Nels Cline about Furore:
With his new record “Furore”, my good friend and über-talented guitarist Simone Massaron has drawn inspiration from the writings of John Steinbeck – specifically from his epic best-seller “The Grapes Of Wrath”.
Nels Cline about Furore:
With his new record “Furore”, my good friend and über-talented guitarist Simone Massaron has drawn inspiration from the writings of John Steinbeck – specifically from his epic best-seller “The Grapes Of Wrath”. Continua a leggere
LA MUSICA DELLA ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND INCONTRA COLTRANE, AYLER E MINGUS. UN MIX ENTUSIASMANTE DI AVANT JAZZ E ROCK BLUES.
“A MOST INTERESTING TRIBUTE TO THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND”, (steptempest.blogspot.com)
“4 STARS..Tononi pays his respects to the Allman Brothers Band, which is what sincere tributes are all about..”. (DownBeat!)
“…Tononi’s celebration of the Allman Brothers Band’s music is joyful, sincere, and revelatory, and with the recent loss of Gregg Allman, suddenly timely”. A welcome 4 star review of Tiziano Tononi & Southbound’s tribute to the Allman Brothers Band from FreeJazzBlogSpot (thanks to Lee Rice Epstein)
“…Una delle più belle sorprese dell’anno viene da Tiziano Tononi, che ha fatto fruttare il suo amore per il Southern Rock e gli Allman Brothers con un album di solida bellezza ed originalità..” (Musica Jazz, Italy)
“….Quattordici tracce in cui Tononi e i suoi musicisti riescono a tenere sempre viva la tensione, a convogliare gli stilemi del jazz in un contesto più vicino al rock e viceversa, a rivolgersi tanto agli appassionati del
jazz che degli Allman Brothers con un disco in grado di non deludere le aspettative né degli uni né degli altri e, magari, di gettare un ponte per avviare anche alcuni ascoltatori verso dischi o gruppi mai affrontati
finora. “…. (Jazz Convention, Italy)
Gli Allman Brothers + fiati + violino + accordion – le chitarre = Tiziano Tononi & Southbound!!!!
Tutto è cominciato da “Brothers And Sisters”. In realtà tutto era cominciato prima, con la scoperta del Blues attraverso i dischi di John Mayall, ma quella è un’altra storia…Vedere all’interno di quella copertina una specie di “super extended family” con musicisti, roadies, amici, donne e bambini, e ascoltare le suggestioni blues della voce di Gregg Allman e della chitarra di Dicky Betts era stato un connubio letale, e nei miei sogni avrei voluto andare a stare lì, in un oblio Bluesfamiliare che avrebbe potuto fermare il tempo, e durare per sempre. A marcia indietro, da lì a poco avrei comprato “Fillmore East”, avrei scoperto Duane e Berry Oakley, e gli Allman Brothers sarebbero entrati nel mio mondo, e ne avrebbero fatto parte per sempre. Dunque sono quasi quarantacinque anni che li ascolto (ho seguito poi anche molte delle loro vicende successive, fino alla chiusura ufficiale della “ditta” nel 2014), e ancora mi stupiscono, da ascoltatore, per come fossero avanti sui tempi, e per come la loro musica, al dì là della passione totale per quel suono sontuosamente southernblues, infarcito di ritmiche New Orleans, contenesse già da subito molto più di quanto poteva sembrare. In fondo era il pregio di un periodo musicalmente ultra fertile, in cui molti stimoli ed influenze diverse, a volte persino contrastanti, venivano fatti convivere “pacificamente” tra loro, creando così alcune delle sintesi più straordinariamente originali che la storia recente ricordi. Era il Blues di Duane, con quello slide tagliente, difficile da dimenticare, che mi riempiva di gioia in “Statesboro Blues”, o quel modo di affrontare il solo, che letteralmente mi “ammazzava”, in “Loan Me A Dime” di Boz Scaggs, ….era il country (blues) di Betts, con le sue melodie scavate nelle dita, per un’ Elizabeth Reed che nel tempo è diventata un po’ anche mia, e ancora la capacità di Gregg di emozionare con le sue canzoni, e con la sua voce che che giganteggia, sorniona, sulle note del suo Hammond, era il Coltrane di “A Love Supreme” e la musica di Miles, che Jaimoe fece ascoltare a Duane, era il soul e la funkyness del basso di Berry e della batteria di Butch….Loro in fondo sono “i miei” Allman Brothers. Un gruppo di freaks multirazziale, in un Sud ancora pervaso da tensioni e intolleranza, che ha realizzato un piccolo grande miracolo musicale con le proprie forze, a dispetto di tutto e di tutti, creando un suono unico, irripetibile. Come in una magia antica, come in un rito ancestrale africano officiato nelle paludi della Georgia, a cui partecipavano i “santi” del Blues, numi tutelari anche per me, e a cui, da parte mia, questa volta ho invitato anche Rahsaan Roland Kirk e Sun Ra, Coltrane, Don Cherry, Mingus e l’Art Ensemble of Chicago…Chicago, un nome, un simbolo, come sempre dal Blues al Blues…ma questa è un’altra storia.
