Gianni Basso Quartet - Lush Life - Tribute to Billy Strayhorn (2003)

The music of Billy Strayhorn has long attracted jazz musicians. Veteran tenor saxophonist Gianni Basso, one of the top players in Europe and deserving to be recognized worldwide, salutes the late composer and his musical partner, Duke Ellington, with this elegant songbook. Backed by a superb rhythm section (pianist Andrea Pozza, bassist Luciano Milanese, and drummer Stefano Bagnoli), Basso savors each work with thoughtful performances, starting with "The Star-Crossed Lovers," one of many features for longtime alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges. The lush take of "Isfahan" suggests tenor saxophonist Ben Webster (who left Ellington decades before this piece was composed). Pozza is at his very best playing imaginative lines in support of the leader in the gorgeous "Chelsea Bridge," long considered to be one of Strayhorn's most memorable ballads. No Strayhorn songbook could be considered complete without "Take the 'A' Train"; this arrangement is more of a subtle, swaggering swinger, instead of an over-the-top up-tempo workout. The sentimental "Orson" (dedicated to the extraordinary filmmaker and actor Orson Wells) is not common fare for Strayhorn interpreters, but Basso's convincing rendition may turn on other musicians to its elegant beauty. Also among Strayhorn's most loved works is "Lush Life"; Basso's richly textured solo adds yet another great recording of it to jazz history. Highly recommended. © Ken Dryden