Enrico Rava Quartet - Ah (1979) [vinyl]

>>Ah<< features bassist Giovanni Tommaso, drummer Bruce Ditmas and Franco D'Adrea, whose pianism lights up even the darkest corners.

Feeling a little under the weather? Then open up and say Ah, because Doctor Rava is in! This warm rainy day session is the perfect sonic elixir for what ails you. The sumptuous diagnostics of “Lulu” lay their pianistic hands upon us first, and with them the album’s leitmotif. Rava and D’Andrea are in fine conversational form here, as they ever are, cracking open a Pandora’s Box of free improv before re-attuning to a smoldering vamp. Rava starts us off strongly in “Outsider,” in which he swings his rhythm section around and around like children holding hands in a field. A swift kick from Ditmas brings us solid thematic closure. “Small Talk” allows Tommaso his just airtime in what is by far the highlight of the examination. Rava checks our pulse in the groovier “Rose Selavy,” breezes wistfully through the title track, and gives way to “Trombonauta,” the album’s brief yet impactful ballad, before ending “At The Movies.” This eclectic ode breathes with the magic of Cinema Paradiso while threatening to topple from the weight of its own remembrance. ~ by Tyran Grillo, ecmreviews.com.

ECM Records, ECM 1166, 1980

Recorded December, 1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, Germany

Musicians:

Enrico Rava - Trumpet

Franco D'Andrea - Piano

Giovanni Tommaso - Bass

Bruce Ditmas - Drums

Tracks:

A1. Lulu (8:05)

A2. Outsider (6:16)

A3. Small Talk (5:00)

B1. Rose Selavy (4:51)

B2. Ah (6:00)

B3. Trombonauta (2:46)

B4. At The Movies (5:45)

All Compositions by Enrico Rava

Credits:

Producer - Thomas Stowsand

Engineer - Martin Wieland

Cover - Michelango Pistoletto

Layout - Dieter Rehm