Michele Calgaro - Full Score (2019)

Michele Calgaro is very active both in teaching and performing, but a little less in recording, especially as a leader. But when he releases a new album, he always does it because he has something new and interesting to say.
It took five years to bring back to the studio the quintet that gave us the excellent «Progressions» (2011, Caligola), and we had to wait four more to enjoy the result of this recording session, to which were added other four tunes recorded last year with a different rhythm section, this time a Russian one. By his side there still are the energetic trumpeter Alex Sipiagin – here composer of two songs too – and the skilful saxophonist Robert Bonisiolo, both precious and tested adventure companions who, together with Michele, are also the only musicians who appear in all the nine tracks (Arise, the tenth, is a short and delicate guitar solo).
«Full Score» is a deep and sincere record, varied and extremely coherent at the same time. If the start with Short Wave is burning to say the least, the atmosphere turns softer and rarefied in Letter to Evans, dedicated to Bill Evans; another successful tribute is paid to Jim Hall with One for Hall.
Michele Calgaro said about his work: “My writing almost always comes from interior aesthetics and stories, conceived for improvisation: a delicate balance, a stimulus for a collective story that also allows the expression of each identity, where the actions of interpretation and impromptu are the true substance of the songs… The luck of being able to walk these paths together with extraordinary musicians, who manage to naturally combine intensity and relaxation, is a priceless value added, and being able to impress some of these moments in a record makes the results of this surprising creative process repeatable and shareable to me…”.