TOMMASO STARACE - A Narrow Escape & All That Jazz
In an era when musicians often have to create their own opportunities, working tirelessly at not just maintaining strict practice routines, sourcing and booking gigs, as well all the administrative tasks that this all entails it can be quite a juggling act to actually get out there and play. This is a juggling act that Italian born, London resident alto saxophonist Tommaso Starace has now mastered. With a busy diary, playing regulalrly in the UK and across Europe, saxophonist has found time to make not just one album, but two.
The recordings have completely different line-ups and approach their music, steeped in the hard bop and be-bop tradition, from almost opposite perspectives creating fresh and exciting music, that acknowledges the past whilst looking forward, one with a quintet and the other with a quartet. It was therefore with great interest that I took the opportunity to talk to Tommaso about the two new recordings.
Beginning with the Quintet album, Eleuthera All That Jazz, I ask Tommaso about the recording and the origins of the band. "I have been lucky to take part in the Eleuthera Jazz Festival in 2017, 2018 and also this year in the 2019 edition, occurring always around Easter in the April month. The festival takes place on the beautiful island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas just 30 minutes flight from Nassau, the capital Island", explains the saxophonist. "The money raised for the festival is used to maintain the library of Eleuthera, the heart of many activities and the chance for the islanders to have free access to Internet, books, CDs and more. 'Eleuthera' is the Greek word for ‘Freedom’ which I think goes well with the art of Jazz.
"The festival takes place in kind of an informal way performing jazz on streets, in clubs along beaches and the final evening in the beautiful Botanical Garden. Musicians taking part come from all different parts of the world and this makes it a very exciting cultural experience. Not to mention the nature of the festival itself where you are working and hanging out with the islanders for a week and really soaking in the positive vibes and culture of the Eleutherian life."
The recordings have completely different line-ups and approach their music, steeped in the hard bop and be-bop tradition, from almost opposite perspectives creating fresh and exciting music, that acknowledges the past whilst looking forward, one with a quintet and the other with a quartet. It was therefore with great interest that I took the opportunity to talk to Tommaso about the two new recordings.
Beginning with the Quintet album, Eleuthera All That Jazz, I ask Tommaso about the recording and the origins of the band. "I have been lucky to take part in the Eleuthera Jazz Festival in 2017, 2018 and also this year in the 2019 edition, occurring always around Easter in the April month. The festival takes place on the beautiful island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas just 30 minutes flight from Nassau, the capital Island", explains the saxophonist. "The money raised for the festival is used to maintain the library of Eleuthera, the heart of many activities and the chance for the islanders to have free access to Internet, books, CDs and more. 'Eleuthera' is the Greek word for ‘Freedom’ which I think goes well with the art of Jazz.
"The festival takes place in kind of an informal way performing jazz on streets, in clubs along beaches and the final evening in the beautiful Botanical Garden. Musicians taking part come from all different parts of the world and this makes it a very exciting cultural experience. Not to mention the nature of the festival itself where you are working and hanging out with the islanders for a week and really soaking in the positive vibes and culture of the Eleutherian life."
Continuing, Starace says "The Quintet came together spontaneously in the first year of us visiting the Festival. There were about 15 of us and we all spontaneously got into 3 main groups and shared the stage accordingly. In the past years I performed in the festival with a specific quintet under my leadership comprising of myself on saxophones, Lamont Gibson on trumpet, pianist Massimo Colombo, Adrian D’Aguilar on bass, and drummer Kevin Dean. Not only we enjoyed playing music together but the social part was also great fun with lots of laughs and interesting conversations.
In the past years I performed in the festival with a specific quintet under my leadership comprising of myself on saxophones, Lamont Gibson on trumpet, pianist
Massimo Colombo, Adrian D’Aguilar on bass, and drummer Kevin Dean. Not only we enjoyed playing music together but the social part was also great fun with lots of laughs and interesting conversations. With time we jelled with each other and developed a repertoire adding also some originals, the album contains 6 originals ( three from me and 3 from pianist Massimo Colombo). As the festival which had already been running for quite a few years didn’t have it’s own CD I thought it was the right time to record one with the quintet in 2018. Due to circumstances beyond our control we recorded it all in one afternoon. The energy, sense of humour and solidarity I think are all contained on the resulting album." With a little regret, Tommaso adds, "This isn’t unfortunately a regular working band as me and Massimo live in Europe and the other three band members are based in Nassau. We are too far apart, but if we had been closer I’m pretty sure we would be doing quite a few gigs."