Lunga vita alla leggenda dell’Allman Brothers Band, the road goes on forever, no?
Tiziano Tononi, TizTheWiz
Tiziano Tononi: drums, percussion, udu drum (Midnight Rider), gongs
Emanuele Passerini: soprano & tenor saxophones
Piero Bittolo Bon: alto sax, bass clarinet & flutes
Emanuele Parrini: violin & viola
Carmelo Massimo Torre: accordion
Joe Fonda: acoustic & electric bass
Pacho: congas, bongos, percussion
Marta Raviglia: vocals
With guests
Fabio Treves: harmonica on “You Don’t Love Me”
Daniele Cavallanti: tenor sax solo on “Soul Serenade”
All arrangements & musical directions by T.Tononi
“For Barry O.”, “Clouds of Macon” and “Skydog Blues” composed by T. Tononi
Produced by Fabrizio Perissinotto
Allman Brothers + horns + violin + accordion – guitars = Tiziano Tononi & Southbound!!!!
It all started on “Brothers And Sisters”. Actually, the process began prior to that, with my
discovering the Blues through John Mayall’s records, but that’s a different story…Seeing
the picture of that “super-extended family” on the inside cover with musicians, roadies,
friends, women and kids, and listening to the Bluesy flavor of Gregg Allman’s voice and
Dicky Betts’ guitar just hit me really deep, and in my dreams I wished I could have been there,
stopping the clock to stay….in some sort of a Blues-like oblivion, one that would last forever.
Looking back, shortly after I bought “Fillmore East” I discovered a different band
(with Duane and Berry Oakley) and The Allman Brothers Band entered my world — to stay,
forever. I’ve been listening to their music for almost forty-five years now and following their
many changes over many decades… and they continue to surprise me. Their music was ahead of their time, a “lethal” mix of a magnificent Southern sounds and New Orleans cross-rhythms — it
incorporated many more influences than one could imagine at first listen.
All in all, theirs was a high quality music in a time of ultra-fertile creativity, one in which many different
elements in music, sometimes even opposed to each other, were peacefully co-existing to form some
of the most extraordinary syntheses in recent history. It was Duane’s Blues background, with
his hard-to-forget, signature slide work that filled me with joy on “Statesboro Blues” and his
killer phrasing on Boz Scagg’s “Loan Me A Dime”… It was Betts’ Country (and Blues) sound,
those melodies digging into the neck of his Goldtop for a “Liz Reed” that, in time, became someway a part o me, mine
Further, it was Gregg’s ability in song writing, his voice towering over the textures of his Hammond organ on “It’s Not My Cross To Bear”; it was the Coltrane of “A Love Supreme” and the music of Miles’ “second quintet” that Jaimoe exposed Duane to and inflated the Brothers’ music with; it was the Soul and the funkyness of Berry’s bass and Butch’s drums…Those are “my” Allman Brothers, a multi-racial, freaky band in a deep South still filled with social tensions, intolerance and segregation.
