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02/01/2013
Morning Moon
Triste, Solitario, y Final – Imagination of the Tadpole – Sunset of the Winter Jade – Echoes of Colombia – Dance of the Seven Veils – To Think of You – Lo, Saturnalia – Le Café du Zombie – Chindi – Queequeg and the Serpentine Sea – Variations on a Prayer – Morning Moon
Ecco La Musica: Aaron Bittikofer (bass), Jim Crew (piano, accordion, clarinet, marimba) Marco Buongiorno Nardelli (flutes), Ed T. Butler (drums, percussion, Rhodes piano)
Recorded at Marsh Woodwinds Studios in Raleigh, NC (April 25-27, 2011) – 57’07
Big Round Records CD BR 8924 – CD Rom contains Booklet in English, Photos, Bios, Production Notes, Musical Scores, Video, and other enhanced media
 
Ecco La Musica is an “international jazz ensemble” incorporating the many languages of the world expressed through sights and sounds of nature, literature, and film. The ensemble first came together in 2006, and since its inception has been dedicated to performing original material composed by its members. I found these compositions to be musically stimulating and most enjoyable, as they are designed to highlight the instrumentation and the unique artistic perspective of this delightfully original “composer’s collective.” Ecco La Musica’s understanding and appreciation of the global influences on modern music produces a rich crossover and melding of jazz, tango, Latin, Mediterranean, and classical sounds, colored by the multiplicity of musical disciplines and personal experiences that each member of the ensemble brings to mixture. It is indeed a potent and rather intoxicating brew. An elixir of sonorities, which entice and seduce the ear.
I was particularly entranced by the cut entitled Echoes of Colombia, which to my ears sounded more like “Echoes of Tunisia” as it seemed to have a distinctive middle eastern flavor and rhythm, with a melody resembling something one might play to charm a serpent. But such is the nature of personal interpretations, as one melody can say a million different things depending on the “ears” of each individual listener! The Dance of the Seven Veils I also found unusually captivating. Not in the rousing fashion of the famous dance by Richard Strauss from his opera Salome, but in a very quiet and hypnotic manner, which seems to cast a trance upon the listener.
This ensemble is able to manufacture a virtual palate of orchestral tonalities. Jim Crew being the “body” of the orchestra, producing a weight of sound upon his piano, accordion, clarinet, and marimba. Aaron Bittikofer and Ed T. Butler filling in the rhythm and continuo. While most of the vocals are done by Marco Buongiorno Nardelli singing soulfully upon his flutes. The members of Ecco La Musica have a definite chemistry and respect for one another’s playing. This allows them to take up each other’s compositions and improvise upon them while shaping the final product. This can only be done with a mutual admiration for each other’s abilities and sensibilities. This recording will have great appeal to jazz aficionados and musicians alike. I believe you will greatly enjoy it also.
Micaele Sparacino
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