Saturday 22 October 2022

PROG AND JAZZ

The Cinema Show Quartet is an interesting project from Rome that came to life in 2018 on the initiative Paolo Bernardi with the aim of taking progressive rock pieces and dressing them up in jazz arrangements respecting their spirit. In 2022 the band self-released a good debut album entitled Fugue To Heaven with a line up featuring Paolo Bernardi (piano, keyboards), Luca Rizzo (sax), Flavia Ostini (contrabass) and Riccardo Colasante (drums). In my opinion, it’s a beautiful exercise of style where all the members of the band showcase great musicianship and gusto... 



The opener “Marooned Mother In The Sky” sets the atmosphere with a brilliantly arranged medley of Pink Floyd’s pieces that in some way are turned into something new and fresh. The interaction between sax and piano is remarkable and it’s backed by a discreet but effective rhythm section with excellent results...

Next comes Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, where you can hear swinging ragtime echoes, every now and again the music seems almost coming out from an old radio of the fifties while the following Genesis’ “The Cinema Show” drives your through dreamy, cinematic atmospheres on the wings of soaring sax melodies. In the middle there’s even room for a nice drum solo...

“Is There Anybody Out There? Part 1” is just a short break that leads to “Bure in the Fugue!” and to its Jethro Tull’s rhythmic variations on Bach’s theme with the addition of a strong jazz flavour that could even recall Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther’s Theme. Then it’s the turn of a beautiful treatment of Luis Enriquez Bacalov’s “Concerto Grosso per i New Trolls” and Jon Lord’s “Sarabande”... 



The notes of “Horizons Parte 1” introduce the following “Fugue To Heaven” and “La tua assenza” (Your absence), the only two original compositions of the album. In my opinion, both tracks are excellent examples of prog chamber music mixing classical influences, jazz and a charming romantic taste: the musicians involved in this project should have more confidence in their compositional skills...

Pink Floyd’s “Is There Anybody Out There? Part 2” leads to an amazing arrangement of Genesis’ “Firth Of Fifth” with some piano pyrotechnical passages and a delicate, dreamy sax part that takes you towards warmer sounds and Latin American latitudes. Then it’s the turn of Pink Floyd’s “Summer ’68” that here is combined with hints of Herbie Hancock’s Cantalupe Island, as to underline its hot subject matter...

A good arrangement of Genesis’ “In The Cage” and “Horizons Parte 2” precede the last two pieces that should be considered just two bonus tracks: a different version of Jethro Tull’s “Bourée”, here re-named “Bourée in Fugue!”, and of “Firth of Fifth” both performed by the flute ensemble Per un Pugno di Flauti, an Italian ensemble of flutists born inside the Santa Cecilia's Conservatory in Rome.

On the whole, a very interesting work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064178103608

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