Riccardo Fassi Trio - Walkabout (1996)

With Billy Elgart on drums and Paolino Della Porta on bass, it's tough to imagine Riccardo Fassi turning in anything less than a stellar recorded set. That's exactly the case; in fact, it may be Fassi's strongest outing ever. With such a powerful yet sprightly rhythm section, Fassi gets to indulge his knack for fleet-fingered pianism that never, ever leaves the realm of the lyrical. In his compositions, Fassi tends to accent the double eights and nines, and use the blues as a springboard for long legato runs and busy, though never florid, arpeggio work. What keeps him tethered, however - and this is evidenced wonderfully on "Oxford," "What Cosa," and "Di Coccio" - is his striated chromaticism and fundamentally architecture-harmonic sensibilities. He moves with Della Porta through a series of knotty, angular changes and then flushes into the light with a run of 16th notes skittering across the pitch range before inverting them and staggering the harmonic to fit the interval. There are also a number of Della Porta compositions on Walkabout, the most notable of which is "Canguri Urbani," which begins with a drum and bass duet before being joined by Fassi in a Monkish vamp about two minutes in. From the Monk-like harmonics, Fassi moves out Tristano-style in scalar regimen to arrive at some appropriation of the blues as it met bop. Near the middle of his solo, his right hand begins comping through flatted sevenths and diminished ninths before taking flight again with Della Porta holding the space and Elgart pushing the pianist to the edge before they take it out with a whisper. This is an excellent example of why Italy has one of the most exciting jazz scenes in the world. ~ by Thom Jurek, AMG. 

Splasc(h) Records, CDH 475.2, 1996
Recorded & Mixed 27th-28th January, 1996 at Murec Studio, Milan, Italy 

Musicians:
Riccardo Fassi - Piano
Paolino Dalla Porta - Bass
Bill Elgart - Drums 

Tracks:
1. Di Coccio {Riccardo Fassi} (8:37)
2. Message From The Earth {Paolino Dalla Porta} (7:34)
3. What Cosa? {Riccardo Fassi} (6:33)
4. Il Polpa E La Cizza {Riccardo Fassi} (7:24)
5. Game 1 {Paolino Dalla Porta} (10:24)
6. Oxford {Riccardo Fassi} (7:23)
7. Il Sogno Evidente {Riccardo Fassi} (6:00)
8. Canguri Urbani {Paolino Dalla Porta} (6:53)
9. Rimozione Forzata {Riccardo Fassi} (5:34) 

Total Time: 66:21 

Credits:
Producer - Peppo spagnoli, Giorgio Mortarino
Sound Engineer, Photo [Back] - Paolo Falascone
Cover Art - Paolino Dalla Porta
Liner Notes - Luca Perini 

Canguri Urbani

Dino Rubino - Where Is The Happiness? (2017)

Where Is The Happiness?
Question for which there is no human being who has not sought an answer. Philosophers, writers, painters, composers and above all the common man have come to terms with this unresolved question or with an answer that is sometimes so obvious that it does not deserve any consideration. This is what Dino Rubino wonders in his latest record published by Tùk Music and made with a highly respected crew that sees Emanuele Cisi on sax, Angelo Bonaccorso on French horn, Gaetano Cristofaro on clarinet, Giuseppe Mirabella on guitar, Paolino Dalla Porta on double bass and Adam Nussbaum on drums. The ten musical tracks that the pianist and trumpeter writes for this recording unfold on the trail of this answer, as well as an original version of “Sugar Man”, a famous piece by Sixto Rodriguez. Just as it is true that happiness is everywhere and at the same time nowhere, these pieces testify to Rubino's exploration of that musical metalanguage that knows no genre limit. In fact, there is a whole baggage of artistic experiences and listening in these pieces, from jazz to folk, rock, pop and classic repertoire, influences that, perfectly digested and reworked by Dino Rubino, emerge in different ways in these songs, almost to render concrete is the quote from Paolo Fresu that stands out in the booklet of the cd and that reads "Happiness is also not depriving oneself of anything". The pursuit of happiness in this music is something that has to do with an element of optimism and positivity, it proceeds through never dark atmospheres, on the contrary illuminated in the path by that light of spirituality that inevitably cheers. Dino Rubino wanted to add a literary equivalent to each of these passages, offering as many of his poems to be read in the booklet. Verses that do not describe, but rather suggest memories, images, stories that each of us has experienced at least once. Because happiness is never just a melody, but it is also word and vision, like that of the images that the Polish illustrator Joanna Gniady also offers to accompany this work. The opening "Joyful" is perfectly symmetrical to the "Happiness", which closes the disc: from joy, a euphoric but temporary condition of the spirit, to the awareness of a happiness that, however faint for all of us, reveals itself with a cyclical and regular rhythmic scan. As if to say that sometimes it goes away, but then it always comes back. And Dino Rubino dedicates this record to the "seekers of happiness", that is, to everyone, to that man who, at the center of the world, is also at the center of this music. ~ PianoSolo.it. 

