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

Riccardo Fassi - Riccardo Fassi New York Quintet (1998)

This CD represents an emblematic example of the high level of Italian jazz, which has nothing to envy for quality projects of its exponents to what is practiced overseas. The esteem that Riccardo Fassi enjoys with American musicians is well known to fans of African American music, as evidenced by his past collaborations with Steve Lacy, Tim Berne, Oliver Lake, Gunter Schuller, and especially his beautiful record of 1993 New York Trio (also for the YVP) with Rufus Reid and Marvin Smith. An elegant and refined writing of mainstream derivation permeates the CD, in which the pianist has carved out the difficult and discrete role of the orchestra more than the soloist, leaving room for the delicious solos now responsorial now in unison by Gary Smulyan engaged in the baritone saxophone and of vibraphonist Bryan Carrott, whose great rhythmic verve recalls the best Bobby Hutcherson of the '60s. Already the first notes of the CD, suggest a perfect balance between the components of the quintet, which leads the musicians to interact as if they were in an orchestra, aiming for short and dense solos, without ambitions of hyper-virtuosity pleased in a continuous game of tension and distension. A soft and relaxed atmosphere, never however glossy or mushy, permeates the development of most of the pieces including "Just Love", "Alluminio" and "Lamu", from the suave melodic performance. Carrott's performance is enhanced by the record, to which the recording industry has not (incredibly) granted until today the opportunity to show off with engravings on its behalf. And this seems all the truer given that today the creation of CDs no longer denies anyone. The forty-three vibraphonist New Yorker, who had already contributed with Fassi to the success of the "Conduction 43" by Butch Morris during the course of Verona Jazz in 1994, gives his instrument greater harmonic freedom and timbre variety to the weaving of the songs, on which the relaxed and relaxed interplay of the quintet. The beauty of the themes - all fascinating and seductive as few - and the rapid melodic and rhythmic changes, finally avert the predictability that generally characterizes the mainstream production, rigid in the structuring of the solos and the monochordal path. 4 Stars, ~ by Maurizio Zerbo [Translation from Italian].

YVP Music, 3092 CD, 2001

Recorded 3^rd February, 1998 At Systems Two, Brooklyn, New York

Musicians:

Riccardo Fassi - Piano

Gary Smulyan - Baritone Saxophone

Bryan Carrott - Vibraphone

Dennis Irwin - Double Bass

Adam Nussbaum - Drums

Tracks:

1. Lamu (6:54)

2. Last Dance (6:08)

3. No Space For The Eggs (7:23)

4. Mars (7:08)

5. Miss B (3:59)

6. Market (7:58)

7. Just Love (7:36)

8. Prophet (7:49)

9. Alluminium (6:34)

All Compositions and Arrangements by Riccardo Fassi

Credits:

Producer - Riccardo Fassi, York v. Prittwitz

Recording Engineer - Michael Marciano, Joseph Marciano

Digital Mastering - Philipp Heck, Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg

Cover Photo - Jorge Lardone

Photo - Riccardo Fassi

Cover Design - York v. Prittwitz

Liner Notes - Yvp Music Archive