Featuring Giovanni Maier on double bass & compositions, Emanuele Parrini on violin & viola, Luca Calabrese on trumpet & flugelhorn and Scott Amendola on drums. When we received this disc a few weeks back, I was surprised about how amazing it was. I shouldn’t have been since the Long Song label has released a dozen great discs so far and Giovanni Maier has worked a with a number of other great musicians like Cavallanti & Tononi, Stefano Battaglia, Umberto Petrin and Zeno De Rossi. Mr. Parrini and Mr. Calabrese have also worked with the great Cavallanti & Tononi (a/k/a Nexus) bands as well. No doubt you know drum wiz Scott Amendola from his work with Nels Cline, Ben Goldberg and Larry Ochs.
Giovanni Maier’s fabulous acoustic bass is at the center of these pieces and it is extremely well recorded. The title tune is first it features what sounds like layers of contrabass lines swirling around one another magnificently. “Disk Dosk” kicks in hard with powerful drums and massive bass. The viola and trumpet ride the colossal waves below with an incredibly intense solo from Emanuele’s burnin’ viola. About half way through Giovanni’s bass hits this dynamite throbbing groove with some amazing trumpet and viola soaring together above. This is one outstanding quartet with each member an integral part of the great, tight group sound. One of the things that makes this disc so great is he way Giovanni has written these pieces with the specfic musicians in mind, accentuating exactly what they do so well. The haunting harmonies of the flugel & violin on “Due Cellule” are exquisite with Maier’s sublime bass and Amendola’s subtle brushes supporting sublimely. This disc is filled to the brim (78+ minutes) with consistently splendid creative, crafty and intriguing music. Twice this week, I had this disc on and two different customers were knocked out and had to have a copy of their own. You will no doubt feel the same way once you dig in.
Downtown Music Gallery parla di The Talking Bass
Bruce Lee Gallanter