“A project without a network”. “A perfect democracy. An almost telepathic understanding.” “A dizzying way of playing, in which each idea attracts others, and in the space of a few bars we find ourselves, all together, in another point of time and space”.
A concept, the latter, well represented graphically by the Hitchockian cover. The mix of impressions of the protagonists and of Enrico Rava, author of the liner notes, provides significant clues to the content of the new work by Fulvio Sigurtà and Stefano Onorati, active as a duo for some years with the Singularity project, here expanded to two young but already established duos musicians such as Alessandro Paternesi and Gabriele Evangelista and therefore became “Extended Singularity“.
Very extensive and “free” pieces in which the equal role of each of the four protagonists conspires to create dense and light music, atmospheric and material depending on the case, with ample space for moments of turning point and surprise in which the improvised dialogue.
It is one of those rare cases of convergence of four voices in an original and well-defined identity that contemporary jazz sometimes gives us, and the enthusiasm of Claudio Donà, owner of Caligola records, for having given hospitality and testimony is understandable. to the quartet. Seven pieces by the Tuscan pianist and two by Sigurtà with a first part of the program innervated by constant rhythmic tension and lively dialogues, and a second characterized by greater reflection and intimacy.
The first instrument heard in the initial “A moment and then” are the cymbals of Paternesi’s drums, introducing a calm narrative of the trumpet and piano, rippled along its progression by the accents and colors of the drums, which will reveal themselves a true driving force not only of rhythm, but of invention, throughout the entire programme. “Quintessence” proposes the same contrasted dynamic in a more structured thematic context, determined by the thematic exposition of the trumpet, accentuating, in the final dialogue between piano and drums, one of the characteristics of the quartet.
Light and shadow alternate in the following two songs; a sunny “Thrills” with a wide pace and cadenced by the piano in which space for the soloist, as well as the trumpet, also includes Evangelista’s essential double bass, and a shadowy “Oslo twilight”, immersed in the mists of a flugelhorn occasionally pierced by the jolts of the rhythm section , in a climate of instant composition.
“Parallel dimension” which can be listened to below, summarizes, taking them to extremes, the characteristics of the quartet, contrasting the graceful theme read by Sigurtà with an exciting section reserved for the drums/double bass duo which raises the temperature of the piece, on which the piano only.
The second part is opened by “Swami” an exposition with an exotic scent conducted by the silky timbre of the flugelhorn, with the drums providing a minimal accompaniment, followed by “Out of the blue”, a ballad which sees the rhythmically more structured, almost blossoming from the initial introverted dialogue between the piano and the trumpet. “Nighthawks” introduced and concluded by the geometries of Sigurtà’s theme, hosts an extended piano solo full of contrasting dynamics developed on the rhythmic tension of the drums. The final “First scene” entrusts the opening chamber atmosphere to Evangelista’s bow, a prelude to an intimate and intense dialogue between the trumpet and the piano which concludes the album in an evocative journey towards silence.
A quartet that on stage, as demonstrated by the following film taken from the 2021 On the road festival, confirms the excellent impressions of the album. This summer, therefore, keep an eye on the festival programmes, starting with that of the Perc Fest in Laigueglia, in Liguria, where they will be in concert on Sunday 23 June.
