Enrico Rava - 1975 - Pupa O Crisalide

Enrico Rava 

1975 

Pupa O Crisalide

01. Pupa O Crisalide 4:06

02. C.T.'s Dance 6:45

03. Tsakwe 8:12

04. El Samba Graciela 4:11

05. Revisione Del Processo N. 6 10:28

06. Lingua Franca 4:37

07. Giromondo (Per Piccoli Feddayn, Terzi Bimbi Ed Altri Mutanti) 3:37

Bandoneon – Rodolfo Mederos (tracks: 4,5,6,7)

Bass – Giovanni Tommaso (tracks: 1,7)

Bass – Herb Bushler (tracks: 2,3)

Double Bass – El Negro Gonzales (tracks: 4,5,6,7)

Drums – Bruno Biriaco (tracks: 1,7)

Drums – Jack DeJohnette (tracks: 2,3)

Drums – Nestor Astarita (tracks: 4,5,6)

Electric Guitar – John Abercrombie (tracks: 2,3)

Electric Guitar – Ricardo Lew (tracks: 4,5,6)

Guitar – Michele Ascolese (tracks: 1,7)

Percussion – Mandrake (tracks: 1,7)

Percussion – El Chino Rossi (tracks: 4,5,6)

Percussion – Ray Armando (tracks: 2,3)

Percussion – Warren Smith (tracks: 2,3)

Piano – Franco D'Andrea (tracks: 1,7)

Piano – Matias Pizzarro (tracks: 4,5,6)

Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer – David Horowitz (tracks: 2,3)

Saxophone [Tenor], – Tommaso Vittorini (tracks: 1,7)

Saxophone [Tenor], Flute – Finito Ginbert (tracks: 4,5,6,7)

Trumpet – Enrico Rava

Recorded on 15-16 July 1974 in Rome (1,7), in December 1973 in New York (2,3), in April 1974 in Buenos Ayres (4,5,6).

Companion to Enrico Rava - Quotation Marks as these are from the same recording sessions.

Enrico Rava was first Italian jazz artist,representing the country at international level.He was born in Trieste in 1939 - I know this town well, and believe me - it is not real Italy!Being independent town-state for years (last time - for some years after WWII),with long history being a part of Austria, this place is a strange mix of Roman and Germanic culture (with light Balkan flavor and Adriatic breeze as two important ingredients).At the same time it has that characteristic Adriatic coastal town atmosphere with central city square opened to sea, narrow streets,all coming from hilly suburbs to central square and smell of roasted chestnuts on every yard in August...Rava's music at its best is a product of this town - mix of Central European and Italian culture with scent of Adriatic spirit.

Rava's early works are strongly influenced by Miles Davis music and (fortunately!) almost don't include that honey-sweet South European melodies and over-emotional sentimentality that can destroy even good composition."Pupa O Crisalide " was recorded with three different ensembles in three different continents and naturally contains quite various music.

Album's opener and closer both were recorded in Rome with Italian musicians, and are closest to Rava's later "Italian recordings". Still Miles Davis influences are obvious.Rest of vinyl side A was recorded in New York with American septet (including such musicians as John Abercrombie (on electric guitar) and drummer Jack DeJohnette),them are strongest albums part. Similar to Miles Davis electric fusion period,music here is a bit warmer,more aerial and a bit softer, but sounds excellent (if not extremely original).

Two left album's compositions were recorded in Buenos Aires with Argentinian musicians and contains music,influenced by Latin fusion. Overall album is very variable and has some really strong moments.Very soon Enrico will start working for ECM and his music will become much more predictable.

Enrico Rava's the one musician who's almost unanimously credited abroad to have invented Italian Jazz. As a matter of fact, he was the one who first got some important international recognization back in the early Seventies, and brought the attention of foreign jazz listeners to our rising Italian scene.

"Pupa o crisalide" isn't his most acclaimed record, but it's my favourite one. It's a good summary of the first phase of his solo career, and it contains tracks recorded with three different ensembles: an all-Italian line-up for the opener and closer - recorded in Rome, an Argentinian octet for the B-side of the lp - recorded in Buenos Aires, and finally an impressive American septet (just two names: Jack DeJohnette, John Abercrombie) for the A-side, recorded in New York.

The musical style clearly reflects the composite nature of the album. The first half is funkier, edgier and more fiery, evidently influenced by the jazz-rock/fusion tendencies that were spreading during those years. The second one is more placid and skippy, and elegantly incorporates some latin/samba elements in the alchemy.

The two halves are held together by the timbric similarity of the line-ups (which feature almost the same elements), and by Enrico Rava's renown trumpet style. Often compared to Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler, his technique envisages rarefied notes, full of ambience, and erratic melodic lines which surprisingly do not undermine the "presence" of his trumpet sound. On the contrary, Rava's trumpet charisma seems to emerge right from this amazing equilibrium of detachedness and red-bloodedness.

A totally wonderful early project from trumpeter Enrico Rava – very different than just about anything we've ever heard from him, as the record's bubbling over with joy and life, and seems to encompass a globe's worth of influences! Rava's trumpet gets plenty of showcase in the set, amidst instrumentation that changes up wonderfully throughout the course of the album – an ever-shifting array of electric and acoustic instruments, with plenty of added percussion at the bottom, and nice use of bandoneon on a few tracks too! Yet that's only the tip of the iceberg – as the record has so much going on, it's a bit hard to put in words – yet all of it makes wonderful sense.