When I heard this album months ago I thought it captured perfectly the delicious quality of Gato's energetic music. Lewis is definitely the right tenor to represent Gato's complex energy. Petrella channels Roswell Rudd and they bring the positive from the 70's up to now. Except these are Guidi's compositions which mimic the spirit of Barbieri. No problem-it's a fitting tribute to a musician who captured both the elegance and chaos of an era.
Anticipato dal singolo Roma 1962, brano in rotazione radiofonica da venerdì 25 giugno 2021, Ojos de Gato è il nuovo disco dell’estroso pianista e compositore Giovanni Guidi, in uscita per la Cam Jazz venerdì 9 luglio 2021, sia in copia fisica che disponibile su tutti i digital stores. Ojos de Gato è un caloroso omaggio a una leggenda del jazz come Gato Barbieri, straordinario e compianto sassofonista argentino. Il CD consta di undici brani originali figli dell’ispirata vena compositiva di Giovanni Guidi, un album frutto di un’accattivante commistione che abbraccia free, contemporary jazz e latin jazz. Al fianco del pianista e compositore umbro, cinque stelle del jazz internazionale: James Brandon Lewis al sax tenore, Gianluca Petrella al trombone, Brandon Lopez al contrabbasso, Chad Taylor alla batteria e Francisco Mela alla batteria e alle percussioni. Il mondo del jazz sta rinascendo dopo un lungo periodo di torpore vissuto in isolamento, per cui nulla può confermare che sia sopravvissuto alla pandemia, con energia e coraggio, meglio del quinto album pubblicato dalla Cam Jazz dal pianista jazz e compositore italiano Giovanni Guidi. Ojos de Gato è un insieme straordinario di nuovi brani corali ed esaltanti che hanno l’accattivante caratteristica di suonare familiari, ma anche completamente nuovi.
The eyes have it. You may never have heard the world-class Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi in such a fiery setting. The theme is a tribute to the Argentinian saxophonist Gato Barbieri who died in 2016 who is remembered for his huge spiritual tone and for his wildly expressive tango-influenced and Coltrane-inspired work on such albums as the sensuous soundtrack for the film Last Tango in Paris and albums on the Flying Dutchman and Impulse labels. And you may additionally fail to easily forgive yourself for any number of reasons say through lack of any publicity much hitherto if this does not gravitate to the top of your listening choices at the moment immediately.
In the Gato role is free-player James Brandon Lewis who is perfect here (his Live in Willisau drummer partner Chad Taylor is also on Ojos De Gato) and gets better and better year after year as his already titanic reputation goes deservedly into interstellar overdrive. Ojos De Gato was recorded at a studio in Astoria, New York, in February last year.
Guidi also ultilises Fender Rhodes on Ojos De Gato and has a different playing profile completely to his quietly intense piano trio on say his masterpiece This Is The Day. Gianluca Petrella's trombone sound makes a telling contribution through its sheer expressiveness in key passages. Francisco Mela adds very fine latinate percussion. An album that is extremely life-affirming and is certainly one of the best group records that I have heard all year. And Guidi magisterial on a highly charged 'Laura' complete with a forest of percussion is nothing less than the icing on the cake.
From Giovanni Guidis' Web Page:
I remember sitting in a McDonald's in New York - yes, a McDonald's restaurant, just across the street from Carnegie Hall. At the table with me were my father, Gato Barbieri and his son. This is the image I recall immediately when I think of the great Argentinian saxophonist - more than just an artist, he had become a family friend.
Ojos de Gato is an extremely important project for me: it's the last project I created together with my father before he passed away. It pays homage to Gato Barbieri 40 (now 41) years after the publication of The Third World. It's also deeply connected to what journalist Libero Farne described in an article on All About Jazz as my second spring.
The last few years of my life have been tumultuous ones, and the music I am drawn to now is more airy, lighthearted, although I hope it is no less serious and honest. The musicians I have chosen for Ojos de Gato have helped me create something vital and joyous, without abandoning Gato's concept of sound, which I consider among the most profound and intense sounds I've ever heard.
I am joined by extraordinary musicians, what I consider a dream band.
Let's begin with Gianluca Petrella, incredible musician and faithful companion of a thousand voyages, both personal and professional; James Brandon Lewis, incomparable saxophonist, raw and powerful; Francisco Mela's percussion, soaked in the culture of the Global South, in constant dialogue with the impeccable rhythmic concept of Chad Taylor, one of the greatest drummers of our time. And last but not least, free and original as the 1970's, the bass playing of Brandon Lopez.
I couldn't ask for better companions with whom to explore my second spring.
Ojos De Gato is music for the city, for the urban space, the theater and the cinema. I think of the cinema of Bertolucci and Pasolini, the music of Enrico Rava, Franco D'Andrea, Don Cherry and Aldo Romano, and - above all - Gato Barbieri. This project pays homage to the Argentinian saxophonist on the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Third World (1970).
And, just like all creations whose abstract origin is balanced by the visceral, their authenticity derives from the humanity they contain, the stories they have to tell. In this case, those are the stories of Mario Guidi and Gato, Giovanni and Laura Barbieri, who adopted the project as her own, and of all the incredible artists involved.
Let's begin with Gianluca Petrella, extraordinary musician and faithful companion of a thousand voyages, both personal and professional; James Brandon Lewis, incomparable saxophonist, raw and powerful; Francisco Mela's percussion, soaked in the culture of the Global South, in constant dialogue with the impeccable rhythmic concept of Chad Taylor, one of the greatest drummers of our time. And last but not least, free and original as the 1970's, the bass playing of Brandon Lopez.
In Ojos De Gato, I tried to unite all these elements in an intercontinental sextet, an ensemble that in my mind has its roots in Rosario, Argentina, just like Ernesto Che Guevara, Lucio Fontana and Gato Barbieri himself.
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