Tǔk Music, TUK022, 2017
Recorded 3rd, 4th & 5th June, 2017 at Arte Sicilia, Acireale, Catania, Italy

Musicians:
Dino Rubino - Piano, Flugelhorn
Emanuele Cisi - Tenor Saxophone
Angelo Bonaccorso - French Horn
Gaetano Cristofaro - Bass Clarinet
Giuseppe Mirabella - Guitars
Paolino Dalla Porta - Double Bass
Adam Nussbaum - Drums 

Tracks:
01. Joyful {Dino Rubino} (6:26)
02. Van Gogh {Dino Rubino} (4:12)
03. Wind {Dino Rubino} (5:12)
04. Etna {Dino Rubino} (4:51)
05. Where Is The Happiness? {Dino Rubino} (6:33)
06. Blanc Et Noir {Dino Rubino} (0:45)
07. Sugar Man {Sixto Rodriguez} (4:12)
08. Broken Words {Dino Rubino} (6:12)
09. Souvenirs {Dino Rubino} (4:56)
10. Mondo {Dino Rubino} (6:25)
11. Happiness {Dino Rubino} (5:07) 

Total Time: 54:51 

Van Gogh

Dino Rubino Trio - Zenzi (2012)

In 2011, Dino Rubino recorded his first album as a trio, a tribute of the Sicilian pianist, trumpeter and composer to the South African singer and activist, whose valorises the melodic and rhythmic heritage in a multi-sided portrait in a jazz key: the Miriam Makeba world music singer, jazz musician, storyteller, folk singer. 

"The political activity of Miriam Makeba, her death in Castelvolturno, the link between Sicily and Africa, lands that have much more in common than physical proximity, are all aspects that bind me personally to the story of this extraordinary artist; says Rubino, and that I wanted to represent, in my way, in an album. And the musical project developed very naturally, almost instinctively. In particular, the reading of her autobiography, a collection of stories that touch personal events, the relationship with his land, his important encounters, as well as a description of his artistic and musical thought, together with listening to his songs, alone they had the power to evoke the arrangements and new compositions that I then recorded. It was not a "head" job: the more things I was discovering about Miriam Makeba, the more I felt it was mine.” 

From a stylistic point of view, the rhythmic variation and a strong sense of color characterize the trio, together with the sobriety of the trait. The high stature rhythm that accompanies Dino for this project is able to best enhance the dual personality of the Sicilian musician: Stefano Bagnoli, more tied to the tradition of the modern mainstream, and Paolino dalla Porta, who represents the most open jazz line and European. As in its best sense, the trio becomes an equal body, in which ideas develop in a circular way between the three instruments favoring the improvisational dimension and the interplay. ~ Extract translated from DinoRubino.com.

Tuk Records, CD009, 2012
Recorded 25^th & 26^th February, 2011 At Studio ArteSuono, Cavalicco, Udine, Italy 

Musicians:
Dino Rubino - Piano, Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Paolino Dalla Porta - Bass
Stefano Bagnoli - Drums 

Tracks:
01. Malaika {Fadhili William Mdawida} (6:40)
02. Where I Can Go {Leonard M. Fuld, S. Berland, Sonny Miller} (7:08)
03. Mama Afrika {Dino Rubino, Paolino Dalla Porta, Stefano Bagnoli} (3:23)
04. Song For Miriam {Dino Rubino} (7:46)
05. Pata Pata {Franco Edgardo A., Makeka Miriam, Ragovoy Jerry} (4:30)
06. From Sicily {Dino Rubino} (2:18)
07. To Afrika {Dino Rubino} (6:53)
08. Nina Nanna {Dino Rubino} (6:24)
09. Good-Bye Zenzi {Dino Rubino} (6:01)
10. Sangoma {Dino Rubino} (9:01) 

Total Time: 60:04

Credits:
Producer - Dino Rubino
Recording, Mixing & Mastering - Stefano Americo
Photo - Roberto Cifarelli
Painting - Monica Zani
Graphic Design - Benno Simma