Gianluca Petrella - Trombone
Andrea Pozza - Piano
Rosario Bonaccorso - Bass
Roberto Gatto - Drums
recorded live at Große Konzerscheune Salzau, July 2004
1. Sand
2. Rain
3. Algir Dalbughi
4. Nature Boy
5. Happiness Is To Win a Big Prize (in cash…)
6. Art Deco
7. Estate (feat. Roberta Gambarini)
“Contemporary Italian jazz can be said to have begun with Enrico Rava”, writer Mike Zwerin observed in the International Herald Tribune.
Featuring his regular Italian quintet with trombonist Gianluca Petrella, pianist Stefano Bollani, bassist Rosario Bonaccorso and drummer Roberto Gatto, “Easy Living” (released in 2004 on ECM) was recorded in Udine, near Rava’s Genovan home. It finds Enrico, in his 65th year, playing with unforced inspiration. Working ‘in the tradition’, he is characteristically disinclined to be limited by it. And his trumpet sings, perhaps more eloquently than ever. “I’m extremely happy about this record”, Rava told American web journal All About Jazz. “I think it’s by far the best record I ever made. Everybody on the record sounds beautiful. The session was so easy, so relaxed… Everybody was very much into the music.”
In general, the disc bears out the judgement of the Jazzpar Prize jury who elected Rava Musician of the Year in 2002. “Rava has proven himself adept at many styles… His bittersweet music does not fit neatly into any one genre. He can play fiery and lyrical lines and he can generate romantic atmospheres. Enrico Rava may shift between abstraction and structure but he mostly plays the trumpet with a warm, mellow sound – smooth and intoxicating. Sometimes his slow, spiralling, bop-like lines glide into free terrain. His phrases often close with a slur and he may employ half valves and other means to obtain a lyrical and adventuresome voice.” He may indeed, and on “Easy Living”, that lyricism is much in evidence.
Featuring his regular Italian quintet with trombonist Gianluca Petrella, pianist Stefano Bollani, bassist Rosario Bonaccorso and drummer Roberto Gatto, “Easy Living” (released in 2004 on ECM) was recorded in Udine, near Rava’s Genovan home. It finds Enrico, in his 65th year, playing with unforced inspiration. Working ‘in the tradition’, he is characteristically disinclined to be limited by it. And his trumpet sings, perhaps more eloquently than ever. “I’m extremely happy about this record”, Rava told American web journal All About Jazz. “I think it’s by far the best record I ever made. Everybody on the record sounds beautiful. The session was so easy, so relaxed… Everybody was very much into the music.”
In general, the disc bears out the judgement of the Jazzpar Prize jury who elected Rava Musician of the Year in 2002. “Rava has proven himself adept at many styles… His bittersweet music does not fit neatly into any one genre. He can play fiery and lyrical lines and he can generate romantic atmospheres. Enrico Rava may shift between abstraction and structure but he mostly plays the trumpet with a warm, mellow sound – smooth and intoxicating. Sometimes his slow, spiralling, bop-like lines glide into free terrain. His phrases often close with a slur and he may employ half valves and other means to obtain a lyrical and adventuresome voice.” He may indeed, and on “Easy Living”, that lyricism is much in evidence.
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