Mono Jazz is the label of Right Tempo devoted to the sound of jazz, in all its nuances. Mono Jazz editorial line contemplates both re-issues of rare and sought-after recordings from the past and albums newly recorded with Italy greatest living jazzmen. Mono Jazz was originally established as a radio show (which still is) broadcasted for five years on Gilles Peterson's legendary WorldwideFM radio. At present Mono Jazz counts releases by Chet Baker, Gino Marinacci, Mario Rusca, Francesco Sotgiu and Sonnie Taylor (The Gypsy). Guest appearances, in the above albums, by Italian jazz giants such as Paolo Fresu, Luigi Bonafede, Riccardo Fioravanti. Planned releases for the future are from pianist Luigi Ranghino, saxophone and flue player Riccardo Luppi and an album by bassist Attilio Zanchi. Mono Jazz distinctive signs, in the well-known tradition of Right Tempo, will be a stunning vinyl pressing and catchy artwork.
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MJC 129006CD
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Love Should Never End is the second album in trio by legendary Italian jazz pianist Mario Rusca for Mono Jazz. In comparison with Monochrome Blues, we find Maxx Furian on drums and -- on bass -- the long time associated Riccardo Fioravanti. In the liner notes penned by Corrado Beldì, patron of Novara Jazz, Mario Rusca says: "Everything has come out naturally -- we have included some compositions I deeply love, one by Kenny Drew, one by Benny Golson, and 'Strollin'' by Horace Silver, then some originals I have written for this album like 'Mr. Rik,' 'Love Should Never End,' and 'Wait For Me In The Sky,' two standard like 'I Fall In Love Too Easily' and 'There Is No Greater Love.' We have recorded the whole album in one day and everything went simply perfect." Love Should Never End is an album in which this extraordinary trio delivers extremely expressive jazz music, with Rusca extraordinary pianism supported by a pulsating rhythm section. This is a sublime work destined to please the long-standing jazz passionate appreciating the blues origins of this music and at the same time it can be a perfect tool for those newcomers approaching jazz.
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MJC 129002CD
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Reissue, originally released in 1972. Recorded at the legendary Sound Work Shop studio in Rome by the most talented jazz flutist of the Italian Radio Television Orchestra. Featuring psychedelic cinematic jazz masterpieces "Meeting" and "Atom Flowers." The light of Gino Marinacci, the unforgettable talented jazz musician and illustrious citizen of Cittaducale, shines brightly again: his masterpiece Atom Flower's, the album with which he won the Armstrong prize at the 1971 Venice music festival as the best Italian jazzman, has just been reissued.
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MJC 129004CD
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Reissue, originally released in 1974. This extraordinary album, which Mono-Jazz are re-issuing on the occasion of RT 30 (the celebration of Right Tempo's thirty years of activity), is a tribute to the great Trinidadian pianist Sonnie Taylor who in these recordings, accompanied by the singer Bunnie Foy, expresses all his musical nature connected to Africa and the spiritual roots of jazz music. Many of you will recall Mayfra Combo, well, the leader of that seminal soul jazz ensemble was Sonnie Taylor. "I'm a Harlem Flower," says Bunnie. "I was born right in Harlem, where I've listened to an infinite number of popular songs of all kinds since I was a child. That's why I learned to sing spirituals, blues, classic and modern jazz pieces by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and even calypso and African music. These are things that are all equally familiar to me. On this record, for example, I interpret a Gershwin medley but also 'Go Down Moses' which is spiritual, 'Uelelé' which is an Angolan piece, and 'Way-O Comin' Home' which comes from the Caribbean." Her real name is Shirley, but the nickname -- which in Italian means bunny -- grew up with her. She arrived in Italy in 1968 after a very flattering career start, during which she collaborated with famous names such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. When she decided to settle in Milan she had already been to France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and North Africa. Sonnie Taylor, the distinguished pianist and organist who leads the nine recordings contained herein, is a native of Trinidad. He has performed in England, Spain and Italy with a rhythm and blues ensemble. He currently leads a quintet that plays Afro-Cuban music. For about a year he has been working with Bunnie Foy on her concert tours.
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MJC 129004LP
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LP version. Reissue, originally released in 1974. This extraordinary album, which Mono-Jazz are re-issuing on the occasion of RT 30 (the celebration of Right Tempo's thirty years of activity), is a tribute to the great Trinidadian pianist Sonnie Taylor who in these recordings, accompanied by the singer Bunnie Foy, expresses all his musical nature connected to Africa and the spiritual roots of jazz music. Many of you will recall Mayfra Combo, well, the leader of that seminal soul jazz ensemble was Sonnie Taylor. "I'm a Harlem Flower," says Bunnie. "I was born right in Harlem, where I've listened to an infinite number of popular songs of all kinds since I was a child. That's why I learned to sing spirituals, blues, classic and modern jazz pieces by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and even calypso and African music. These are things that are all equally familiar to me. On this record, for example, I interpret a Gershwin medley but also 'Go Down Moses' which is spiritual, 'Uelelé' which is an Angolan piece, and 'Way-O Comin' Home' which comes from the Caribbean." Her real name is Shirley, but the nickname -- which in Italian means bunny -- grew up with her. She arrived in Italy in 1968 after a very flattering career start, during which she collaborated with famous names such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. When she decided to settle in Milan she had already been to France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and North Africa. Sonnie Taylor, the distinguished pianist and organist who leads the nine recordings contained herein, is a native of Trinidad. He has performed in England, Spain and Italy with a rhythm and blues ensemble. He currently leads a quintet that plays Afro-Cuban music. For about a year he has been working with Bunnie Foy on her concert tours.
