Edoardo Pascale BIG BAND - A SwIndie Affair (2023) [Official Digital Download]

The idea of a big band in jazz is all-encompassing, representing completeness, fullness and instrumental articulation. In the mass collective imagination, when one thinks of jazz, a big orchestra immediately springs to mind, where the doors of rhythm and melody open wide, while harmonies run fast in swing time. The big band is the most traditional jazz formula, but it is also the most difficult: the musicians must be well disposed to choral and synergetic playing without attempting to overpower their sodalists, the solo parts are short and well distributed, while the improvisational fugues are contingent and controlled. The real great soloist in a big band is the team play, which must be harmonious and confluent. The Edoardo Pascale Big band possesses all the constituent elements of a traditional big band ensemble, but with a hint of unscrupulousness that places it in a perceptibly contemporary dimension, linking it to current jazz.

We are talking about an eighteen-piece big band, which proposes a show of about an hour of live music, with original pieces, mainly in swing style, which Edoardo Pascale describes as follows: "The show is divided into two parts: a first listening part, aimed at using the language of the big band to interpret heterogeneous musical suggestions, ranging from 20th-century classical music to free jazz, up to 1970s poliziottesco, without ever losing the immediate listening pleasure and allure typical of a large orchestra. A second playful part, more strictly linked to the language of tradition, which offers the possibility of being danced to live in swing, balboa or lindy hop style'. The album 'A Swindle Swing' encapsulates all the magic and drag of an evening in a music hall. The title 'A SwIndie Affair' harks back to the Sinatra of 'A Swinging Affair' by merging the words 'swing' and 'indie'. And as Pascale himself points out: 'Swing because the line-up is that of a typical swing ensemble (5+8) and, in general, the record has a swing sound and pace. Indie because it was born as a bottom-up production, involving associations and small cultural realities in Turin such as Tilt, Comala, Agenzia Cru and Capogiro Records'.

The record was recorded in April 2023, after participation in the Turin Jazz Festival as a driving force and stimulus for the project, which features, among others, guitarist Claudio Lodati (Art Studio), an institution of Free Jazz in Turin and beyond. The orchestra is structured as follows: Reeds: C.Bonadè, S. Garino, G. Maina, N. Massimello, L.Zennaro; trumpets: S.Cocon, I.Vigna, D.Avagnina, C.Mecca; trombones: C.Giunta, A.Borio, A.Colasurdo, E. Filipozzi; rhythm section: M.Mazzeo-guitar, L.Costanzo-piano, C.Feltro-contrabass/electric bass, A.Boschiazzo-drums; composition, arrangement, direction: E.Pascale. Above all, 'A Swindle Swing' was born on the ideal push of a concept related to M.A.Y.A. (Most Advanced Yet Accepted) by designer Raymond Loewy, author of the famous aphorism 'A lot of people are interested in new things, as long as they look like the old ones'.

Opener 'Mumbo Jumbo' develops an enthralling atmosphere halfway between Herry Mancini and a crowded roaring years club. "Amaro" is an intriguing ballad grafted onto a slow swing rich in melody and with some classical reminiscences, suitable for a couple's dance in a music hall. "Dalla collina", is substantiated as a slow swing bloody with blues, but played on a theme with a Mediterranean flavour, where the guitar becomes the narrator. With "A Mano Armata" we enter an atmosphere halfway between the Italian poliziottesco and a blaxploitation model atmosphere. 'Brat' is full-on swing, so much so that one finds oneself virtually catapulted onto the famous Cotton Club terrace in a vaguely 1930s dimension. With "Lento signorile", nomen omen, the high-class sentimental intrigue returns, preparatory to the classic tile dance of yesteryear. "Apollo Bounce" is an engaging full-speed hard-swingn', rich in instrumental nuances and changes of pace. Closing is a mischievous version of a Gino paoli classic, 'La Gatta', reproposed through a scratchy mood, hinged on a supple swing, cadenced and sly. "A SwIndie Affair" is a disc played in a synergetic and mercurial manner by an ensemble that, while using the rear-view mirror to look back to the long jazz tradition, never loses touch with contemporaneity and a taste for pure fun.

Tracklist:
01. Mumbo Jumbo
02. Amaro
03. Dalla Collina
04. A Mano Armata
05. Monello
06. Lento Signorile
07. Apollo Bounce
08. La Gatta


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