CD ECM Records Enrico Rava: Easy Living

2003

Enrico Rava trompeta
Gianluca Petrella trombon
Stefano Bollani pian
Rosario Bonaccorso contrabas
Roberto Gatto tobe

editie Touchstones - format mini-vinil replica, coperti gatefold, cartonate

“I’m extremely happy about this record”, Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava told All About Jazz. “I think it’s by far the best record I ever made. Everybody on the record sounds beautiful.” The disc bears out the judgement of the Jazzpar Prize jury who had elected Rava Musician of the Year a few months prior to this 2003 recording. “Rava’s bittersweet music does not fit neatly into any one genre. He can play fiery and lyrical lines and he can generate romantic atmospheres. He may shift between abstraction and structure, but he mostly plays the trumpet with a warm, mellow sound – smooth and intoxicating.“ Enrico is also an insightful bandleader, and Easy Living alerted a wider audience to the talents of pianist Stefano Bollani and trombonist Gianluca Petrella.

Jazz Review, Editor’s Choice
Le Monde de la Musique, Choc du mois
Classica-Répertoire, L’événement jazz du mois
Stereoplay, CD des Monats
Stereo, CD des Monats
Musica Jazz, Disco dell’ anno

One of Miles Davis’s most imaginative inheritors, Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava can illuminate Davis’s emotions with a special intensity of his own. In recent times, the 65-year-old has released various tributes but this haunting set, with a trumpet/trombone front line and gifted regular Stefano Bollani on piano, consists of originals – except for the title track. … It’s mostly a low-lights album, but “Algir Dalbughi” – driven by Bollani’s boogieing left hand and opening into an elegantly wayward uptempo trumpet solo – is a triumph, as is the ensemble intensity of “Traveling Night”. A powerful statement by a most creative disciple.
John Fordham, The Guardian

Rava is a wonderful trumpet player and his quintet play with such delicacy that these nine pieces will seduce your ear, given time. There are reminders of Miles Davis, who was Rava’s first inspiration, but no slavish imitations. It’s more a question of picking an idea Miles dropped years ago and expanding on it. A case in point is “Hornette & The Drums Thing”, which has the fleeting, mercurial quality of late-Sixties Davis. Otherwise it is all typical Rava –mellow lyricism, warm tone and gorgeous acoustic sound. Pianist Stefano Bollani says more with half a dozen notes than most others do with several handfuls.
Dave Gelly, The Observer