Enrico Pieranunzi
When starting this post I was trying to find a good reason why I didn’t mention the brilliant Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi in my 25 Essential Jazz albums. Actually, I couldn’t really find one.
Probably the only one that comes to mind that out of the enormous recording legacy that Pieranunzi has done over the years (and he’s still recording) it is really hard to pick a winner, there are so many good albums in his discography.
Obviously, Bill Evans influenced many contemporary pianists. However, his influence is audible even more with Pieranunzi. He certainly doesn’t make a secret out of it, he’s even written a book about Bill Evans, and on the 1986 recording below and many others, he’s even taken on Marc Johnson, the bassist of Evans last trio (see his brilliant playing on Consecration).
That said, don’t think that Pieranunzi is merely a Evans clone, far from that, he is one of the most extraordinary piano players of our times for me.
Deep Down
This 1986 album is an excellent example of what I like about Pieranunzi. You get beautiful ballads (We’ll Be Together Again or Atigny), swinging melodies (Dee Song), and one of my most loved standards (Someday My Prince Will Come) in a beautiful, very individual version.
Overall, Pieranunzi will never only record standards, he’ll always contribute his own compositions (4 of the 9 album tracks, with Marc Johnson contributing another original).
My rating: 5 stars (yes I know, again 5 stars, but rest assured, my blog so far just has a very heavy bias to the stuff I really like, it is really not that I’ll fork out 5 stars at every corner).
I strongly suggest you don’t limit yourself in the exploration of Pieranunzi to this album, there is so much more to discover. For example, I’d recommend you get this full 6CD box at Amazon, which includes 5 other albums from his earlier period, all good to excellent.
You can also just download the individual album here (Qobuz).
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I was just wondering if you like the Italian Jazz represented in ECM label, I was amazed by people like Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, S. Bataglia, Paolo Fresu, and many others that make in quantity and quality a really strong scene, maybe worth to make others aware of this great artists
Thank you for sharing so many good records
Regards
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Thanks José for the kind words.
Let me take them one by one:
Rava is a great player but I’m not a universal fan of his records (there are some gems though, will write about them soon).
Bollani I already wrote about here: https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/08/31/a-beautiful-italo-scandinavian-trio-stefano-bollanis-stone-in-the-water/
Bataglia I’m not a universal fan, with some exceptions (also coming up).
And Fresu is great, I saw him live in concert with Ralph Towner in duo (as recorded on Chiaroscuro) and loved it.
More to come!
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Ok
It is true that for the blog quality you need to be a lot more selective,rationale and objective.
I am only starting the discovery process, sure you can help guiding a litlle, but surprised but this italian mine.
Thank you again
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Always happy to help, and I’ll make sure I follow up on these Italians.
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My blog post on Enrico Rava is now online, thanks for the inspiration: https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/11/22/easy-living-my-favorite-enrico-rava-album/
More to come…
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Have you or anyone had a chance to compare the mastering of the box set to the original albums? Worried a bit about hot mastering from 2010…
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