Claudio Cojaniz & Coj & Second Time - Molineddu (Les lieux magiques) (2018)

Recorded just a few months before «Sound of Africa», in the same recording studio and with the same musicians of Coj & Second Time, this new album by Claudio Cojaniz pictures his most intimate and thoughtful side, and enriches the already variegated colour palette of a close–knit group, at the same time free and cohesive, able to breathe in unison with its leader. «Molineddu» is to «Sound of Africa» as the neo–impressionist Duke Ellington of Mood Indigo is to that cheery and rhythmic of Rockin’ in Rhythm. They seem distant and antithetical, and instead are perfectly complementary: two sides of the same coin.
Cojaniz’s piano is more distant than usual from certain modal pan–Africanism, as well as from Monk’s edginess; rather, there is a search for an essential and pure melodic line, carried out with meticulous skill and great cantability, without unnecessary frills. It’s a journey, that of the quartet, which flies low and in emotional silence over the ruins of Aleppo, and pays homage with poignant lyricism to friends (For my friends) and to the beloved Antonella (Chanson), all the way to Sardinia, with the poetry of Girasoli sotto la luna, in the beautiful artistic–natural park of Molineddu, which gives the title to the Cd.
Cojaniz’s inspired piano is once again beautifully matched by the clear and profound strum of Alessando Turchet’s double bass, truly sumptuous in Chanson (pour Toni), and by Luca Colussi’s imaginative and effective drumming. The solid and proven rhythmic couple has been joined in the last two years by the percussionist Luca Grizzo (who is not new to collaborations with the pianist from Friuli), wise and precious in enriching the trio’s dialogue without ever breaking the delicate balance, and providing exhaustive proof of his fervent percussive fantasy in Line up to sea.
Finally, we should mention the happy reprise of Requiem which was a movement of the «Si Song» suite, performed as leader of an octet, with the same rhythm section and with Alexander Balanescu as a guest, at the “Rumori Mediterranei 2016” festival, and included in the namesake Dvd released the following year.