There they created their little/big musical miracle, against everybody and everything. They represent a special, one-of-a-kind style and sound that resembled an ancient magical ritual, an ancestral African
rite officiated in the swamps of Georgia. You can see the “Saints” of the Blues, this time
joined by the High Priests of jazz: Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra, Coltrane, Ornette and
Don Cherry, Mingus and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Chicago!….a name, a symbol,
as always from the Blues to the Blues….but that’s a different story.
Long live the legend of The Allman Brothers Band! The road goes on forever doesn’t it?
Tiziano Tononi, TizTheWiz.
Tiziano Tononi: drums, percussion, udu drum (Midnight Rider), gongs
Emanuele Passerini: soprano & tenor saxophones
Piero Bittolo Bon: alto sax, bass clarinet & flutes
Emanuele Parrini: violin & viola
Carmelo Massimo Torre: accordion
Joe Fonda: acoustic & electric bass
Pacho: congas, bongos, percussion
Marta Raviglia: vocals
With guests
Fabio Treves: harmonica on “You Don’t Love Me”
Daniele Cavallanti: tenor sax solo on “Soul Serenade”
All arrangements & musical directions by T.Tononi
“For Barry O.”, “Clouds of Macon” and “Skydog Blues” composed by T. Tononi
Produced by Fabrizio Perissinotto
Sparks fly in historic first meeting between pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda.
Concert recording features two of improvised music’s most creative minds.
Sparks fly in historic first meeting between pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda.
Concert recording features two of improvised music’s most creative minds.
Continua a leggere
The Brooklyn Express
Daniele Cavallanti tenor sax, ney flute
Herb Robertson cornet
Steve Swell trombone, flute
Joe Fonda double bass, flute
Tiziano Tononi drums
Da sempre fieri eredi della grande “black” music dei ’60 e ’70, Tononi e Cavallanti celebrano orgogliosamente le loro radici con un nuovo grande lavoro. Registrato a Brooklyn (da qui il nome della band “The Brooklyn Express”) “NO TIME LEFT!!!” nasce dall’incontro con nuovi e vecchi amici quali personaggi storici della scena avant e impro di NY. Il trombonista Steve Swell, il bassista Joe Fonda e il trombettista Herb Robertson sono nomi che non necessitano di presentazioni per gli appassionati del genere, e il loro elenco di collaborazioni illustri è infinito (a caso: Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, Tim Berne, Barry Altschul e così via…), come pure la loro produzione solista.
Si aggiunga anche il fattore anagrafico: tutti “born in the fifities”, i cinque hanno seguito simili percorsi di crescita artistica e professionale.
Quindi, più che mai un’affinità collettiva tipo “THIS IS OUR MUSIC” !!
Da questo spirito comune e innata empatia nasce una musica che unisce coordinate già note a chi segue i due italiani, specialmente a livello compositivo, con una parte in varie occasioni più decisamente avventurosa e libera e completamente improvvisata, nella migliore eredità dei loro nomi tutelari.
Troviamo tributi a Ornette Coleman (a cui è dedicato tutto il disco), Bill Dixon, Gil Evans, Jim Pepper ma anche ad Andrew Cyrille (che durante la session è passato a trovare e omaggiare i suoi “figli”, Tononi tra l’altro fu suo allievo) a cui viene dedicato il titolo stesso di un lungo pezzo.
Tutto il disco trasuda passione ed onestà e si presenta come un fortissimo omaggio ad una musica immortale che ha ispirato generazioni di musicisti, e mai si è piegata ad alcuna logica commercialeThe Brooklyn Express
Daniele Cavallanti tenor sax, ney flute
Herb Robertson cornet
Steve Swell trombone, flute
Joe Fonda double bass, flute
Tiziano Tononi drums
Tononi and Cavallanti, as always proud heirs to the great “black” music of the 60’s and 70’s, they celebrate their roots with a great new work. Recorded in Brookyn (that’s where the name for the band “The Brooklyn Express” comes from) “NO TIME LEFT!!” comes from the meeting of old and new friends who were legends from the NY avant and improv scene. Trombone player Steve Swell, bassist Joe Fonda and trumpeter Herb Robertson are names that need no introduction for people passionate about the genre. Their long list of collaborations with the greats is infinite (names at random: Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, Tim Berne, Barry Altschul, and so forth…), as are their solo productions.
