(Contemporary Jazz) Lillo Quaratino (Roberto Taufic, Gabriele Mirabassi, Marta Raviglia, Nicola Stilo, Giancarlo Maurino, Eduardo Taufic, Roberto "Red" Rossi) - Parole Inutili - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

The title of this album “Parole inutili” (Useless Words) would seem to be a warning against any attempt to talk about it. This is partly true, but – using a code that is different from the very
extensive one of music – it is possible, and perhaps useful, to resort to words in order to outline the latest creation (following "Fado meridiano" released in 2006 by AlfaMusic) of the
bassist-composer Lillo Quaratino, an artist with profound ideas who generally avoids the limelight.
There is a general sense of elegance in all nine of the original songs on the CD (which were arranged by Quaratino himself along with Roberto Taufic) and this elegance is never a form of
aestheticism. It is constructed and interwoven – with skilled craftsmanship and attention to detail – from all the various instrumental voices, especially the clarinet of Gabriele Mirabassi,
the soprano and tenor saxophones of Giancarlo Maurino, and the flute of Nicola Stilo (in "Doodle", "Saltapicchio" and "Turn Over"), not to mention the fundamental presence of
Roberto "Red" Rossi on the drums, Eduardo Taufic on the piano and Roberto Taufic on the guitar. The elegance of the CD also consists in the special attention paid to the timbric
combinations, the interplay between the reeds and the flute (on "Doodle"), and the continuous luminescent exchanging of musical roles.
In these pieces that always have a collective sense that is like an all-pervading perfume the themes, melodies and countermelodies develop with a plurality of voices: in unison,
overlapping or in free polyphony, each one in pursuit of the other (especially in "Saltapiccho") according to responsorial dynamics. The clarinet, saxophone and flute are used in an unusual
and original way compared to the normal schemes of contemporary jazz. Other ingredients of “Parole inutili” are the dominance of Latin-American rhythms, adopted instead of a "straight
jazz" structure, together with the use of melodies that are sometimes complex but always tuneful, so that darker moods (“Rosa funebre”, “La sognatrice di Ostenda”) alternate with
brighter and more upbeat numbers (“Doodle”). The improvisations are controlled and balanced by the interventions of other musicians (using a technique that was typical of Charles Mingus)
that make an essential contribution to the piece as a whole and are often intertwined with many other voices. And so here there are no superficial Afro-Latin patinas, and no neo-bop
tightrope-walking or egocentric solos. In fact Quaratino himself, the driving force behind each piece, plays a solo on only one track ("Saltapicchio").
There emerges a poetic sense of chiaroscuro, and of the understated aesthetic of an artist who goes against the prevailing fashions and who – experience after experience, meeting after
meeting – has reached his full maturity and has thus produced a dynamic balance between jazz and music with a Latin-American feel. As regards his expressive-emotional capacities Lillo
Quaratino is a "long-term musician" like his co-musicians Nicola Stilo and Giancarlo Maurino.
One could compare him to a character from Hugo Pratt’s graphic novel, the sailor Corto Maltese, due to his intensely lived past life that is not ostentatiously shown (including his time
in the Folk Magic Band, and his collaborations with Massimo Urbani, Steve Grossman and Chet Baker). He has a whole boatload of experiences and a wealth of humanity (including an illness
that kept him away from the scene for several years) that he bears with an apparent sense of detachment and a profound sense of awareness.
Within the rich uniformity of the album there is a song that is a significant exception, since it is the only one that features the voice (singing and narrating) of Marta Raviglia. Here – in the
story of man with his "Fists in the Pockets" (“Pugni in tasca”) sitting immobile on a bench – freely improvised and experimental episodes are interwoven with moments of acting and
changing rhythms, in the demonstration of the openness of Lillo Quaratino and his companions towards other languages, and their willingness to change course once again, so as not to
retreat from the continuous flowing stream of music, ideas and feelings. Luigi Onori Cover Notes