ENRICO FAZIO’S CRITICAL MASS - Wabi-Sabi
Leo Records CD LR 862
Luca Campioni, violin; Anais Drago, violin, 5-string electric violin; Alberto Mandarini, trumpet, flugelhorn; Gianpiero Malfatto, trombone, euphonium, flute; Adalberto Ferrari, clarinet, bass, contrabass & Turkish clarinets; Francesco Aroni Vigone, soprano & alto saxes; Gianni Virone, tenor & baritone saxes, lead flute; Enrico Fazio, composition, double bass, electronics;
Fiorenzo Sordini, drums, percussion
GUESTS: Valeria Sturba, Theremin on track 5; Moustapha Dembèlè, kora, djembe, tamani on tracks 2-3-4-5; Simone Ghio, keyboards and overdubbing
Recorded at (52+1) Studio, Agliano Terme (AT) Italy, November 2017
The Theremin is an ‘electronic’ instrument with two aerials. The proximity of the player’s hands without touching the aerials determines the frequency and amplitude of the signals sent to an amplifier then to a loudspeaker.
The Djembe is a West African, wooden drum, shaped like a goblet, covered with a rope-tuned skin and played by hand.
The Tamani is also a drum from West Africa, particularly from Mali. The Tamani was also a wooden drum with skin but is today constructed from modern, synthetic materials. It is known as a ‘talking’ drum, as it can be used to readily emulate the inflections of human speech.
The Kora is a Mandinka harp, made from half a calabash covered with cow-hide supported by two handles. It has twenty-one strings over a bridge.
Wabi-Sabi is a Zen notion relating to the concept of the beauty of imperfection. Zen masters deliberately include mistakes in their work, acknowledging that perfection in anything is not a human quality, but divine.
The album is a construction of soloists and solos, improvisations interspersed between written arrangements and the whole so nicely integrated that one could be excused from not noticing the presence and the actions of some very unusual instruments for the jazz genre in its broadest sense. These are described above.
Fazio really gets down to his interest in the connections between improvisation and composition and resorts to some very intricate and uncharacteristic solutions to the musical structures of these works. Solo clarinet is used quite a lot throughout the album and ‘traditional jazz’ resonates into and out of those pieces. It is echoed too in the deployment of the trombone.
Here is a very interesting CD that, in spite of its composition versus improvisation, was recorded without any prior rehearsal, thus allowing the soloists the privilege of making their own mistakes.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 862
Luca Campioni, violin; Anais Drago, violin, 5-string electric violin; Alberto Mandarini, trumpet, flugelhorn; Gianpiero Malfatto, trombone, euphonium, flute; Adalberto Ferrari, clarinet, bass, contrabass & Turkish clarinets; Francesco Aroni Vigone, soprano & alto saxes; Gianni Virone, tenor & baritone saxes, lead flute; Enrico Fazio, composition, double bass, electronics;
Fiorenzo Sordini, drums, percussion
GUESTS: Valeria Sturba, Theremin on track 5; Moustapha Dembèlè, kora, djembe, tamani on tracks 2-3-4-5; Simone Ghio, keyboards and overdubbing
Recorded at (52+1) Studio, Agliano Terme (AT) Italy, November 2017
The Theremin is an ‘electronic’ instrument with two aerials. The proximity of the player’s hands without touching the aerials determines the frequency and amplitude of the signals sent to an amplifier then to a loudspeaker.
The Djembe is a West African, wooden drum, shaped like a goblet, covered with a rope-tuned skin and played by hand.
The Tamani is also a drum from West Africa, particularly from Mali. The Tamani was also a wooden drum with skin but is today constructed from modern, synthetic materials. It is known as a ‘talking’ drum, as it can be used to readily emulate the inflections of human speech.
The Kora is a Mandinka harp, made from half a calabash covered with cow-hide supported by two handles. It has twenty-one strings over a bridge.
Wabi-Sabi is a Zen notion relating to the concept of the beauty of imperfection. Zen masters deliberately include mistakes in their work, acknowledging that perfection in anything is not a human quality, but divine.
The album is a construction of soloists and solos, improvisations interspersed between written arrangements and the whole so nicely integrated that one could be excused from not noticing the presence and the actions of some very unusual instruments for the jazz genre in its broadest sense. These are described above.
Fazio really gets down to his interest in the connections between improvisation and composition and resorts to some very intricate and uncharacteristic solutions to the musical structures of these works. Solo clarinet is used quite a lot throughout the album and ‘traditional jazz’ resonates into and out of those pieces. It is echoed too in the deployment of the trombone.
Here is a very interesting CD that, in spite of its composition versus improvisation, was recorded without any prior rehearsal, thus allowing the soloists the privilege of making their own mistakes.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
