© -Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
Matteo Pagano ‘s Via Veneto Jazz in conjunction with Jando Music recently released a new CD - Blue Moka Featuring Fabrizio Bosso [VVJ 122 CD] - and the editorial staff at JazzProfiles wanted to participate in the celebration by bringing the music on this new recording to your attention.
Blue Moka is the debut album of a new quartet composed of Alberto Gurrisi (Hammond B-Organ), Emiliano Vernizzi (sax), Michele Bianchi (guitar), and Michele Morari (drums). The more widely-known and highly respected Fabrizio Bosso joins the group as its featured artist on trumpet.
The label sent along the following media release which we have taken the liberty of modifying in order to provide you with a description of what’s on offer in Blue Moka Featuring Fabrizio Bosso [VVJ 122 CD]
The album collects eight original songs that combine blues moods with funky rhythms and R&B, and what the group refers to as the New York “nu-jazz sound.”
To these pieces are added standards by Wayne Shorter ("Footprints") and Michel Petrucciani ("Brazilian Like") and a tribute to Lucio Dalla ("Futura"), a musician very dear to the band who died in 2012. Dalla was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor who also played clarinet and keyboards. Dalla was the composer of "Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso.
“Blue Moka takes up the colors of the American jazz tradition but experiments with the chromatic textures, creating a new shade of blue: a blue moka.”
Another way of describing “blue moka” is that it is a synergy formed by the interaction of a variety of musical styles that produces a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
In addition to being derived from musical styles, the cooperative interaction of the band is also formed from the numerous artists who influenced and informed the members of the quartet including: Jimmy Smith, Art Blakey, Wynton Marsalis, Brian Blade, Pat Metheny, Robert Glasper, Roy Hargrove, and Larry Goldings.
Simply put, Blue Moka is a band that could only happen today. It is the sound of Jazz - NOW.
The music on this CD reflects how young Jazz musicians hear the music from a contemporary perspective and although there are many influences from the Jazz tradition evident in their playing, their musicianship is very advanced and sophisticated - melodically, harmonically and rhythmically - which in turn is reflective of their training, background and experience in a more modern environment.
The music on Blue Moka is full of energy; it is intense when it needs to be but also sensitive when the music requires this texture.
The foundation for the group is the classic Hammond Organ, guitar, drums format made famous by Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Lonnie Liston Smith, Shirley Scott augmented by the advanced harmonic sensibilities of Larry Young, Mel Rhyne, Joey DeFrancesco, Mike LeDonne, Eddie Louiss, John Medeski and Barbara Dennerlein.
Add to this solid rhythm section is the classic trumpet and tenor saxophone “powerhouse” front line which then gives the music of Blue Moka a variety of sonorities.
The following video features Blue Moka’s version of Wayne Shorter’s Jazz standard Footprints which we hope will serve as an audio introduction to the exciting music of this new band.
Produced by Jando Music and Via Veneto Jazz
Website: www.bluemoka.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluemokaband
Instagram: www.instagram.com/bluemokaband
You can purchase the new recording by going at forced exposure.
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