Mauro Ottolini - Storyville Story (2020)

Mauro Ottolini and Fabrizio Bosso, two of the most important brass of our national jazz, share the leadership of “Storyville Story”, moving on a common ground and congenial to both: a musical journey to discover New Orleans.
The focus is on primeval jazz, with a choral vocation and primordial intensity, which tells stories of men and women, of music, love, missing money, gambling. In short, a small and meticulous portrait of New Orleans in the early twentieth century. Unfortunately, this repertoire has been largely forgotten despite its wealth of musical ideas that are still current. Among the authors, William Christopher Handy stands out, known as the father of the blues. With his prolific compositional vein, Handy gave birth to hundreds of polythmatic and blues-rich songs that became fundamental repertoire for the musicians of his time: fundamental personalities of jazz music such as Louis Armstrong, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton , Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Fats Waller, Sweet Emma Barrett, Lil Hardin.
Ottolini has transcribed and arranged some of the most representative songs of that spring moment for Afro-American improvised music, giving them a personal and creative touch but always respectful of the original traits, cutting them to measure for a prestigious formation, with soloists who boast a particular affinity for the New Orleans style. Singer Vanessa Tagliabue Yorke is one of the greatest experts in the genre, an intense interpreter with a meticulous pronunciation. Ottolini himself has always shown a particular feeling for classical jazz, preferring it by far to the more common pronunciation of boppistic heritage. And even Bosso, in his vibrant solos full of surprising notes and phrasing, has always clearly shown the pleasure of being carried away by swinging jazz.