Enrico Pieranunzi & Bert van den Brink: Daedalus’ Wings (2000)

A piano duet recording, these two Europeans adopt a jazz stance in the romantic tradition with witty improvisations, occasional injections of raw passion, and a palpable empathy considering they had never played together before. It's a direct approach that is hardly simple or basic but should appeal to listeners of modern piano а la Bill Evans, ECM fans, and creative improvised music mavens. Each pianist does their solo take of "I Can't Get Started"; Van Den Brink uses widely spaced melody notes in a barely recognizable interpretation, while Pieranunzi is more pensive and clearly states the line and improvises more off of it. They do standards as the rambling, off-the-cuff intro, head, and bridge of "You & the Night & the Music," and a Duke Ellington medley comprising a sunrise serenade, a substantially improvised "In a Sentimental Mood," the two-beat driven "Caravan," the lightly stridden "Prelude to a Kiss," and the tango fired energy of the excited "It Don't Mean a Thing." Van Den Brink wrote the beautifully serene, dramatically romantic waltz "Woods." Pieranunzi wrote another two, a more upbeat waltz "O Toi Desir (pour Stefi)," with one pianist following the other via animation, a flying bridge, and some groove, while the multi-elemental "Si Peu de Temps" sports minimalist yet kinetic phrases, a swing section, meditation, marching, and frantic improv, a demonstration of real high drama. The pianists co-penned several songs, including the "Daedalus Suite," with the "Ouverture" fleshing out each other's notions; "Mosso" using ascending and descending crisscrossing and playful counterpoint; "Adagissimo" is like "Daedalus" rising in a pitch black, ominous mood; and "Short Tune," which displays brilliant orgasmic bursts and a resolution. The remaining four cuts are brief joint improvs, three are about a minute in length. "Two for Two" uses playful and bluesy tradings, "Hymn" is simply solemn, the three minute "Guitar Blues" has a probing stance and charcoal shadings, while "Pour Claude" is merely a slip of an improv that comes and goes in the mist. Wonder what Keith Jarrett, Kurt Ellenberger, or perhaps Chick Corea might think of this? Fans of those brilliant pianists should also gravitate toward this special recording. ~ Michael G. Nastos
Tracklist:

01.- Woods
02.- O Toi Desir (Pour Stefi)
03.- You and the Night and the Music
04.- I Can't Get Started (Bert Van Den Brink's Interpretation)
05.- Two For Two
06.- Hymn
07.- Guitar Blues
08.- Pour Claude
09.- Si Peu De Temps
10.- I Can't Get Started, (Enrico Pieranunzi's Interpretation)
11.- Daedalus Suite: Ouverture;Mosso;Adagissimo;Short Tune
12.- Duke's Medley: In A Sentimental Mood;Caravan;Prelude To Kiss;It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
Daedalus Wings
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Enrico Pieranunzi Trio: The Chant of Time (2003)

Enrico Pieranunzi (born December 5, 1949) is an Italian jazz pianist. He fuses classical technique with jazz. He has performed with, among others, Frank Rosolino, Sal Nistico, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, Chet Baker, Joey Baron, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Marc Johnson, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Charlie Haden, Mads Vinding, and Billy Higgins. He issued his first LP in 1975. He has performed widely with his own group at European and American jazz festivals. He has also composed several film scores.

In 2006 he started the trans alpine jazz project.
Tracklist:
1. Thiaki
2. September Waltz
3. Non Dimenticar...
4. Nefertiti
5. Ein Li Milin
6. Chant Of Time
7. Jitterbug Waltz
8. Very Early
9. The Fool On The Hill
10. You Don't Know What Love Is
11. Un' Alba Diinta Sui Muri
12. Surprise Answer
Chant of Time
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Enrico Pieranunzi: Fellini Jazz (2003)

Italian pianist, composer, and arranger Enrico Pieranunzi has done something delightful and enlightening on Fellini Jazz: he has gathered together some of the brightest lights in American jazz -- all of whom who have a serious affinity for European music -- and formed a quintet for creatively interpreting theme music from the director's films. While most of the themes here were composed by Nino Rota, there are two original pieces that extrapolate from various melodic and harmonic schema in Rota's work. All of the music here, with the exception of the themes from Amarcord and City of Women (the latter composed by Luis Bacalov), comes from Fellini's films of the 1950s. There is a reason for this. The musical element in Rota's scores from these films was, at the very least, informed by the spirit of jazz. Using the great American musicians who came of age during the great Yankee discovery of Fellini's movies is a brilliant touch, as they become "actors" themselves in this musical drama. Not being Italian, and not being regular players of Rota's scores, they look at Pieranunzi's adaptations with a non-literal, gauzy, nearly surrealist view. And while some would argue that Pieranunzi is not on the same level musically with his collaborators as a pianist, and perhaps someone like Brad Mehldau or Fred Hersch might have been a better choice, they'd be wrong. Pieranunzi -- specifically because he brings the great Italian jazz tradition, with its deep reliance on lyricism and harmonic interplay, to the mix -- is the only player who could have pulled off the gig. This is a beautifully, movingly wrought album that is indeed a jazz date first, but one that is also not so far removed from the music of Fellini's cinema because of its reliance on impression, subtlety, grace, warm humor, and, of course, elegance. Two sets of liner notes accompany the set, one by Pieranunzi about the session and one from Ira Gitler about the films and Pieranunzi. Fantastic and breathtaking. ~ Thom Jurek

Tracklist

01. I Vitelloni;

02. Il Bidone,
03. Il Bidone;
04. La Citta Delle Donne;
05. Amarcord;
06. Cabiria’s Dream;
07. La Dolce Vita;
08. La Dolce Vita;
09. La Strada;
10. Le Notti Di Cabiria;
11. Fellini’s Waltz.
Personel:
Kenny Wheeler - Trumpet, Flugelhorn;
Chris Potter - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone;
Enrico Pieranunzi - Piano;
Charlie Haden - Bass;
Paul Motian - Drums.
Fellini Jazz
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