As well as the original compositions there are two standards, Strayhorn's 'A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing' and 'Parisian Thoroughfare' by Bud Powell, so I asked Tommaso what had made him pick these two tunes for the album? "These two jazz Standards are quite unique. ‘A Flower is a Lovesome Thing’ is one of the many pearls of Strayhorn and I think here you can hear some beautiful impressionistic writing style inspired by classical composers such as Debussy or Ravel. Eleuthera is also an island full of beautiful flowers with striking colours so I thought the title plus the exotic and mysterious melody written by Strayhorn would be most suitable. ‘Parisian Thoroughfare’ has a great head written in triplets and conveying joyfulness and a positive energy which is what I wanted this album to be about. I also think these tunes fitted well with the rest of the repertoire of originals.
In the past years I performed in the festival with a specific quintet under my leadership comprising of myself on saxophones, Lamont Gibson on trumpet, pianist
Massimo Colombo, Adrian D’Aguilar on bass, and drummer Kevin Dean. Not only we enjoyed playing music together but the social part was also great fun with lots of laughs and interesting conversations. With time we jelled with each other and developed a repertoire adding also some originals, the album contains 6 originals ( three from me and 3 from pianist Massimo Colombo). As the festival which had already been running for quite a few years didn’t have it’s own CD I thought it was the right time to record one with the quintet in 2018. Due to circumstances beyond our control we recorded it all in one afternoon. The energy, sense of humour and solidarity I think are all contained on the resulting album." With a little regret, Tommaso adds, "This isn’t unfortunately a regular working band as me and Massimo live in Europe and the other three band members are based in Nassau. We are too far apart, but if we had been closer I’m pretty sure we would be doing quite a few gigs."
As well as the original compositions there are two standards, Strayhorn's 'A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing' and 'Parisian Thoroughfare' by Bud Powell, so I asked Tommaso what had made him pick these two tunes for the album? "These two jazz Standards are quite unique. ‘A Flower is a Lovesome Thing’ is one of the many pearls of Strayhorn and I think here you can hear some beautiful impressionistic writing style inspired by classical composers such as Debussy or Ravel. Eleuthera is also an island full of beautiful flowers with striking colours so I thought the title plus the exotic and mysterious melody written by Strayhorn would be most suitable. ‘Parisian Thoroughfare’ has a great head written in triplets and conveying joyfulness and a positive energy which is what I wanted this album to be about. I also think these tunes fitted well with the rest of the repertoire of originals.
The other new release Narrow Escape is very different proposition from the quintet set, with a two saxophone front line and without a harmony instrument. "Whenever I pass onto a new project I always try and do something different from the previous ones", explains Tommaso. "In the past two years I have been exploring the Trio format with bass and drums and enjoyed the rhythmic and harmonic freedom very much. It just felt interesting to keep the same rhythm section and add another horn. As my previous two albums Italian Short Stories and From a Distant Past had more emphasis on melody and there was more of a European touch to the compositions with some classical influences I was feeling the urge to go back to Afro American Jazz and Swing which is way I chose to do this profession in the first place. Hard Bop is what will always prevail in my heart.
"Initially I had been playing with Davide Liberti ( bassist) and Ruben Bellavia ( drummer) and enjoyed the energy and hard swing which was a characteristic of their playing. Both of them technically on top of their instrument and perfectly able to work as a unite but also stand out individually. When I thought it was time to go back to recording a Hard Bop album I immediately thought of Dave O’Higgins to complete the band: a saxophonist at the top of his game, elegant and accomplished in his saxophone playing, jazz idiom and swing with a superlative knowledge of the Bebop language. Playing with Dave is a learning lesson each time a share the stage with him and a very exciting moment."
The album has a good mixture of original tunes and standards so I ask Tommaso about the original compositions, and if they were written especially for the album, or have they had a past life with a different band? "No the compositions were written specifically for the musicians and taking into consideration their styles and abilities, so when I compose new material for an album and the band I have chosen I always have in mind the musicians I’m writing for. So the two things, musicians and compositions, go hand in hand." Continuing, the saxophonist adds, "As it’s a Harmony Less Quartet my plan was to compose very strong bass lines played by Davide in the heads, which would give more character to the piece. Some of the bass lines are particularly hard to play but as Davide is a phenomenal player I knew he would have been able to master them, and he did as you can hear on the album. The melodies in the horns ( alto and tenor) are hamornised to give more character to the compositions.
"Initially I had been playing with Davide Liberti ( bassist) and Ruben Bellavia ( drummer) and enjoyed the energy and hard swing which was a characteristic of their playing. Both of them technically on top of their instrument and perfectly able to work as a unite but also stand out individually. When I thought it was time to go back to recording a Hard Bop album I immediately thought of Dave O’Higgins to complete the band: a saxophonist at the top of his game, elegant and accomplished in his saxophone playing, jazz idiom and swing with a superlative knowledge of the Bebop language. Playing with Dave is a learning lesson each time a share the stage with him and a very exciting moment."
