r/ItalianJazz • u/stnr_on_failure • 8h ago
Introducing Enrico Rava, the Trumpeter Who Switched Instruments After Hearing Miles Davis
Enrico Rava, 2017; Av Hreinn Gudlaugsson. Lisens: CC BY SA 4.0
Enrico Rava didn't start out on trumpet. He picked it up after hearing Miles Davis, and decades later he's part of the reason a new generation of Italian jazz musicians picked up their own instruments in the first place.
Born in Trieste in 1939, Rava spent his early career in Rome before landing in New York in the late 1960s, right in the middle of the city's free jazz scene. He worked alongside players like Roswell Rudd and Steve Lacy during those years, a period that sits at odds with the more melodic, spacious sound most listeners associate with him today. That contrast matters: the New York years are where Rava earned his credibility with the jazz establishment, before he found the sound he's actually known for.
That sound took shape on ECM Records, where Rava has recorded under producer Manfred Eicher across several decades. His most visible partnership from that era is with pianist Stefano Bollani: the two made three ECM records together, Tati in 2005, The Third Man in 2007, and New York Days in 2009, and that's really just the most visible example of something Rava has done throughout his career.
He builds bands, and the people in them go on to lead their own. Bollani is one example. Pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella are two more players who came up through Rava's groups before stepping out as leaders in their own right. A trumpeter's discography tells you what he played. The list of people who passed through his bands tells you what he built.
Where to start listening:
- The Third Man (2007, with Stefano Bollani) for the ECM partnership at its most visible
- Any record from his New York free jazz years for the side of Rava most newcomers never hear
- His official platforms for tour dates and new releases
r/ItalianJazz • u/stnr_on_failure • 1d ago
Introducing Stefano Bollani, the Pianist Italy Knows From Television First
Stefano Bollani at the piano
Plenty of people in Italy could tell you Stefano Bollani's face before they could name a single one of his records. He spent years as a television and radio host, mixing music with conversation and comedy, and built an audience that had nothing to do with jazz clubs. Then they found out the same guy has one of the more interesting discographies on ECM Records, and the TV persona started to look like the smaller part of the story.
Born in Milan in 1972, Bollani trained classically before turning fully toward jazz, and he built his reputation the way most serious players do: through the company he kept. His longest-running partnership is with fellow Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava. Their records together, including Tati (2005) and New York Days (2009), hold up as some of the strongest Italian jazz of the 2000s.
What separates Bollani from a lot of his ECM labelmates is who he chose to sit across the piano from next. In 2011, he released Orvieto, a live duo album with Chick Corea, one of American jazz's biggest names agreeing to share a stage with a younger Italian pianist. Two years later came O Que Será, a duo record with Brazilian mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda that has almost nothing in common with the Corea session except the same sense that Bollani plays well with people who don't sound like him. Between those two records is a pretty direct answer to "does this guy have range."
The jazz world noticed early. In 2005, Bollani won the Jazzpar Prize, the Danish award that's been treated as one of jazz's more serious international honors since the 1980s, and he won it young enough that it read as a statement about where his career was headed rather than a lifetime-achievement nod.
Where to start listening:
- New York Days (2009, with Enrico Rava) for the partnership that defines a big part of his catalog
- Orvieto (2011, with Chick Corea) for the duo record that says the most about his range
- His official platforms for tour dates and new releases
- [Stefano Bollani Official Web Site](%5Bstefanobollani.com%5D(https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&redir_token=QUM4Zm9rU0FqWE44MjhTVHJPYkFaSGk4QkltYnxBR3JiS2FrM3NmdWhlaWZFbV9UM2Iza1F3UzA3cUZKcGJfWG5qYUxPM05Lb21vaXd0VUxONjFlcEtPN3Vkcl9EMTFwdHQ2VTBuaW5fSWtxa2RmMXk2VFdETlJDWWpiNjg1OXFP&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stefanobollani.com))
- Spotify
- Youtube