CD ECM Records Giovanni Guidi: This Is The Day

2015

Giovanni Guidi - pian
Thomas Morgan - contrabas
Joao Lobo - tobe

From the first notes of the opening track to the echo-drenched fade of the final chord, ‘This Is The Day’ radiates a multilayered beauty. Every note glistens, and Manfred Eicher’s production caresses the silences left by each musician, so that each pause is like a breath being held, eloquent in its emptiness. […] Just about every moment of ‘This Is The Day’ is gorgeous. Whether extemporizing freely or working with dolorous Spanish-sounding themes articulated with minor sixths (‘Where They’d Lived’, ‘The Night It Rained forever’), the trio maintains a bucolic vibe.
Bob Doerschuk, DownBeat

Behind ‘This Is The Day’s scrim of subtlety, the Giovanni Guidi Trio quietly plays hell with the piano-trio format. Most of the time, drummer João Lobo neither keeps nor accents the beat – he plays free. Bassist Thomas Morgan occasionally plays accents, but is more likely to focus on obbligato or melody. It is up to Guidi, the pianist, to maintain (or imply) a pulse, even as he establishes and improvises on the tunes. It’s music of great audacity, even brilliance.
Michael J. West, Jazz Times (Editor’s Pick)

Like the first, ‘City Of Broken Dreams’, it presents Guidi’s more thoughtful, poetic side. It also reveals that, among the Italian pianists, he may now be the best composer. Here are exquisitely timed, gradual unfoldings like the two variations of ‘Trilly’ (melodic arcs of grace curving in space) and ‘The Night It Rained Forever’ (rapt with recurrent tremolos). […] This albums presents not one but two of the most exiting players to enter jazz in the new millennium. Thomas Morgan’s prominent role in Guidi’s trio is reminiscent of Scott LaFaro’s with Bill Evans. In the presence of a supremely lyrical pianist, only a few bass players have ever been able to continuously elevate the ensemble discourse and to deepen the atmosphere with rarefied lyricism of their own.
Thomas Conrad, Stereophile

Guidi’s second ECM session sweeps in as an attenuated, swooning sigh, cast vaguely in the Keith Jarrett mold of hushed sustains and well-pedaled ballads (‘I’m Through With Love’ being a direct homage). All unfolds in quiet calm, with heady, transporting anthems, Guidi rapt in an embrace with the hushed Charlie Haden-deep solemnity of bassist Thomas Morgan and sympathetic rustlings of drummer João Lobo.
Fred Bouchard, New York City Jazz Record

Recorded live in a Swiss radio hall without headphones or studio gimmickry, ‘This Is The Day’ spotlights three musicians not so much playing live music as letting the music play them. And when a trio of this caliber embraces the possibilities of such a setting and approach, that’s daylight indeed.
Lou Carlozo, Fra Noi