THE GONZAGA SESSIONS
by Mike Mazzari Acoustic and Electric Trios
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Full Digital Discography
Get all 12 Mike Mazzari releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of First Flight, Petit Jazz Bar Vol.1 "Midnight Train", The Best of Mike Mazzari Trio Vol.1, Milano Jazz Reunion, IN AND OUT THE LEGACY QUARTET, Gipsy Quartet feat GUNA, Night Bird preview new trio, Clusone 2005, and 4 more.
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1. |
Work Song (Acoustic)
07:11
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2. |
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3. |
On a Misty Night
08:28
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4. |
Jeannine
08:46
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5. |
Mas Que Nada
08:16
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6. |
Tadd's delight
04:04
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7. |
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8. |
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9. |
So Tired
04:11
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10. |
Moanin'
05:10
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11. |
Work Song (Electric)
09:02
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about
“THE GONZAGA SESSIONS"
Electric and Acoustic trio
Michelangelo Mazzari – Acoustic Piano/ Fender Rodhes
Luca de Lorenzo – Double Bass (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 )
Pietro Zarcone – Electric Bass (2, 5, 8, 11)
Fabrizio Gianbanco - Drums
Electric and Acoustic trio
Michelangelo Mazzari – Acoustic Piano/ Fender Rodhes
Luca de Lorenzo – Double Bass (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 )
Pietro Zarcone – Electric Bass (2, 5, 8, 11)
Fabrizio Gianbanco - Drums
credits
released August 7, 2020
I met Michelangelo at a wedding party in France. He told me about his music activity and his love for jazz, as well as many stories of his life: his formation in Milano (my hometown), his career, concerts and previous recordings.... after listening to his life’s story I said to myself: “either this guy is a total liar, or he is a genius.” I bet on the latter and, since then, I dreamt of inviting Michelangelo to Palermo, -where I used to live and work as the principal at the Jesuit high school “Gonzaga” - to record some piano-trio sessions. The occasion came in the summer of 2019: over my Palermo years, I had come to know some great local jazz musicians, and time was mature for inviting a couple of them to gig with Michelangelo. Secondly, after the end of the school year the school’s Auditorium was available, as nobody was using it during Summer break. I reckoned Gonzaga auditorium would prove a great location where to record Michelangelo’s new album: I always loved live recorded sessions, in which the studio sounds more like the set of a crowded theater then to like a cold separate room, insulated one. I love the air that flows around musicians, I love that “breath”, I love the interplay between musicians looking each other in the eyes while playing: a secret mutual communication starts, based on the fact that music flows in the air, not through a cable, which gives to that jazz a special spark. Furthermore, after having heard many jazz concerts in that Auditorium, I was convinced that its natural reverb would be just fine for a recording session there. So, I invited my good friend Antonio Zarcone to bring his mobile studio to Gonzaga and we created the perfect atmosphere to record a couple of tight sessions with Michelangelo and Palermo musicians. Michelangelo asked me for a bass player who could play with the groove of a black-American: I thought Luca De Lorenzo would be the right one. On the drums, I recommended to Michelangelo my good friend Fabrizio Giambanco, for his experience in easily crossing over different jazz genres. Michelangelo expressed me his desire to record two sessions, one with an Acoustic Trio and one with an Electric Trio: he loved the idea of switching from acoustic piano to Fender Rhodes piano, from double bass to electric bass, and even of re-recording the same song in both acoustic and electric versions. For the “electric” session Michelangelo asked versatile bass player Pietro Zarcone to join the band.
The special “South” feeling of Palermo inspired Michelangelo to dedicate this new album entirely to Soul Jazz, his favorite jazz movement: it would be a tribute to the many black musicians of Soul Jazz, who had the “south” in their blood.
When time came to record, the atmosphere got really warm: it was July, Palermo was burning hot, the heat of the day reached 100 Fahrenheit. We recorded both sessions one after the other, live. The Gonzaga Auditorium proved an incredible hall, with gorgeous reverb. The hot weather and the excellent sounding hall prompted the band to play in a real “black jazz” style, very adherent to the spirit of Soul Jazz: Luca De Lorenzo found his “black” roots by picking that double bass like a real Afro-American; Fabrizio Giambanco expressed his solar Sicilian energy at its best, and “inculturated” it into a groovy seventies’ jazz beat; Pietro Zarcone played as if he were in a Detroit jazz bar of the Seventies.
The result was more than satisfying. The album sequences a series of masterpieces of the golden era of Soul Jazz: Tadd Dameron’s “On a Misty night” (title track), Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’” , Nat Adderley’s “Work Song”, Tadd Dameron’s “Tadd’s Delight”, Duke Pearson’s “Jeannine”, Bobby Timmons’ “So tired”, Bud Powell’s “Dance of the Infidels”. In the electric sessions the slightly modified band re-played some songs, and added some others like Sonny Hebb’s “Sunny”. The album closes with a couple of unforgettable latin-jazz songs: Sergio Mendes “Groovy samba” and Jorge Ben’s “Mais que nada”.
