Enrico Rava, Massimo Urbani, Franco D'Andrea, Giovanni Tommaso & Aldo Romano - Live at JazzBO' 90 (2006)

The death of Italian alto saxophonist Massimo Urbani was a great loss to the European jazz scene. One person who took it particularly hard was fellow countryman Paolo Piangiarelli, who made it part of his Philology label's mission to document as many of his performances as possible. Urbani, who died in 1993, accompanies trumpeter/flugelhornist Enrico Rava and pianist Franco D'Andrea for this concert that sounds as if it was recorded from the audience during JazzBo '90 in Bologna, Italy. In spite of the somewhat distant sound of the piano and slightly muffled sound of the horns, the three men, plus bassist Giovanni Tommaso and drummer Aldo Romano, do give their all throughout this two disc set that focuses pretty much on standards. Even though all of the performances run over ten minutes each, the musicians are never at a loss for ideas and avoid falling into the trap of playing one too many chorus before passing the solo along to the next man. Highlights include the exciting, extended workout of "Star Eyes," "My One and Only Love" (an outstanding feature for the rhythm section) and the buoyant "Stella by Starlight."

Review by Ken Dryden