Italiano“Three for Getz” 2013 Albòre Jazz (Japan)
- Paolo Recchia – alto sax
- Enrico Bracco – guitar
- Nicola Borrelli – bass
“Do you think it might have been presumptuous on my part, wanting to challenge myself with a tribute to Stan Getz?” This was the dubious question that Paolo Recchia posed when he asked me to give him my opinion of his new CD. And so, as it should be, I listened carefully to his music, and with much interest, I must add.
It’s always risky for a musician to base and compare his work to that of past legends. You need technical and musical background and study. You must also give up your personal interpretation: every piece you’ve listened to that musician play, you must have profoundly absorbed and assimilated – having, however, been able to have extracted from it something personal for you – in a way that your tribute is not merely a slavish copy of what you can’t really copy. It’s not an easy task.
That is exactly why you need humility and definitely neither conceit nor presumption to be able to make a tribute…so, there you are. This CD is precisely a recording which portrays humility. Paolo normally has an experimental inclination, a modern way of playing. Yet, despite this, with Enrico Bracco and Nicola Borelli, they too astounding on the recording, has had the courage to take a leap to 50 years ago, arriving at an incredible presentation of themes, rich harmonic mastery, warm sound and relaxed swing – which, in my opinion, are the fundamental components to remember the “California” period and the extraordinary musicians who made real jazz.
Playing the music of others is always experimental, fundamentally: you have to compare yourself to something profoundly different than what you know well – yourself. The result? While I was listening, it seemed like I was hearing Lee Konitz, Bud Shank and other musicians with whom I’ve been lucky enough to have performed. At the same time though, I heard Paolo’s personality emerge, exactly in the sensitivity and phrasing of a young player, used to other types of language and imagery. That’s not easy to find. Precisely for this reason, his tribute to Stan Getz is a masterpiece.
Paolo Recchia is amazing because he is well prepared: but it’s not only for his technique, it’s a matter of his sensitivity. He has listened to numerous sax players and through them he has told his own story…and for me, this, really this, is music. I can do nothing else but compliment Paolo and his collaborating musicians. Congratulations!
Dino Piana
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