The album has a good mixture of original tunes and standards so I ask Tommaso about the original compositions, and if they were written especially for the album, or have they had a past life with a different band? "No the compositions were written specifically for the musicians and taking into consideration their styles and abilities, so when I compose new material for an album and the band I have chosen I always have in mind the musicians I’m writing for. So the two things, musicians and compositions, go hand in hand." Continuing, the saxophonist adds, "As it’s a Harmony Less Quartet my plan was to compose very strong bass lines played by Davide in the heads, which would give more character to the piece. Some of the bass lines are particularly hard to play but as Davide is a phenomenal player I knew he would have been able to master them, and he did as you can hear on the album. The melodies in the horns ( alto and tenor) are hamornised to give more character to the compositions.
One album that inspired this project is the Cannonball verses Coltrane recording In Chicago. What also happens here in this CD is that each of us are protagonists working as a unite but also standing out as main characters. So there’s no band leader that stands out above the others: we are all ONE. I also wanted to explore different styles in my originals always maintaining the guts and high adrenaline that is a characteristic of this new recording. So in the track ‘Pass a Good Time’ I used a New Orleans groove, in ‘Fugue in Eb-‘ an even eights feel, in ‘ Narrow Escape ‘ a latin groove, and in ‘Touch and Go’, the opening track of the album, an angular and disjunct theme made of intervals of fourths, fifths, sixths with little reference to timing until the solos don’t start." And the standards on the album? After a little consideration Tommaso simply says "I chose pieces that I liked very much, that had a quirkiness about them, that would have character and energy and finally that complemented with my originals. I also chose standards that were challenging, like ‘Trinkle Tinkle ‘ by Thelonious Monk or ‘Grand Central’ by John Coltrane.
Not content with not having two new albums out and sourcing gigs, Starace is also working on a long term project recording some classical music. Tommaso explains further, saying "In past years while exploring melody and working on strong tunes on my Italian Short Stories and From a Distant Past albums apart from making reference to great cinema composers such as Ennio Morricone or Randy Newman I started accidentally listening to some Bach and because of that specific time and what I was looking for in my music I fell in love and connected more and more with his music, particularly his Six Cello Suites. What a Master he was and no wonder he survived all these centuries and is to this day the ‘bread and butter’ of many instruments and Orchestras.
"So I started playing his Cello Suites and decided they were so beautiful I wanted to record them all on my soprano saxophone, an instrument that I think suits those specific compositions very well ( even if the instrument is out of context historically). Each year I work and memorise a Suite and then record it in a different church in the UK exploring the acoustics of the building. So far I have recorded the first Suite at St Giles Church, Oxford and the second one in All Saints in Tooting, London. I’m currently looking for the third church to record the third Suite. This project will be ready in 4 years time. It’s a very ambitious one and I have to say takes time away from my Jazz practice but it will certainly help in the long term."
Such a project may indeed take the saxophonist away from his beloved jazz, but not for very long as Tommaso already has plans for further recordings. "This year I will be recording an album in trio with Jim Watson on piano and Laurence Cottle on bass", he advises. "There’s also in the pipe line a project with Roger Beaujolais on vibes, Jim Watson on Hammond Organ, a drummer (still to decide) and a string quartet. I have also acquired from Magnum 16 images of war photograph Robert Capa for my third photographic album: ‘Jazz at War’.
Not content with not having two new albums out and sourcing gigs, Starace is also working on a long term project recording some classical music. Tommaso explains further, saying "In past years while exploring melody and working on strong tunes on my Italian Short Stories and From a Distant Past albums apart from making reference to great cinema composers such as Ennio Morricone or Randy Newman I started accidentally listening to some Bach and because of that specific time and what I was looking for in my music I fell in love and connected more and more with his music, particularly his Six Cello Suites. What a Master he was and no wonder he survived all these centuries and is to this day the ‘bread and butter’ of many instruments and Orchestras.
"So I started playing his Cello Suites and decided they were so beautiful I wanted to record them all on my soprano saxophone, an instrument that I think suits those specific compositions very well ( even if the instrument is out of context historically). Each year I work and memorise a Suite and then record it in a different church in the UK exploring the acoustics of the building. So far I have recorded the first Suite at St Giles Church, Oxford and the second one in All Saints in Tooting, London. I’m currently looking for the third church to record the third Suite. This project will be ready in 4 years time. It’s a very ambitious one and I have to say takes time away from my Jazz practice but it will certainly help in the long term."
Such a project may indeed take the saxophonist away from his beloved jazz, but not for very long as Tommaso already has plans for further recordings. "This year I will be recording an album in trio with Jim Watson on piano and Laurence Cottle on bass", he advises. "There’s also in the pipe line a project with Roger Beaujolais on vibes, Jim Watson on Hammond Organ, a drummer (still to decide) and a string quartet. I have also acquired from Magnum 16 images of war photograph Robert Capa for my third photographic album: ‘Jazz at War’.
For more information and to keep up to date with Tommaso's activities visit tommasostarace.com
Click on the album covers to read our review.
Click on the album covers to read our review.
