Luigi Blasioli - Mestieri d'oltremare e favole di jazz (2019)

The project draws inspiration from "Che fanteri fantastici", a children's fiction book by Massimo De Nardo with illustrations by Tullio Pericoli and anagrams by Stefano Bartezzaghi (Rrose Sélavy). «The book was presented a few years ago by Corrado Augias in the program" Quante storie "on Rai 3», recalls Blasioli. "I immediately got interested in the book and decided to think about a record that told stories and crafts in a jazz key. Inspired by people I met or facts that occurred to me, I imagined telling their stories as if they were fables. Stories of life that in some way have touched me », continues the contrabassist. «Simple souls that color their lives with daily gestures. Afflicted by an equality complex, they actually leave a mark on their passage. They often forget that what they are doing is what they are and that leads them to present themselves to the world in their essence. The crafts of man are the tales that they tell and the tales are their trades. There remain strong and impressive presences, some for many, some for someone who will always remember them. At the end of their day they will wear their jackets again and adjusting their lapel they will return home unconscious of having written another page of their life story ... of their fairytale. Life is a collection of material ".
 
Double bass, electric bass player and composer, Luigi Blasioli boasts prestigious collaborations with artists such as Gustavo Ortega, Guilermo Willie Paco Aguero, Max Ionata, Michael Rosen, Samuel Garofoli, Gabriel Oscar Rosati, Fabrizio Mandolini, Massimo Manzi, Gileno Santana, Marco Di Battista, Marco Tamburini, Carmine Ioanna, Roberto Desiderio, Mauro Bottini, Rosanna D'Ecclesiis, Michael Supnick, Cettina Donato, Augusto Alves and conducts an intense concert and record activity. Over the years he studied and perfected his studies with Massimo Moriconi (Mina), Gianfranco Gullotto, Pirozzi, Giuliano De Leonardis (Equipe '84), Pino Saracini (Tiziano Ferro, Gemelli Diversi), Jazz improvisation Eric Daniel (Stevie Wonder), Fabio Penna (winner of music prize Marche with the group 'Cara Serena'), laboratories of ensemble music Franco Vinci (Giorgia), Claudio Marzolo, Renato Gattone (Enrico Montesano, Fabrizio Bosso). He has played in important jazz festivals, jazz clubs and important events and has won numerous awards (Ivan Graziani Award and Critics Prize at Montorio in Festival with the Dogs Love Company group; Lorena Scaccia Award for the composition of a tapping phrase; at the Diana Festival of Vasto in 1998 and 2000 with the Koranak group) and has numerous editorial and educational publications. After "Thought to the moonlight" (2011, Music Force Records), "Sounds of Arachsep Valley" (2013, Dodicilune), "Sensory Emotions" (2015, Dodicilune), this is his fourth leading album.

Thomas Kirkpatrick was born in Springfield, Ohio (USA) in 1954 from a family of musicians. His first instrument was the piano, but an early interest in jazz led him later to the study of the trumpet. Thomas describes himself as "essentially self-taught", although he attended Bowling Green State University and Julliard School of Music. Thanks to the encouragement of the great Chet Baker, Thomas decides to move to New York in 1977 trying his luck in the hardest city for jazz. Wins the bet and now enjoys an excellent reputation being considered as one of the most important jazz musicians in the world. The British journalist Mark Gardner writes in the 1990s: "The pursuit of a personal style is the most difficult task for a jazz musician to take in. Style requires many elements, not least the tone and the phrasing. before discovering these difficult-to-describe elements, it comes naturally to others.The trumpeter Thomas Kirkpatrick seems to belong to the "natural" category.It has a beautiful sound, a rhythmic ease and an excellent control of his instrument.He worked and played with some among the greatest international jazz musicians including Chet Baker, Harold Mabern, Billy Higgins, Lou Donaldson, Charles Davis, Walter Bishop, Max Roach, George Coleman, Clifford Jordan just to name a few. United, Japan and Europe, Thomas moved to Denmark to teach and live in Copenhagen for a year and a half, and was asked to take a tour of southern Italy and precisely then that he fell in love with this country. After being referenced by Billy Higgins to manager Aberto Alberti, Thomas begins to make many concerts in Italy and in Europe. He later moved to Ferrara where he currently lives and teaches. Thomas is well known as a teacher and is also an uncommon musician in the world jazz scene because, despite being linked to the language of Charlie Parker's bebop, Kenny Dorham and Dizzie Gillespie, he is able to show his talent even when he tries his hand at standards and with ballads. Its timbre so pure and particular, and its great mastery of the middle register, make it appreciable especially in ballads, fertile ground for those who own heart as well as brain. Danish journalist Kyeld Frandsen said: "... Tom plays the expression of classic bebop with clarity and total control of all the registers and nuances of the trumpet, he also has an unusual style full of musical themes and this makes sure that all his solos become beautiful stories ".