|
Astonishing. There is no other word to describe and catch
the essence of this CD. And of this band, Woodstore, that
comes to the international scene with a project of utter
prestige.
They all come from Sardinia, one of the most beautiful
region of the Mediterranean. Sardinia is an island with
strongly rooted cultural, artistic and musical traditions.
However, Woodstore players, rather than hide in the cosy
microcosm of their land, have always sought to find a
universal language able to connect with their surroundings
and beyond. They have established deep conceptual bonds
with that global aesthetic poetry we call jazz.
Woodstore - named
after the band’s first place rehearsal where this project
came to life - represents a fresh new moment in the
international jazz landscape.
Woodstore’s trade
marks are the wide range of musical linguistic abilities,
the talent and care of the narrative plot, the
articulation and timely exchange between written and
improvised notes, the emotional contrast between the
ability to sing the themes and their complex harmonic
progressions, the lively improvised contributions, the
solid and interlinked texture of the ensemble (a
truly small miracle of polyphonic equilibrium), the
ability to alternate the main musical body with chromatic
background landscape, the infallible architectonic
structure of the compositions.
This is an open project that looks constantly for an inner
dialogue and links with other "voices" and other ideas.
The core team includes: Mariano Tedde, who wrote all the
music and plays the piano with crystalline touch. He is
formidable in comping, now a rare thing in jazz. Massimo
Carboni, the tenor saxophone player with ultra modern
phrasing, has a round and warm sound. His approach is
reminiscent of Mike Brecker but differs from any other
model for his extraordinary use of silence. Paolo Spanu is
an agile and infallible time keeper. Gianni Filindeu is an
anthological and futuristic drummer, whose style whisks
and swirls seamlessly decades of drums history, resulting
in a highly original, personal style.
This group has an open configuration; around its core
group Woodstore builds various combinations of its music,
accepting the challenges from guest artists with different
backgrounds. For example Tim Hagans with his boundless
trumpet playing, adds a portion of the high pitch range to
the whole sound. Hagans brings his cross-cutting knowledge
to the musical discourse as well as the depth of melodic
resolutions and the edges and corners of unforeseeable
solo-ism. The vocalist extraordinaire Maria Pia De
Vito brings up the highly melodic evocative profiles of a
mature, accomplished, original, unexpected project.
Astonishing, indeed.
Vincenzo
Martorella
(Music critic, Jazz Historian, Director of JazzIt
magazine)
When I listen to music, I know that I like it when two
things happen. One, that it will make me want to play and,
two, that it will make me want to hear it again.
This record does both. It makes me feel like I would enjoy
playing the set of music with the band and it makes me
want to listen to it again; to try to figure out what was
going on....I hope that it touches me intellectually and
spiritually. The music and the musicians on this recording
pay respect to the tradition without being derivative.
I go back with Tim a long way. He was the first guy I
heard play live when I moved to NY. I remember thinking to
myself "these guys are serious over here". When I listen
to him play, I hear the history of the trumpet interpreted
through a highly individual voice. It’s always exciting
and inspiring and the rest of the band rises to the
occasion. The music is inspired and inspiring.
Rick Margitza
(Jazz saxophonist and composer)
|
