Columns

June 4, 2025: Anthony Braxton turns 80 – an almost mocking age for someone who has been the true enfant terrible of the American jazz scene since the late 1960s. For us, this is an opportunity to revisit his work from a particular angle. In his case, we focus on the quartet, in its many guises, through a selection of emblematic albums. With a creative voracity that seems inexhaustible (“Anthony is our Beethoven,” Roscoe Mitchell told us some time ago), Braxton has ranged from solo to orchestra, traversing multiple universes with decisive, authoritative purpose. The quartet – precisely because of the breadth of his repertoire – struck us as the ideal entry point to such a complex, abundant, sometimes dispersive figure who nonetheless maintains a clear, unmistakable identity and style. After all, Braxton has led several quartets, a couple of which stand as canonical litmus tests for distinct eras and […]

The history of jazz is filled with musicians who died prematurely, disappeared, or stepped away from the scene for various reasons. Into this last...

At the age of 87, Mike Mainieri certainly needs no introduction. The American vibraphonist, composer, and record producer, whose father came from Ravello, has...

Just one more thing... One late autumn afternoon, the lopsided, absent-minded figure of Lieutenant Columbo entered my memory. Rete4, ever generous with surprises, was airing...

The early 1990s marked the return of great singers. Many who had lived in near anonymity during the 1970s suddenly came back into view....

Let’s start with a song: “Laura.” David Raksin composed the music for the film of the same name (released in Italy as Vertigine), and...

Sixties Rome had a couple of easily recognizable symbols among many others: Cinecittà and the Piper. Two recently published books and a few albums...

Ayers died on March 4 in New York. The warm sound of his instrument has fallen silent, leaving an empty void. He was eighty-four...

Steven Wilson: In a Fragment of the Cosmos. One of the busiest musicians of our time reflects on the vastness of the universe

The 1. New Jazz Festival Hamburg '75 album remains a lost item today. It contains four long tracks from a festival whose lineup, half a century later, is still difficult to reconstruct: Terje Rypdal, Liebman & Beirach, Eberhard Weber, and Tomasz Stańko.