© -
Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
“Good stuff. It's nice
to hear someone who appears to be under 60 who doesn't play one cliché after
another.”
David Scherr, Composer and Saxophonist
Max Ionata is not
a familiar name in Jazz circles. He
should be.
Max’s Jazz tenor
saxophone playing is accomplished and refreshingly unique.
To be fair, he’s
very well-known in his native Italy and thanks to Matteo Pagano, the owner and
proprietor of Via Veneto Jazz, his two recent CDs for that label offer more of
Max’s marvelous music which should garner him even more appreciation, both at
home and abroad.
You can locate
more information about Via Veneto Jazz by going here. And while currency exchange rates and foreign
postal services may be expensive and time-consuming, the good news is that the
Via Veneto Jazz CDs Dieci and Kind of Trio along with other of
Max’s recordings are available as Mp3 downloads.
For many years,
the two signature instruments associated with Jazz were the trumpet - Pops, Bix, Diz and Miles – and the tenor
saxophone – Hawk, Pres, Sonny and Coltrane.
Trumpet and tenor
saxophone are the two front-line instruments in most Jazz combos and their
sounds blend particularly well when played in unison.
The human ear
seems to have an affinity for the tenor saxophone which may, in part, be due to
the fact that its sounds are very close to that of the human voice. It has been
said that the tenor sax has an almost vocal quality.
Given the imposing
stature of the Jazz greats who have played the instrument over the almost
hundred years of the music’s existence, a great deal is expected of those who
pick up “the big horn” and follow in this tradition.
Max Ionata doesn’t
disappoint.
Whether he is featured
in quintets that he co-leads with trumpeters Fabrizio Bosso and Flavio Boltro,
or evoking the dueling tenor tradition of the great Dexter Gordon & Wardell
Gray, or Al Cohn & Zoot Sims or Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt in combination
with Danielle Scannapieco, another of Italy’s rising young tenor sax stars on
their Tenor Legacy Albore CD, or as a member of drummer Roberto Gatto ’s quintet on the Remembering Shelly CDs
recently issued on the Albore label, Max Ionata always plays with presence,
power and passion.
His sound is
robust and yet mellow, his phrasing is long and continuous, and he generates a
steady sense of swing.
Max doesn’t
overreach the range of the horn to litter his solos with squeaks and squawks
nor does he take lengthy solos whose most appealing quality to the exhausted
listener is that they have finally come to an end.
When Max is making
Jazz, his solos are so artfully constructed that you don’t want them to end, at
least, not too soon.
He incorporates
just enough harmonic extensions to make his solo melodies interesting, but
these never become ends in themselves.
Max doesn’t come
to impress, he comes to play. What you
hear in his music is the fun of making Jazz; the music as an expression of a
good time being had by all concerned.
Nothing laborious
or contorted: nothing elaborately diminished, augmented or raised. Just a beautifully played and very swinging
tenor saxophone.
When a musician
like Max comes along, other musicians can’t wait to have the chance to work
with him. He brings out the best in them. In his presence, Jazz is once again
accessible and yet still an adventure.
The following video
features Max performing Astrobard from
his new Via Veneto CD Dieci with Fabrizio Bosso on
trumpet, Luca Mannutza on piano, Nicola Muresu on bass and Nicola Angelucci on
drums.