This year's "Jazz a Vienne" was probably one of the best within the last 5-6 years and saw a return to form after the creeping commerciality of the last few years. There were a number of hugely impressive gigs and whilst the Pat Metheny quartet may have been the band the captured the attention, I was very much impressed by the Italian drummer Aldo Romano's quartet that featured the veteran trumpet player Enrico Rava and the sensational French pianist Baptiste Trotignon. I've just picked up their studio album "Inner smile" and the album is fantastic.
I love Rava's tone on his horn and the kind of jazz he plays has the same spirit as someone like Tom Harrell who I also think is one of my favourites. Previously I've been put off by Rava's association with ECM where there always seems to be the undo influence of Manfred Eicher who does not seem to appreciate either uptemp or eubullient styles of jazz these days. It is therefore nice to be able to hear Rava on the Dreyfuss label where his playing is a bit more unbooted. The music has a timeless quality about it and is generally more within the jazz mainstream than ECM would put out these days (but not unlike what they would produce in their 70's / 80's heyday) although some tracks like the title track go a bit abstract. I think its a real shame that Baptiste Trotignon is not better known in this country as he is a fabulous musician whereas Aldo Romano seems barely to have registered himself as one of the greatest jazz drummers in Europe despite a lengthy career. Both musicians deserve to be more appreciated in the UK. I know nothing about bassist Thomas Bramerie other than he is French and previous played with Michel Pattucianni's guitarist father.
I've got about halfway through this CD and think it is pretty sublime. Here is a clip of the band in action:-
I love Rava's tone on his horn and the kind of jazz he plays has the same spirit as someone like Tom Harrell who I also think is one of my favourites. Previously I've been put off by Rava's association with ECM where there always seems to be the undo influence of Manfred Eicher who does not seem to appreciate either uptemp or eubullient styles of jazz these days. It is therefore nice to be able to hear Rava on the Dreyfuss label where his playing is a bit more unbooted. The music has a timeless quality about it and is generally more within the jazz mainstream than ECM would put out these days (but not unlike what they would produce in their 70's / 80's heyday) although some tracks like the title track go a bit abstract. I think its a real shame that Baptiste Trotignon is not better known in this country as he is a fabulous musician whereas Aldo Romano seems barely to have registered himself as one of the greatest jazz drummers in Europe despite a lengthy career. Both musicians deserve to be more appreciated in the UK. I know nothing about bassist Thomas Bramerie other than he is French and previous played with Michel Pattucianni's guitarist father.
I've got about halfway through this CD and think it is pretty sublime. Here is a clip of the band in action:-