GIOVANNI FALZONE & PAOLINO DALLA PORTA “Minimal Duo”

ARTIST

Giovanni Falzone & Paolino Dalla Porta

ALBUM TITLE

“Minimal Duo”

LABEL

Abeat

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This album holds a few surprises, the first of which appears right on the cover. We discover that the recordings date back thirteen years, and this immediately raises the obvious question: why were they not released earlier? It is not an idle question, because Minimal Duo is a work of great charm and high quality. The harmony between the two musicians is not treated as an endpoint but as the foundation upon which the entire project is built. After all, Falzone and Dalla Porta are musicians who believe that jazz creation must first and foremost be a conversation.

Another surprise: Minimal Duo focuses primarily on sound exploration. In this sense, it reflects a defining characteristic of jazz that sets it apart from other musical traditions and has long prevented comprehensive and definitive notation. In jazz, reading a note means pronouncing it and seeking one’s own voice. Falzone has accustomed us to a wealth of timbres ranging from academic purity to grotesque deformation to animalistic sounds (Kairos 2). He has a deep knowledge of jazz history, yet his identity moves along an imaginary line connecting the old Ellington trumpeters (Bubber Miley and Cootie Williams, for example, updated in G Groove) to the Miles Davis of the 1950s, who made articulation a primary expressive tool.

Since the cello is naturally more discreet than the trumpet, we have a renewed opportunity to appreciate the poetic richness of Paolino Dalla Porta and his ability to assume a supporting role. We hear the deep, woody resonance of his instrument, the torn attacks, the tense high notes, and the solemn power he achieves with the bow (Rubato), as well as with pizzicato, as in the opening of Kairos 1. Throughout the album, Falzone and Dalla Porta offer a convincing example of how two musicians can collaborate on equal terms. Minimal Song and Rubato are especially noteworthy in this regard.

Minimal Duo also plays a little with bop and swing, yet its finest moments lie in the many tracks where the listener is caught by surprise.

Giuseppe Piacentino

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