Adding to this is the demographic factor: all five were “born in the fifties” and have followed similar paths of artistic and professional development.
So, more than ever there is this huge affinity, like “THIS IS OUR MUSIC” !!
From this kindred spirit and innate empathy a music is born that unites coordinates already known to those who follow these two Italians. Especially in their compositions, a portion of which is decisively adventurous, free, and completely improvised, in the best lineage of their tutors.
We find tributes to Ornette Coleman (to whom the album is dedicated), Bill Dixon, Gil Evans, Jim Pepper. There is also a tribute to Andrew Cyrille (who came by during the recording session to pay homage to his “children”. Tononi was a student of his). The title of a long piece is dedicated to Cyrille.
The whole album sweats passion and honesty and presents itself as a strong homage to an immortal music that has inspired generations of musicians, one that has never bent to commercial interests.
Garrison Fewell _ guitar, perc.
Gianni Mimmo _ soprano saxophone
Un dialogo illuminato, non solo musicale, tra Gianni Mimmo e Garrison Fewell, due menti rivolte verso un Altrove che schiude a intensi fenomeni.
Palpiti molecolari, polveri cosmiche, silenziosi bagliori, scintille umili e potentissime.
Rispetto e introspezione animano la danza delle mani intorno a strumenti capaci di nuove e luminose intersezioni.
“Flawless Dust” è un flusso d’idee, di domande e risposte, spesso sorprendenti anche per questi musicisti dal pluridecennale percorso di ricerca ed espansione.
Gentilezza e stratificazione: spiriti cortesi, aperti a un’irradiante luce.Garrison Fewell _ guitar, perc.
Gianni Mimmo _ soprano saxophone
An enlightened dialogue, not barely a musical one, between Gianni Mimmo and Garrison Fewell, two Elsewhere oriented minds driving us to intense phenomena.
Molecular heart beats, cosmic dust, silent flashes, humble and powerful sparks.
Respect and introspection liven up a dance of hands around instruments, bursting new and luminous intersections.
“Flawless Dust” is a flow of ideas, questions and answers often surprising even for these musicians with a work of tireless research that spans over decades.
Kindness and layerings: gentle spirits opened to a soul warming light
Emanuele Parrini: Violin0
Dimitri Grechi Espinoza: Sax Alto
Giovanni Maier: Contrabbasso
Andrea Melani: Batteria
Lavoro maturo ed intensissimo, summa del pensiero musicale di Parrini, jazz dalle tinte dense e autunnali, lirico ed esplorativo, graziato da composizioni di grande impatto e scintillanti e misurati momenti solisti.
“The Blessed Prince” ci parla con un jazz orgoglioso ed austero, rigoroso e arcigno, profondamente poetico.
Parrini è leader di un quartetto di uomini a amici e musicisti che celebrano la musica come missione inevitabile di una vita e il jazz come musica evocativa che regala profonde emozioni.Emanuele Parrini: Violin
Dimitri Grechi Espinoza: Alto Sax
Giovanni Maier: Double Bass
Andrea Melani: Drums
This is a work that is mature and quite intense and is the sum of Parrini’s musical thought: jazz that is dense with tints of autumn, lyrical and explorative, blessed with compositions of great impact and sparkling with measured solo moments.
“The Blessed Prince” speaks to us with proud and austere jazz: rigorous and severe, yet profoundly poetic.
Parrini is the leader of a quartet of men, friends and musicians who celebrate music as an inevitable life’s mission and jazz as a evocative music that gives gifts of profound emotions.
Music, once you’ve played it, it’s gone, in the air, and you can never capture it again…(Eric Dolphy)
The vibration of the gongs, the air in motion, sheets of sounds spreading out of skins and metals, the abstract geometrical encounters of rhythms and figures, beauty of the opposites complementing each other, the night & day/ male & female / black & white of life, the perpetual motion that keeps things rolling, makes you move (and smile…) and makes our lives happier, worth being lived. Music is a healer, music is a blessing.
This recording is dedicated to
the living memory of David Lee Searcy,
master musician, teacher, friend.
