explorations into the traditional singing techniques of Pakistan and Northern India, while his penchant for vocal studies in the composition of eccentric modern-day music has led him towards the 'practicality of the impossible', as demonstrated in the music of John Cage, most especially in his ‘Freeman Etudes’ for violin. The 'Etudes' are notoriously difficult, both for the violinist and for the audience, practically impossible indeed. The score starts from a position traced from a star atlas which determines the position of every note in its timing and its pitch. Then every fine distinction, every change even in bowing technique is notated and every other characteristic of each note is determined by chance. The musician's achievement in playing these pieces is obvious, but equally remarkable is that of John Cage in composing them. It was perhaps this and the nature of the 'singing' which gave rise to the notion of 'Bija', via the idea of the Mantra and thence to the Bija Mantras, Sanskrit ideas of seeds of creativity, instruments of thought and resonance.
The music is very open; all players are in never ending discourse despite their differences in background. Marco Puzzello has played with the Blue River Trio and was noted for his rendition of Chet Baker's ‘Tenderly’, while Francesco Pellizzari also contributed to Blue River's soul funk from his background of soul/funk/prog-rock and multi-stylistic drumming. He even found a place with 'Smooth Jazz from the States', which includes the likes of Herb Alpert, FourPlay and Spyro Gyra. Gabriele Di Franco is generally recognised as a modern jazz guitarist and composer with lots of awards behind him, while Emanuele Coluccia is a freelance arranger, composer, pianist, saxophonist and teacher. He has played in all kinds of settings, with small and large jazz bands and big bands, as well as groups performing traditional music from Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
Although I commented above on the difficulties inherent in performing and listening to some of John Cage's pieces, I was just looking at the possibilities for the origins of this album and its title. I should say that there is no such difficulty in listening to 'Bija' but that it is quietly contemplative, in a Herb Alpert-ish sort of way: open but certainly not free.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
