Enrico Rava

[7/4]

April 4, 2006

Jazz Review | Enrico Rava

At Birdland, Enrico Rava Treats the Mainstream Irreverently

By NATE CHINEN, NY Times

Italy has yet to produce a more accomplished jazz musician than the trumpeter Enrico Rava. Since the late 1960's, when he was a knockabout presence on New York's thriving avant-garde scene, Mr. Rava has earned a reputation for incisive instincts and an appealingly burnished tone. Somewhere along the line, he became both a part of Italian popular culture and, more meaningfully, a mentor to many of his country's best aspiring players.

So it was fitting that Mr. Rava was the linchpin of last week's celebration of "Top Italian Jazz" at Birdland, part of an annual cultural exchange organized by the producers of the Umbria Jazz Festival. With ensembles led by the bassist Giovanni Tommaso and the pianist Dado Moroni, among others, the event lived up to its billing. Notably, all six bands on the schedule had some clear connection to Mr. Rava.

None clearer, of course, than the bond between Mr. Rava and his own quintet, which performed on Thursday and Friday nights. Mr. Rava formed the group at the turn of the century, providing a crucible for such raw young talent as the trombonist Gianluca Petrella and the pianist Stefano Bollani. Frequent touring over the last few years has turned it into a powerhouse, as evidenced by Friday's first set.

In Mr. Rava's music, mainstream jazz traditions meet with a wry sort of affection. On "My Funny Valentine" — a signature song for two of Mr. Rava's early heroes, Miles Davis and Chet Baker — Mr. Rava played the melody earnestly, but Mr. Petrella's obbligato was a hissing and spluttering stream. Mr. Rava's "Algir Dalbughi" worked partly because of an off-kilter sense of familiarity; its rollicking bop-meets-boogie cadence evoked Charles Mingus's take on Jelly Roll Morton.

Mr. Rava imbued most of his solos with the same structure, escalating from a sonorous middle register to a whinnying cry. And the ensemble had a weak link in its new pianist, Andrea Pozza, who seemed wan and disengaged. (Mr. Bollani, who appeared with his own trio, now performs with Mr. Rava as an equal partner.) But the band's cohesion, underscored by the drive of Rosario Bonaccorso on bass and Roberto Gatto on drums, outweighed its flaws.

The same was true of the other group on the program, consisting of the Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi with the American rhythm section of Marc Johnson on bass and Paul Motian on drums. The three musicians have overlapping histories, and their rapport was strong. At times, the trio indulged in melodic abstraction, most strikingly on Mr. Motian's "Abacus." Its most coherent work was on a waltz by Mr. Pieranunzi called "Mo-Ti"; its coloration invoked the Bill Evans Trio, which figured prominently in the early careers of both Mr. Motian and Mr. Johnson, roughly a decade apart.

But that was only the evening's second-best example of Italian-American musical alchemy. The best was a duet featuring Mr. Rava and Mr. Petrella, on a theme by the free-jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. Mr. Rava, who worked with Mr. Cherry in the 1960's, dug in with a fervent sense of swing. Mr. Petrella, born in the mid-1970's, brought something special to the dialogue: an absorbing, almost delirious irreverence.

Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani perform tonight in Chicago,tomorrow in Boston and on Friday in San Francisco.

[Trumpet Guy]

Thank you 7/4!

[7/4]

Thank you 7/4!

You're welcome.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I don't mean to digress, but describing a trumpet tone as 'burnished' is surely one of the arch-cliches of jazz writing? That said, it's a nice way of putting it.

[alocispepraluger102]

Thank you 7/4!

You're welcome.

the rava rhythm section of about a year ago was really beautiful.