Concert at Panic, Marostica, Italy, October 22^nd, 2014

Not even a year has passed since I last saw Magnus Öström, live in Istanbul, but I was determined to go anyway: it had been the best jazz concert of my life, as I had tried to express here. I was wishing for a new similar performance, in the hope that the Venetian public would be able to offer an equally Mediterranean heat to the stage. Certainly, I did not expect an improved performance, I was going to be very content to have it at the same elating level. I was wrong. Incredibly. This concert was truly exceptional, as concurred backstage by all the musicians, so coming all the way from Rome was absolutely worth my while. The band was outstanding, beginning with Daniel Karlsson, who has definitely made a further technical leap in his pianism, filling up his playing with an indeterminable number of notes, struck with precision and passion. Andreas Hourdakis was splendid, and enthusiastic about his sparkling new Collings guitar, and the great energy of the immense Magnus Öström and the precise inspiration of bassist Thobias Gabrielson were both confirmed.

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Writing about this album should be quite difficult for me, because I lack the detachment that’s supposedly needed for a subjective elaboration. Metaphorically, if I touched the grooves of this vinyl recording, I’d be able to recognize every tiny trace, sound, "unclean" piece of recording, the finger pressing on the black key, on the white, the bow on the string, the brush on the drum skin. I’ve followed this CD’s path since before it was born, as my artistic collaboration with Daniel Karlsson had already begun with his previous album, so I had the chance to listen to many of the tracks before they were recorded, letting images arise in my consciousness: some of them materialized in the video that turned out to be one of my favorites, “Mrs. Mermaid”.
But shall we start at the beginning? I’ll try [she wrote with a smile].

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“Remind the gap” concert at the Roma Summer Jazz Festival, September 3^rd, 2014

Maria Pia De Vito: voice
Claudio Filippini: piano, keyboards
Luca Bulgarelli: bass
Walter Paoli: drums

There are many gaps that the Empress of the Italian vocal jazz filled in with this precious gig at the Rome Summer Jazz Festival. Starting with being back in concert again with her band from Mind the Gap, her very refined album from 2009 that contained original compositions and covers, from Hendrix to Björk. And while we thought we had just paid the price of a concert ticket, we had instead the privilege of assisting to a reunion, and witness a vibrant joy that filled the stage with twinkling smiles, glances, gestures and playfulness.

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An extraordinary woman, as well as a great musician: 16 albums in a 20-year career. And apparently, no desire—or need—to stop. Quite the opposite. This new album is decidedly in anything but a casual or minor key. Despite the unarguable crisis in the buying of non-digital formats in Scandinavia, Nyberg has created an object that really must be held in your hands, read, caressed. Without question, a double CD to be purchased, with its powerful graphics and artistry, thanks also to the photos by Miki Anaguris and illustrations by Matilda Ruta—a concept album that has much to say about the musical and almost metaphysical ability of one of the most important voices in the illustrious Scandinavian panorama.

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Sometimes a country feeds on a reverse provincialism, taking for granted and thus nullifying the talents it possesses, that others experience and enjoy at full. Kekko Fornarelli belongs to those who are struggling to be recognized in Italy but on the contrary are loved abroad, where they make international tours. Hopefully this will not be the case for too much longer.
In his latest work, Outrush, Fornarelli expresses much more than a talent for piano playing: the composition is very powerful, new, innovative, free. Each piece a narrative that contains dozens of ideas, a succulent abundance that comes with each new listening without decreasing the smoothness of this album, that captivates you from the very start.
In the best new jazz Svenssonian path, Fornarelli with his fellow accomplished musicians (Giorgio Vendola on double bass and Dario Congedo on drums) creates a unique, innovative, happy world. Seven instrumental tracks and a sung one, so movingly interpreted by guest singer Roberto Cherillo, with whom Kekko has toured half the world.

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