Marco Spallanzani-Pia Boda Quintet - Gone For A Walk (1996)

Pia Boda is a musician and composer, was born in Los Angeles, but grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her stepfather, a professional piano player, "stepped into her life", when she was 12 years old and introduced her to Brazilian music. She graduated as a saxophone player and music teacher from The Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen where she met the Italian guitar player Marco Spallanzani. Their collaboration led to the release of "Gone For A Walk" in 1997 and steered them into extensive touring throughout Italy and Denmark. She has progressed in recent years to join forces with Makiko Hirabayashi on "Chasing Pixies". For this date Marco and Pia assemble a quintet utilising vibes player Kaare Munkholm, bassist Jacob Jensen and drummer Niclas Campagnol. Together they explore seven of Spallanzani's and three Boda' compositions, and it's no mishap considering her early passion that many showcase a Latin flavour. The combination of guitar and vibes creates a beautiful effect, especially when drawn alongside the timbre of Pia's gorgeous saxophone musings, clearly expressed on "Looking Forward". Overall, a very pleasant album worthy of many revisits, Enjoy! 

Music Mecca, CD 2029-2, 1997
Recorded & Mixed October, 1996 Live at Mox Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark 

Musicians:
Marco Spallanzani - Guitar
Pia Boda - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Kaare Munkholm - Vibraphone
Jacob Jensen - Acoustic Bass
Niclas Campagnol - Drums 

Tracks:
01. Wide One {Marco Spallanzani} (4:38)
02. Beyond The Curtain {Marco Spallanzani} (5:02)
03. Turning Point Tango {Pia Boda} (5:13)
04. Guarana {Marco Spallanzani} (3:23)
05. In The Dark {Marco Spallanzani} (5:05)
06. It's Easy To Suppose {Marco Spallanzani} (3:35)
07. Looking Forward {Pia Boda} (5:50)
08. Elephantwalk {Pia Boda} (6:00)
09. Flexibility {Marco Spallanzani} (3:51)
10. Living In The Past {Marco Spallanzani} (5:51) 

Total Time: 48:24 

Credits:
Producer - Marco Spallanzani, Pia Boda
Producer, Recording, Mixing - Jesper Bo Nielsen 

Looking Forward

Pia Boda - Chasing Pixies (2015)

The debut album of Los Angeles-Born, Danish saxophonist and educator Pia Boda is an evocative attempt to relive old Viking stories about elves and fairies. The symbolic images about a living nature, the chase of the invisible elves and fairies who were supposed to hover in the air, and we can only sense "contours of creatures moving to somewhere," motivated Boda to create her own personal musical universe. Chasing Pixies, features Boda's Copenhagen-based quartet which formed a few years back. The quartet is an international unit - Tokyo-born pianist Makiko Hirabayashi, a leader of her own Nordic trio and member of percussionist Marilyn Mazur trio, Swedish double bassist Erik Olevik and native Danish drummer Andreas Fryland, who replaced original percussionist Lisbeth Diers. This quartet charges the typically Nordic-sounding, lyrical and melodic images of Boda with edgy yet emphatic, improvised interplay. Boda knows how to compose a cycle of arresting, story-like narratives, and even titled one of of the most beautiful pieces, "Storyteller." She and Hirabayashi, are the obvious narrators, and both enjoy an emphatic, conversational interplay that highlight each other's qualities. Boda's tone is warm, gentle and suggestive, focused on concise, linearly-flowing ideas, while Hirabayashi always offers highly original and more improvised abstractions of these ideas. Olevik and Fryland envelope while Boda and Hirabayashi exchange ideas with solid yet open pulse, except on the brief, free-improvised "Haiku #1" and "Haiku #2." The drama in these stories is usually quite minor and subtle but "Mammoth March" evokes a sense of mysterious adventure and the playful "African Flavour" that offers a kind of imaginary dance. Promising, evocative and beautiful. ~ by Eyal Hareuveni, AAJ. 

Gateway Music, CD 0915-01, 2015 

Musicians:
Pia Boda - Soprano & Tenor Saxophones
Makiko Hirabayashi - Piano
Erik Olevik - Double Bass
Andreas Fryland - Drums 

Tracks:
01. The Dark Side Of The Night (5:36)
02. Chasing Pixies (5:35)
03. Storyteller (5:42)
04. Homeland (4:18)
05. Mammoth March (5:42)
06. Haiku #1 (2:05)
07. Metamorphosis (4:30)
08. Time Of The Wind (2:43)
09. African Flavour (5:36)
10. Drifting (6:54)
11. Haiku #2 (1:55) 

All Compositions by Pia Boda 

Total Time: 50:36

Pia Boda & Chasing Pixies - Drifting (2013)