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MJC 129005LP
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"Francesco Sotgiu has forged a unique and very swinging project of songs. With a quintet consisting of Luigi Bonafede on piano, Emanuele Cisi and Riccardo Luppi on woodwinds, Salvatore Maiore on bass, Francesco on drums, and with special guest Paolo Fresu on trumpet to cap off this heartfelt collection. There is also a nice diversity of groups within this larger collection..." --Gil Goldstein, five-time Grammy award-winning American accordion player
This record was recorded in the middle of the pandemic times and most of the work for preparing this record took place via the telephone: the selection of the songs on paper, the exchange of ideas on arrangements, staff, and instruments, a sort of "phone rehearsal" of the structure of the songs, with the choice of a solo; everything else, everything that will happen in the recording sessions, is the result of a controlled improvisation, a jam session masterfully captured in the studio through the use of well-positioned ribbon microphones. In the classic "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and Tizol or "Afro Blue" by Mongo Santamaria, Coltrane toning, the Latin accent of the rhythm section supports the interpretation of the theme and the interplay in the solos between the soprano and tenor saxophones by Cisi and Luppi, and the piano by Bonafede. A certain elegance in the execution distinguishes pieces such as "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love", with a calibrated solo on the double bass of Maiore and the flute by Luppi, the immortal "Take Five" by Paul Desmond, with the highlighted soprano by Cisi, "Wishes", "7th Street", and the eponymous "Passing", characterized by the precise medium/fast drive of the drums and a certain "cinematic" taste of the main themes. In songs such as "Black Bats and Poles", composed by Jack Walrath, and in "Stranatole", an original piece by Sotgiu, the quintet opts for an effective hard bop language, while in Coltrane's "Wise One" and McCoy Tyner's "Ballad For Aisha" you enter a modal, mystical, and ceremonial jazz. A special separate mention for two classics such as "My Foolish Heart" by Victor Young, performed in trio by Sotgiu, Maiore and the unmistakable trumpet by Paolo Fresu, and the "Lotus Blossom" by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, which in the piano-violin duo of Birro and Sotgiu, in a minute gives a suspended momentary magic, sums up the roots of African-American jazz music. Features Paolo Birro and Marco Micheli.
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MJC 129001CD
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"Chet On Poetry is his last record in studio, but indeed it differs from the others and it is one of the best and the most charming one. Chet was in a good shape in Rome, in those Winter days, and he had the right partners. First of all you have to listen to him when he reads poetry." This is how the great Italian critic Franco Fayenz introduces this recording in his liner notes. Chet On Poetry actually is West Coast's trumpet superstar last studio recording. Chet On Poetry is Chet's spiritual testament in music and probably one of his most meaningful records. "Chet On Poetry was not only the production of a record, but also a path of experimentation in another field, which was made possible through the profound human connection between myself, Chet, our poet friend Maurizio Guercini and later on Gianluca Manzi," states Nicola Stilo, artistic producer, composer of most of the music, flute and guitar player of this album. From the surreal poetry which introduces Duke Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood" to the bluesy ballad "Almost Blue", which Elvis Costello dedicated to Chet and Chet picks up for this last masterpiece, delivers intensity and goes beyond any time criteria. Taken off the original tapes and remastered, this compact disc edition of Chet On Poetry, curated by Mono Jazz label, represent an indispensable addition to any serious Chet Baker's discography.
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MJC 129003CD
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Mario Rusca is probably the biggest living Italian jazzman. His major influences are Duke Ellington's composing abilities and Hampton Hawes's brilliant sound. He immersed himself in the harmonic inventions of the incredible pianists of the '60s and '70s: from Bud Powell to Bobby Timmons, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans. Mario Rusca has been the house pianist of Capolinea, the most important Italian jazz club of the '70s and '80s. He went on to perform in important national and international settings-representing Italy in the "Piano Solo'' category of the International Festival of Varsavia and participating with his quintet at the International Festival of Montreal. He has collaborated with a multitude of prestigious names: Chet Baker, Tony Scott, Curtis Fuller, Gerry Mulligan, Lou Donaldson, Art Farmer, Bob Berg, Lee Konitz, Dusko Gojkovic, Al Gray, Kay Winding, as well as Stefano Bagnoli, Enrico Rava, Tullio De Piscopo, Kenny Clarke, Stan Getz, Jimmy Owens, Toots Thielemans, Gianni Basso, Pepper Adams, Steve Lacy, Steve Grossman, Franco Ambrosetti, Woody Shaw, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. With Gerry Mulligan, in particular, he toured in 1976 and with Lee Konitz, he recorded Where's The Blues? at the end of the '90s. In this regard, Suspension in 1975 with Tullio De Piscopo and Recreations in 1976 with Larry Nocella playing saxophone are still very beautiful and modern recordings. The chemistry between the three of them is perfectly aligned, synergistic. Tony's drums and Riccardo's bass create a soft and essential rhythmic tapestry that never hinder the creative prowess of the band leader. Here, Mario Rusca is interpreting the most dynamic jazz standards. "Blues for Gwen" by McCoy Tyner, "Blues Walk" by Lou Donaldson, "Blue Minor" by Sonny Clark, "Turnaround" by Ornette Coleman, "Bass Blues" by John Coltrane, or even "Super Jet" by Tadd Dameron. Monochrome Blues is a winning trio album which will deeply please jazz fans. Personnel: Mario Rusca (piano), Riccardo Fioravanti (bass), and Tony Arco (drums).
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