(Oakland/S.Francisco 1946 – Milano 2011)
Among the many great experiences I’ve had through my whole life as a musician, meeting David Lee Searcy was one of the most extraordinary, and a blessing. Not only I had the good fortune to study with him, we also became friends and shared some deep moments talkin’, eating, rehearsing, playing and recording as “Moon On The Water”, the percussion trio we had with Jonathan Scully. We also spent time together listening to Jimi Hendrix, a common passion, actually something not so common for a “classical” musician. But Dave was more than that, besides the monster tympanist/keeper of the flame of a genuine European playing tradition, he was a free thinker/free spirit, inspirer of people, a one-of-a-kind type of person with a broad landscape and vision in front of him, in part due – I like to think so – to his Oakland/S.Francisco-Bay Area roots. When I think of him, I can’t but remember the many times he succeeded visualizing a sound through words and images, some sort of a magic quality I only found in him. This way, with this recording, I feel like he’s somehow living through my playing, every time I try to find the”right” sound.
So long, Dave, the one and only “Moon One”,
see you there… on the Moon.
Tiziano Tononi,”Tizi”, Moon Three. Music, once you’ve played it, it’s gone, in the air, and you can never capture it again…(Eric Dolphy)
The vibration of the gongs, the air in motion, sheets of sounds spreading out of skins and metals, the abstract geometrical encounters of rhythms and figures, beauty of the opposites complementing each other, the night & day/ male & female / black & white of life, the perpetual motion that keeps things rolling, makes you move (and smile…) and makes our lives happier, worth being lived. Music is a healer, music is a blessing.
This recording is dedicated to
the living memory of David Lee Searcy,
master musician, teacher, friend.
(Oakland/S.Francisco 1946 – Milano 2011)
Among the many great experiences I’ve had through my whole life as a musician, meeting David Lee Searcy was one of the most extraordinary, and a blessing. Not only I had the good fortune to study with him, we also became friends and shared some deep moments talkin’, eating, rehearsing, playing and recording as “Moon On The Water”, the percussion trio we had with Jonathan Scully. We also spent time together listening to Jimi Hendrix, a common passion, actually something not so common for a “classical” musician. But Dave was more than that, besides the monster tympanist/keeper of the flame of a genuine European playing tradition, he was a free thinker/free spirit, inspirer of people, a one-of-a-kind type of person with a broad landscape and vision in front of him, in part due – I like to think so – to his Oakland/S.Francisco-Bay Area roots. When I think of him, I can’t but remember the many times he succeeded visualizing a sound through words and images, some sort of a magic quality I only found in him. This way, with this recording, I feel like he’s somehow living through my playing, every time I try to find the”right” sound.
So long, Dave, the one and only “Moon One”,
see you there… on the Moon.
Tiziano Tononi,”Tizi”, Moon Three.
Tiziano Tononi – Drums, Congas, Gong, Bells, Whistles Daniele Cavallanti – Tenor and Baritone Saxes, Ney Flute, Bells William Parker – Double Bass A lost and found gem documenting the first meeting ever of two Italian avant jazz masters with the NY jazz bass giant. Totally live and improvised! Tiziano Tononi says: “Rockin’ the Vaults…sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t, what you find may become a great deal of a surprise, and this time we found out something very unusual like a mini-disc recording!!! What’s that? I’m pretty sure some people don’t even know what a mini disc was, anyway the music contained herein still sounded fresh and surprising after a few years, so I say to myself “why not?”, and here we are! Years after the Long Song Record “Smoke Inside” we got the smokin’ side of a joyful, powerful and subtle trio of characters, praising the Gods of music and improvisation through instruments tuned on a common language, burning, that night in Vancouver, the wall/bridges of the distance from Milano to New York.