As we were recording inside an educational institution, we thought the “Gonzaga Sessions” could become a “pedagogical” set of songs, helpful for teaching jazz history to the new generation. However, this album goes far beyond that: it’s the work of Michelangelo’s maturity as a musician and as an interpreter, as well as a tribute to a jazz era that embodied those ideals of racial equality and social justice that are still alive in our time and which Michelangelo heartedly shares. Enjoy listening to the “Gonzaga Sessions”.
Eraldo Cacchione, SJ
I met Michelangelo at a wedding party in France. He told me about his music activity and his love for jazz, as well as many stories of his life: his formation in Milano (my hometown), his career, concerts and previous recordings.... after listening to his life’s story I said to myself: “either this guy is a total liar, or he is a genius.” I bet on the latter and, since then, I dreamt of inviting Michelangelo to Palermo, -where I used to live and work as the principal at the Jesuit high school “Gonzaga” - to record some piano-trio sessions. The occasion came in the summer of 2019: over my Palermo years, I had come to know some great local jazz musicians, and time was mature for inviting a couple of them to gig with Michelangelo. Secondly, after the end of the school year the school’s Auditorium was available, as nobody was using it during Summer break. I reckoned Gonzaga auditorium would prove a great location where to record Michelangelo’s new album: I always loved live recorded sessions, in which the studio sounds more like the set of a crowded theater then to like a cold separate room, insulated one. I love the air that flows around musicians, I love that “breath”, I love the interplay between musicians looking each other in the eyes while playing: a secret mutual communication starts, based on the fact that music flows in the air, not through a cable, which gives to that jazz a special spark. Furthermore, after having heard many jazz concerts in that Auditorium, I was convinced that its natural reverb would be just fine for a recording session there. So, I invited my good friend Antonio Zarcone to bring his mobile studio to Gonzaga and we created the perfect atmosphere to record a couple of tight sessions with Michelangelo and Palermo musicians. Michelangelo asked me for a bass player who could play with the groove of a black-American: I thought Luca De Lorenzo would be the right one. On the drums, I recommended to Michelangelo my good friend Fabrizio Giambanco, for his experience in easily crossing over different jazz genres. Michelangelo expressed me his desire to record two sessions, one with an Acoustic Trio and one with an Electric Trio: he loved the idea of switching from acoustic piano to Fender Rhodes piano, from double bass to electric bass, and even of re-recording the same song in both acoustic and electric versions. For the “electric” session Michelangelo asked versatile bass player Pietro Zarcone to join the band.
The special “South” feeling of Palermo inspired Michelangelo to dedicate this new album entirely to Soul Jazz, his favorite jazz movement: it would be a tribute to the many black musicians of Soul Jazz, who had the “south” in their blood.
When time came to record, the atmosphere got really warm: it was July, Palermo was burning hot, the heat of the day reached 100 Fahrenheit. We recorded both sessions one after the other, live. The Gonzaga Auditorium proved an incredible hall, with gorgeous reverb. The hot weather and the excellent sounding hall prompted the band to play in a real “black jazz” style, very adherent to the spirit of Soul Jazz: Luca De Lorenzo found his “black” roots by picking that double bass like a real Afro-American; Fabrizio Giambanco expressed his solar Sicilian energy at its best, and “inculturated” it into a groovy seventies’ jazz beat; Pietro Zarcone played as if he were in a Detroit jazz bar of the Seventies.
The result was more than satisfying. The album sequences a series of masterpieces of the golden era of Soul Jazz: Tadd Dameron’s “On a Misty night” (title track), Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’” , Nat Adderley’s “Work Song”, Tadd Dameron’s “Tadd’s Delight”, Duke Pearson’s “Jeannine”, Bobby Timmons’ “So tired”, Bud Powell’s “Dance of the Infidels”. In the electric sessions the slightly modified band re-played some songs, and added some others like Sonny Hebb’s “Sunny”. The album closes with a couple of unforgettable latin-jazz songs: Sergio Mendes “Groovy samba” and Jorge Ben’s “Mais que nada”.
As we were recording inside an educational institution, we thought the “Gonzaga Sessions” could become a “pedagogical” set of songs, helpful for teaching jazz history to the new generation. However, this album goes far beyond that: it’s the work of Michelangelo’s maturity as a musician and as an interpreter, as well as a tribute to a jazz era that embodied those ideals of racial equality and social justice that are still alive in our time and which Michelangelo heartedly shares. Enjoy listening to the “Gonzaga Sessions”.
Eraldo Cacchione, SJ
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about
Mike Mazzari Palermo, Italy
Michelangelo "MIke"Mazzari is a pianist, arranger, composer and performer, graduated in jazz piano at Scuola civica di jazz in Milan, directed by Enrico Intra.
Active between Berlin and Palermo
discography
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Nov 2020
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