VISION FESTIVAL, PRESS QUOTES Rounding off a high class evening was an unexpected pleasure from a collective quartet of Italian musicians, Their 38-minute set broke down into three pieces, all free-form improvisations, created cohesively with ego sublimated to the collective ethic, and conversationally paced. That's not to say that there weren't points at which the spotlight fixed on one or another, but such eddies developed naturally from the improvisational currents. A highly regarded set and yet more confirmation, were it still needed in the 21st century, that quality free jazz emanates from all points of the compass.. All About Jazz NY [John Sharpe] ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ECO D'ALBERI [EDOARDO MARRAFFA/ALBERTO BRAIDA/ANTONIO BORGHINI/FABRIZIO SPERA] Eco D'Alberi (Porter 4054; USA) With Edoardo Marraffa on tenor & sopranino sax, Alberto Braida on piano, Antonio Borghini on double bass and Fabrizio Spera on drums. This gem of Italian free/jazz came in the mail and I listened to it a few times before checking out the personnel. Pianist Alberto Braida has a half dozen discs on different labels like Clean Feed, Red Toucan, Nuscope & Nubop, having worked with Peter Kowald, John Butcher & Lisle Ellis. Drummer Fabrizio Spera has also recorded with John Butcher, Mike Cooper & Wolfgang Fuchs. Spera is currently a member of 7K Oaks, an international quartet who will be playing at Victo this year (2011). Bassist Borghini can be found in two different ensembles, Chant & Domino Quartet, both of whom have discs on the Auand label. Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ECO D’ALBERI – Eco D’Alberi Posted on March 14, 2011 Porter An all-Italian quartet at their debut album in this lineup, Eco D’Alberi (which means “Echo Of Trees”, the name influenced by Henry Dumas’ novel “Echo Tree”) consists of saxophonist Edoardo Marraffa, pianist Alberto Braida, double bassist Alberto Borghini and drummer Fabrizio Spera. Presenting four live tracks – recorded in different festivals in New York, Pisa and Zurich – the group is pushed by a vivid freedom of speech regulated by experience, sensibility and knowledge of past tradition. Marraffa – a gifted instrumentalist, rich in fantasy and uncontrollability, to whom I’ve culpably arrived late – is the predominant voice, his excursions with tenor and sopranino paving the way for the consideration and utter esteem of phrases that sound both articulate and uneducable; a cross of squealing rage, finesse and irony, buckets of iced water thrown in the face of reed-fuelled humdrum. Braida is very good at sustaining the harmonic architecture without excess of overflow, maintaining control even in the moments where collective exhilaration would risk to shove less mature musicians towards an undesired chaos. Borghini moves behind the scenes with classy nonchalance, still managing to get noticed as the chance appears, daintily arcoed junctures and improvisational intuitions as constituents of a silently effective personality. Spera’s strategic placement of rhythmic traps and constant generation of uneven percussive gradations confirm him as a performer endowed with brain, a drumming composer working side by side with equally talented comrades in a broad-minded approach to an exciting form of no-brand, totally honest eruptive jazz interspersed with a few quieter segments. TOUCHING EXTREMES Collected Writings By Massimo Ricci (http://touchingextremes.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/eco-dalberi-%E2%80%93-eco-dalberi/) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ JAZZREVIEW Featured Artist: Eco D'Alberi CD Title: Eco D'Alberi Year: 2011 Year: 2011 Record Label: Porter Records Style: Free Jazz / Avante Garde Musicians: Edoardo Marraffa (tenor & sopranino sax), Alberto Braida (piano), Antonio Borghini (double bass), Fabrizio Spera (drums)
These veteran Italian improvisers convey freedom of expression with a musical panorama that scales rather well. One of the compelling factors on this live recording pertains to the band’s ability to expand themes and subplots without concentrating on one mode of action. With capacious and unrestricting dialogues to complement a myriad of asymmetrical rhythmic variations, the musicians inject dainty contrasts and temperate flows into the grand schema. Saxophonist Edoardo Marraffa’s raspy voicings and unbinding processes are effectively countered by pianist Alberto Braida’s fluid choruses and interlinking notes. At times, the musicians pursue a vibe that is derived on fleeting structural components, paired with a hearty stance. However, the program is not monolithic. Think of a sliding scale type groove, gushing with angst, calamity and treated with sobering moments. Marraffa’s brawny notes and impacting dynamics are contrasted by microtonal musings via his subliminal sopranino sax parts on “Radice.” Here, the quartet journeys to a vast expanse. However the thirty-two minute “Calls,” is a study in rip-roaring improvisation where the band tears themes into shreds amid bad intentions. Pianist Alberto Braida serves as a near flawless foil for Marraffa with his cascading chord phrasings and hammering block chords. Nonetheless, the musicians profess great synergy and intuitive frameworks. It’s free-jazz, underscored with soul and a clear-sighted group-centric vision. Reviewed by: Glenn Astarita (http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-21394.html) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eco D’Alberi are an Italian free jazz combo, evidence of the free improv and jazz activity that has apparently been burgeoning in that part of Europe since the mid-1990s. Here they are recorded live on their self-titled CD (PORTER RECORDS PRCD-4054) performing in New York, Pisa and Zurich at various festivals in recent years. Ken Waxman’s liner notes point out that these Italians took their name from a short story by Henry Dumas, the Afro-American poet, writer and political activist who was heavily influenced by free jazz and moved in Sun Ra’s personal orbit during the 1960s. Eco D’Aberi’s music may not be as radical as this name-checking might suggest, but Edoardo Marraffa is the first tenorman I’ve heard who audibly plays with an Italian accent; he may keep trying to find his way back into his Ornette and Coltrane records, yet his speedy phrases still come out slicked-up with olive oil. This I regard as evidence of his ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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