Tiziano Tononi – Drums, Congas, Gong, Bells, Whistles Daniele Cavallanti – Tenor and Baritone Saxes, Ney Flute, Bells William Parker – Double Bass A lost and found gem documenting the first meeting ever of two Italian avant jazz masters with the NY jazz bass giant. Totally live and improvised! Tiziano Tononi says: “Rockin’ the Vaults…sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t, what you find may become a great deal of a surprise, and this time we found out something very unusual like a mini-disc recording!!! What’s that? I’m pretty sure some people don’t even know what a mini disc was, anyway the music contained herein still sounded fresh and surprising after a few years, so I say to myself “why not?”, and here we are! Years after the Long Song Record “Smoke Inside” we got the smokin’ side of a joyful, powerful and subtle trio of characters, praising the Gods of music and improvisation through instruments tuned on a common language, burning, that night in Vancouver, the wall/bridges of the distance from Milano to New York.
Dopo le due uscite “acustiche” acclamate dalla critica (At the Playground; What We Got Ourselves Here is a Problem in Communication; Eugene Chadbourne; AllMusic.com), BRIO , un duo jazz / rock noise proveniente dalla città di Zagabria in Croazia , incide il suo secondo album, questa volta “elettrico” . Il titolo Acid Cock è un semplice derivato letterale del famoso termine musicale , ma per questa band , Acid Cock è uno stato mentale particolare che BRIO aveva al momento di entrare in studio. Beh, sicuramente sapete come ci si sente quando si viene derubati di qualcosa s cui si tiene molto. Proprio così , questa band l’ha preso da dietro e l’ha preso pure forte, così hanno deciso di uscirne facendo quello che gli riesce meglio: fare musica. Il risultato è Acid Cock, una lunga suite metodicamente costruita unendo melodie con urla atonali brutali, hard groove e riff di chitarra che suonano vagamente “free”. Questo è l’album di canzoni dove gli opposti si trovano e si completano a vicenda, dimostrando che la musica free può essere più di un semplice baccano insensato. E la voce? Bene, la voce parla di un amore perduto, infranto, di solitudine , di malattia … di Cazzo Acido.
Quindi, se si vuole veramente uscirne fuori, dovrete vivere almeno una volta tutto il percorso dall’inizio alla fine… Tutto ciò che BRIO può dire è che hanno fatto questo lavoro al meglio possibile e forse, in questo Acid Cock, c’è una possibilità di sperimentare una goccia di purezza, di intrattenimento distillato sapientemente.After their two critically acclaimed ‘acoustic’ releases (At the Playground; What We Got Ourselves Here is a Problem in Communication; Eugene Chadbourne; AllMusic.com), BRIO, a free jazz/ noise rock guitar-drums duo from Zagreb, Croatia, nails down their second ‘electric’ album. The title Acid Cock is a simple literal derivative of famous musical term, but for this band, Acid Cock is a particular state-of-mind which BRIO had at the moment of entering the studio. Well, you surely know how it feels when you’re being ripped of something that is very precious to you. That’s right- this band got it from behind and got it hard, so they chose to get it out by doing what they do best- playing music. The result is this Acid Cock- a one long suite methodically constructed from different parts blending melody with brutal atonal screams, hard groove and guitar-riffs with loose type of free playing. Make no mistake, this is the album of songs where opposites do contract and complement each other, proving that free music can be more than just mindless racket. And the voice?- well, the voice speaks of lost love, being broke, loneliness, illness… of Acid Cock.
So if you really wanna get it out, you’ll have to ride it at least one time, all the way from start to finish and there are no promises being made here… All that BRIO can say is that they got it out as good as they could and maybe, in this Acid Cock, this universal web of fucked-up unpleasantries, there’s a chance of experiencing a drop of clean, highly distilled entertainment.
Torrenziale torrida sudata seduta di improvvisazione radicale e senza compromessi con:
Piero Bittolo Bon, Simone Massaron, Glauco Benedetti, Tommaso Cappellato & special guest Peter Evans!!!A sweaty summer session or radical free music! Recorded in July 2012 close to a nice small lake in the North of Italy, at the beautiful Sauna Studio (yes, even the studio name is as hot as the music!).
Featuring Peter Evans as special guest, and an unusual tuba instead or a more expected double bass, Piero Bittolo Bon’s Lacus Amoenus delivers a brilliant, adventurous ensemble sound, full of raw, daring improvised music. Certainly not your usual easy listening jazz music, “The Sauna Session” is in any case a treasure to slowly discover and appreciate listen after listen!