Pericopes - Legacy (2017) [Hi-Res]

Just over two years after releasing their debut trio album, These Human Beings (Alfa Music), Pericopes+1 return with an inventive and compelling sophomore release, Legacy. Throughout 2015-16, These Human Beings earned Pericopes+1 attention from jazz greats and international media alike. Dave Liebman described the album as “wonderful music with a very diverse repertoire, played flawlessly,” and Downbeat Magazine praised them as “exhibiting power and intention, a good indication for this young group.” The album opened doors to new international stages and resulted in five tours throughout Europe, the UK and USA.

Legacy finds Pericopes+1 embracing a new musical palette inspired by alternative and popular culture of the past several decades: dynamic grooves, rhythmic focus, Rhodes and electronic effects enhance clever compositional devices without distorting Pericopes+1’s acoustic sensibilities. As the title suggests, Legacy is intended to pay respect to the iconoclastic artists who bravely followed their creative vision in light of extreme uncertainty.

The concept for Legacy began to emerge naturally at rehearsals and soundchecks during tours for their These Human Beings release. The timing coincidentally parallelled the deaths of popular artists who not only influenced Emi, Alex and Nick’s musical interests, but past and future generations too: David Bowie, Prince, Chuck Berry and Lemmy Kilmister (to name a few) set trends and pioneered musical genres that challenged the labels that were often imposed by mainstream media.

Pericopes+1 capture a variety of moods, styles and aesthetic qualities that allow the listener’s imagination to connect the pieces.

With the obstacle of being a transAtlantic band (Nick in New York City, Emi in Italy and Alex in Paris), Pericopes+1 set aside time to practice and refine ideas for this album. First in rural Pennsylvania (USA), and later during a master class / residency at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), at the beginning of their Autumn 2016 tour.

With old school charm, they ‘road tested’ new repertoire on the bandstand before arriving at Artesuono studios in Udine, Italy to record Legacy.

Pericopes was born as a saxophone-piano duo in Italy in 2007 by Emi Vernizzi and Alex Sgobbio, releasing three albums, winning the Italian TopJazz award, Padova Carrarese Prize and Umbria Jazz Contest before collaborating with American drummer Nick Wight. The trio extension is called Pericopes+1. They’ve toured the USA, UK, Germany, Austria, France, Czechia, Slovenia, Croatia, Holland, Belgium and shared festival appearances with Stefano Battaglia (Trieste Loves Jazz Festival) and Nils Petter Molvaer (Jazz on5 Festival). They have also played at Sunside (Paris), Jazz Dock (Prague), Stockwerk (Graz), Shapeshifter Lab (NYC), Gateshead International Jazz Festival (UK), Fano Jazz by the Sea (IT), BurgJazz Festival (Munster), Jazz of Wine and Peace Festival (IT) and Scotland Sound Festival (UK).