(Modern Creative, Avant-Garde ) Enrico Rava Quintet - The Words and the Days - 2007, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Enrico Rava's 2004 outing, Easy Living, marked not only his return to the ECM label after a 17-year absence, but the complete maturation of his quintet, which at that time had been gigging together for four years. The Words and the Days sees most of the same band return with one major chair: Rava's great foil, pianist Stefano Bollani who released his acclaimed solo piano album on the label, has been replaced by the fluid, more percussive Andrea Pozza. The program consists of seven Rava originals, a cover of Don Cherry's "Art Deco" performed as a wonderfully warm and spirited duet with trombonist Gianluca Petrella, one each by drummer Roberto Gatto ("Traps"), and bassist Rosario Bonaccorso ("Sogni Proibiti" ["Forbidden Dreams"]), and a version of Russ Freeman's "The Wind," written as a vehicle for the late Chet Baker. Typical of this quintet recording, Rava digs into the jazz tradition and brings to it his lyrical gift as a composer, an improvising soloist and an arranger. His reading of "The Wind" is a fine example. Keeping Baker's sparseness in phrase, he infuses it with the echoing presence of Petrella, playing just a shade behind the melody, and then playing only parts of it and adding a bit of humor and drama to the work to make it a bit noir-ish rather than a straight nostalgia piece. Gatto's dancing brush work adds to the present tense understanding of the tune and is underscored by Pozza's painterly piano lines. Only the bassline by Bonaccorso keeps the tune rooted in history.
Conversely, "Echoes of Duke," which immediately proceeds from it, is a firm case in point of Rava's view of jazz tradition as living in the present and pointing to the future. Using the scuttlebutt rhythmic impulses of the Jimmy Blanton-Ben Webster band and the lyric improvisation of Ellington's great brass frontliners, Rava nonetheless moves the tune just outside enough to be a new and sprightly read on the blues. "Serpent" is an abstract piece that roots itself in the skeletal remnants of Miles Davis' modal period in the mid- to late '60s. The blues are everywhere present, but they are stretched almost to the breaking point, and Pozza's commanding, empathic solo here is nearly breathtaking. The final piece, the nine-minute "Dr. Ra and Mr. Va," is the best example of the ensemble's inner dialogue, wrapping a minimal chart in grand poetic designs. Rava's solo offers hints as to where he wants the band to go, and they don't just follow, they end up on the frontline with him. It begins so warm and leisurely it's deceptive. There is a lot of spatial organizing going on here. Despite the chart, there are moments of improvisation happening in the lyric, and in its harmonic interpolation by Pozza and then Petrella. The tune is like a Möbius strip, changing places with itself throughout its length. Once more, Rava dazzles with his grasp of the languages of jazz: its textures, its rhythms, its dynamics and above all, of course, its secretive and inventive melodic improvisation. There is no let down here from Easy Living; The Words and the Days is a worthy companion that confidently stands not in the previous recording's shadow, but on a ledge of its own.

Amazon.com
The noted Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava is back on ECM, where time likes to stand still in the studio, and his sturdy, burnished lyricism is on full display. But in tandem with his terrific young trombonist of recent years, Gianluca Petrella (whose Blue Note debut was one of last year's best albums), the 67-year-old Rava sets off his dreamy reflections with looser, freer, rhythmically active pieces animated by both modern screech tones and genial borrowings from early jazz. Songs such as Rava's "Echoes of Duke," a jibbing and jabbing updating of Duke Ellington's "Echoes of Harlem," are so lively, you may find yourself wishing the whole album were like that. But there's no denying the rewards of more muted material like Rava's labyrinthine "Secrets." His excellent, all-Italian working quintet includes a new pianist in Andrea Pozza, whose clean, flowing style neatly ties up the songs, as well as returnees Rosario Bonaccorso on bass and Roberto Gatto on drums. --Lloyd Sachs
Product Description
The Words and the Days, the new quintet album by Enrico Rava, picks up where Easy Living left off. Rava's widely acclaimed return to ECM in 2003 was not only a reintroduction to one of European jazz's most elegantly inventive players, it was also a significant showcase for a real band. This is no less striking on The Words and the Days despite the departure of Stefano Bollani who is now focussing on his activities as a soloist and leader. The new pianist, Andrea Pozza proves ideally suited to the group's concept and their sense of ensemble is as strong as ever. Securely anchored in the tradition, rhythmically-assured and flexible, the quintet is able to react instantly to Rava's changing moods. One of the particular pleasures is Enrico's creative rapport with trombonist Gianluca Petrella - arguably Rava's most compatible frontline partner since the days when Rava and Roswell Rudd pooled personnel for their respective bands, but the whole group is in fine form throughout.
