Michele Calgaro - Progressions (2011)

Appreciated teacher – he has directed the Thelonious music school in Vicenza since 1991 – Michele Calgaro is here in his second round as sole leader, four years after « Round about Monk» , also published by our label. In truth, some time before he had shared the authorship of another album with the Canadian saxophonist Robert Bonisolo, «The Edge» , recorded in quartet with the addition of some pieces by Paolo Fresu. Bonisolo, with whom Calgaro has played regularly for almost twenty years, is also present in this «Progressions», an album enriched by the presence of a prestigious guest, Alex Sipiagin, a Russian trumpeter who has moved permanently to the United States since 1992, soon becoming one of the absolute protagonists of the New York jazz scene. The quintet from Calgaro, completed by another of its tried and tested partners, the precious drummer Mauro Beggio, instead sees Michele's brother, Lorenzo, and the American Marc Abrams split in the role of double bass player who, like and even more than Bonisolo, can now be considered Italian in all respects. Unlike the previous recording, entirely dedicated to Thelonious Monk, here Michele Calgaro also tests himself as a composer, demonstrating that he has now acquired a decidedly personal style, which he knows how to be poetic and reflective (in the sweet balladMonadi , signed by Lorenzo, as well as in Mari Land , which starts with the trio alone and then sees the addition of Bonisolo's sax and Sipiagin's flugelhorn), but when necessary also rightly stringent and aggressive (in the modal Progression and in the pressing gait of Love is this thing called “What?” ). It is no coincidence that the only standard present on the album – arranged in a very original way – is a piece by the “master” Horace Silver, the enthralling and too little performed In pursuit of the 27th man . But Calgaro's quintet can also be convincing in the two medium tempo compositions, which are moreover articulated and complex, such as the hypnotic melody of Basso Fondo and the suspended scale ofThe value of differences , capable of paying due tribute to Wayne Shorter without losing originality.