Enrico Rava Quartet & Gianluca Petrella - Wild Dance (2015)

This 'Wild Dance' is a cross-generational project by the grand master of Italian Jazz. Energised by joyous experiences on the road the ever youthful Enrico Rava took his working quartet of the last two years into Arte Suono Studio in Udine.

Here they were joined by trombonist Gianluca Petrella, an internationally noted player through his contributions to Rava's three acclaimed post-millennium quintet albums Tribe (2011), The Words And The Days (2005) and Easy Living (2003). With Manfred Eicher producing, the five Italians recorded a programme of Rava originals which cover a broad range of moods - from brooding ballad-playing to fiery up-tempo post-bop. Once again Rava's trumpet playing makes it clear that lightness and intensity, elegant cool and emotional warmth are no opposites.

Almost half of the tracks were written by Rava specially for this album while others, much to his delight, were proposed by the members of the band and stem back to the 1980s and 1990s ('Diva', 'Infant' and 'Overboard'). The album is rounded off with a group improvisation.

Rava and Petrella form a peerless two-horn frontline, whether playing in unison, engaging in dialogue or taking their turns in extensive soloing. The rhythm section of Gabriele Evangelista, Enrico Morello, ("in my opinion the number one drummer in Italy today", says Rava) and guitarist Francesco Diodati give them both space and assured support.

"I love the sound of trumpet and trombone together," says Rava. "The trombone is, more or less, almost the same instrument as the trumpet anyway, just in a different register, and what you can do with them in unison is very special. In that respect Roswell Rudd, with whom I played in the early 1970s, was a very important influence on me. And both Roswell and Gianluca are very modern players but with firm roots in New Orleans dance bands."