Rava's spectrum is broad. Pat Metheny recently spoke of the trumpeter's "amazing conception of melody and music in general, which instantly offered everything to my ears that I loved to hear, all in one unbelievably beautiful package" (Down Beat, January 2006), and the music's non-demonstrative compendiousness is certainly part of its charm. Rava (born 1939 in Trieste) is one of the few players who has explored almost all of jazz's history. He started out playing Kid Ory-inspired trombone in a Dixieland band, then switched to trumpet after seeing Miles Davis play in Turin with Lester Young in 1956. In the early 1960s, at the urging of Gato Barbieri, he became a full time jazz musician, joining Gato's band in 1964. In Rome he met Steve Lacy and toured widely with him, recording the classic "The Forest and the Zoo" (ESP) in Buenos Aires in 1966. The association with Lacy also brought him into contact with New York's Jazz Composer's Orchestra (Rava plays on Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill) and with Cecil Taylor. He made his ECM debut with The Pilgrim And The Stars in 1975, featuring John Abercrombie, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Later ECM recordings included groups with Roswell Rudd (Enrico Rava Quartet, 1978) and Dino Saluzzi (Volver, 1986). He also toured and recorded with Alex Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra (Compositions, 1979). But no matter how "free" the context, Rava was always a melodic, singing trumpeter. The lyrical side of his playing, and his composing, has developed over the years, but already in the 1970s Rava was contrasting a mellow `romantic' trumpet sound with freer tendencies. This is one of the subjects of "Dr. Ra and Mr. Va", a piece first heard on The Plot, 1976, revisited now The Words and the Days.
Another of Rava's continuing interests has been the sound-world of Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman. This was touched upon on both Easy Living and on Tati (2004), Enrico's trio recording with Stefano Bollani and Paul Motian. Now the quintet plays Cherry's "Art Deco".
Repertoire, otherwise, is composed by Rava, save for "Traps" by drummer Roberto Gatto, bassist Rosario Bonaccorso's "Sogni proibiti" (forbidden dreams), and the standard "The Wind" - the Russ Freeman tune which Chet Baker used to play. Enrico's "Echoes of Duke" conjures the Ellington of the Cotton Club years, at least in its early moments, while "Serpent" is an undulating piece whose unpredictable trajectory brings late 60s Miles to mind - yet all these are unmistakably stamped with Rava's musical personality. The title track is a particularly affecting instance of his vaulting melodic flair in a free ballad context, "Secrets" a piece he has returned to over the years... In all, a rich and varied programme.
New pianist Andrea Pozza (born 1965 in Genoa) began playing jazz at the age of 13 in the clubs of Genoa. He has accompanied very many American players, amongst them Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Slide Hampton, Charlie Mariano, Sal Nistico, George Coleman, Al Grey, Jimmy Knepper and many more. He has worked extensively with saxophonist Steve Grossman.
Trombonist Gianluca Petrella (born 1975 in Bari) has played with Rava for a decade already. Earlier in his career he worked with Roberto Ottaviano, Carla Bley, Greg Osby, Lester Bowie and others. He made his ECM debut in 2001 on "Charmediterranéan" by the Orchestre Nationale de Jazz with Anouar Brahem and Gianluigi Trovesi. In 2005 he issued an album as a leader with Blue Note. Petrella also works regularly with singer Cristina Zavollini.
Bassist Rosario Bonaccorso (born 1957 in Sicily) is especially valued for his ability to play "in the tradition" and has been a valued sideman for international players including Benny Golson, James Moody, Lee Konitz, George Coleman, Clark Terry and Cedar Walton. He also leads his own quintet, for which Andrea Pozza is pianist.
Roberto Gatto (born 1958 in Rome) has been associated, off and on, with Rava over a period of more than 20 years. Reviewing the drummer with Enrico, Down Beat wrote, "Gatto listens and responds: Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette together." His inspirations are wider however, and he has also been influenced by `free' drummers including Han Bennink. Gatto has played with a vast cast of international jazz talents, including: Tommy Flanagan, Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Johnny Griffin, Steve Lacy, Phil Woods, Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny and many more.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
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