With Miriam, Gianfranco Menzella presents the public a study that is certainly classic in stylistic terms, linking itself to the references of black music and introducing an experimental touch for the harmonizations that evolves in the direction of free jazz, blues and fusion. The Quintet's work, however, is extremely elegant and also reflects a high basic cultural provenance which is the receptive environment, a sophisticated spatial soul that is impossible not to love. In the foreground is Menzella's tenor sax, followed by an alto sax, a sumptuous piano, as well as the classic instruments of the rhythm session such as bass, drums and trumpets, which often join together and seek a swing direction together. It must be admitted that all these categorizations in genres do not best express a work which is, instead, very fine in keeping together all the different nuances of the same musical matrix. In fact, essentiality, stylistic balance, clean lines are perceived. The only concession to greater freedom is probably an image, this one: try to close your eyes for 40 minutes of listening and you will find the right dimension to dream of New York at the end of the 40s. Miriam's aesthetic is probably in the search for solutions that are refined and at the same time understandable by everyone. The title of the album - a woman's name - who knows if it wants to be in part a tribute to the female universe, or a suggestion to approach it with much more fluidity or, why not, even an invitation to women to open up, since they often manage to make themselves unhappily unintelligible. And Miriam, just by chance, means "beloved": if therefore in jazz notes there is passion, feeling and imagination, capable of speaking to the heart, isn't Miriam perhaps the best title that could be found as a symbol of this musical choice? It must be recognized, to an excellent Italian saxophonist like Gianfranco Menzella, the ability to potentially be appreciated by a large audience. Menzella doesn't seem to have even reached the full maturity of his artistic expression yet, yet the results are already excellent. Let's look forward to other pearls on the Italian jazz scene which, we like to say, in recent years has been increasingly enriched by skilled young talents. ~ Extract by Rosanna Perrone, Jazzitalia.net. [Translated from Italian]
Philology Records, W 416.2, 2010
Recorded 25th March, 2009 at
Studio Mediterraneo di Santeramo Colle, Bari, Italy
Musicians:
Gianfranco Menzella - Tenor
Saxophone
Alfonso Deida - Piano, Alto Saxophone
(#8)
Tomaso Scannapieco - Bass
Giovanni Scasciamacchia -
Drums
Special Guest:
Fabrizio Bosso - Trumpet
(#1,2,4,6)
Tracks:
1. Miriam {Gianfranco
Menzella} (6:48)
2. Marco Smiles {Gianfranco
Menzella} (5:34)
3. Falegname {Giovanni
Scasciamacchia} (3:45)
4. Tidal Breeze {Harold
Danko} (5:39)
5. Hermitage {Pat Metheny}
(5:40)
6. Muddy In The Bank {Steve
Swallow} (4:02)
7. Amico {Giovanni
Scasciamacchia} (5:03)
8. Blues For Max {Gianfranco
Menzella} (4:11)
Total Time: 40:42
Credits:
Producer - Paolo Piangiarelli
Recording, Mixing &
Mastering Engineer - Massimo Stano
Photograhy - Claudia
Calavelta, Marco Lopomo
Graphic Design & Cover
Concept - danilosantinelli.it
