DINO MASSA QUARTET - Suite Pour Le Piano For Jazz Quartet
Dino Massa: piano; Nicola Pisani: soprano and baritone saxophones; Luca Garlaschelli: bass; Alessandro Rossi: drums.
Recorded Orlando Music, Milan on February 21st and 22nd 2017
The liner notes suggest that the very idea of a jazz suite is out-moded, possibly even obsolete. I’m not so sure, given the way that younger musicians are working on recordings that have a feeling of ‘concept’ albums. On the other hand, I appreciate the suggestion that the idea of an integrated collection of musical motifs, spread over four movements does feel unusual in the contemporary jazz world. The liner notes refer to the recent past, when ‘jazz suites’ were common up to the ‘70s. But my feeling is that these pieces have a longer history than that, and that Massa is drawing inspiration from much earlier times. In Classical music, a suite (say, those composed by Bach) would be a sequence of tunes which could be danced to. These would start from the mid-tempo allemande, and move to the faster, more jumpy courante, then the sarabande and finally the gigue (or jig).
As you might expect from this description, ‘Suite no 1’ begins with a stately piano theme, which Pisani picks up with delicate soprano accompaniment. Following this, the pace gradually picks up and by minute 3, the quartet are swinging to a mid-paced bop rhythm. The piece stops and switches to a different tune at around minute 7 when Pisani comes back in on baritone, and the music continues to gather pace. The extremes of the two saxophones on show here are nicely contrasted both in his playing and in Massa’s composition.
The approach to structure (piano intro, sax accompaniment, quartet kick-in and take-off) is repeated on the other ‘Suites’. You can appreciate how the traditional (Classical) idea of the suite is being played with by Massa, and this is illustrated by switches in tempo and style, and supported by changes in saxophone. In particular, the playing of Massa, with his lightly classical bop and Pisani’s saxophones, create an intimate and enjoyable set of tunes. Massa has produced a collection of pieces, each running to around a quarter of an hour, that could be listened to as paeans to his home city of Milan and as new experiments in the ways to create stylish jazz suites.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Dino Massa: piano; Nicola Pisani: soprano and baritone saxophones; Luca Garlaschelli: bass; Alessandro Rossi: drums.
Recorded Orlando Music, Milan on February 21st and 22nd 2017
The liner notes suggest that the very idea of a jazz suite is out-moded, possibly even obsolete. I’m not so sure, given the way that younger musicians are working on recordings that have a feeling of ‘concept’ albums. On the other hand, I appreciate the suggestion that the idea of an integrated collection of musical motifs, spread over four movements does feel unusual in the contemporary jazz world. The liner notes refer to the recent past, when ‘jazz suites’ were common up to the ‘70s. But my feeling is that these pieces have a longer history than that, and that Massa is drawing inspiration from much earlier times. In Classical music, a suite (say, those composed by Bach) would be a sequence of tunes which could be danced to. These would start from the mid-tempo allemande, and move to the faster, more jumpy courante, then the sarabande and finally the gigue (or jig).
As you might expect from this description, ‘Suite no 1’ begins with a stately piano theme, which Pisani picks up with delicate soprano accompaniment. Following this, the pace gradually picks up and by minute 3, the quartet are swinging to a mid-paced bop rhythm. The piece stops and switches to a different tune at around minute 7 when Pisani comes back in on baritone, and the music continues to gather pace. The extremes of the two saxophones on show here are nicely contrasted both in his playing and in Massa’s composition.
The approach to structure (piano intro, sax accompaniment, quartet kick-in and take-off) is repeated on the other ‘Suites’. You can appreciate how the traditional (Classical) idea of the suite is being played with by Massa, and this is illustrated by switches in tempo and style, and supported by changes in saxophone. In particular, the playing of Massa, with his lightly classical bop and Pisani’s saxophones, create an intimate and enjoyable set of tunes. Massa has produced a collection of pieces, each running to around a quarter of an hour, that could be listened to as paeans to his home city of Milan and as new experiments in the ways to create stylish jazz suites.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
