Description
Artists: Beppe Aliprandi
Title: Natura morta con flauto
Genre: Jazz
Release date: july 2010
Record Company: Ultra Sound Records
Musicians:
Alberto Mandarini: trumpet, fluegelhorn
Luca Segala: soprano sax tenor sax
Beppe Aliprandi: alto sax tenor sax flute
Giampiero Spina: electric guitar
Gianluca Alberti: double bass
Roberto Paglieri: drums
‘ Natura morta con flauto ‘ In 1999, when presenting my CD DUKE I LOVE YOU MADLY! I promised that this would not have been my only encounter with the music of Duke Ellington.
I keep my word. I am now pleased to offer to your listening another series of masterpieces of that great artist I have run under the gauntlet of my elaboration. The layout is the same, i.e. a faithful and very respectful one to the composition written by Ellington and by his great right arm Billy Strayhorn, but also the awareness that almost a century had expired from the coming out of some of their pieces and that ,during this period of time, the whole story of Jazz had been running , but its passage has not elapsed without leaving traces. The CD opens with MARGIE, which is not by Ellington ,but in the 30s and in the 50s was played by his Orchestra with the same mood of his most typical pieces . I am offering it
having in mind a New Orleans JAZZ band, as all this kind of music comes from there. MARGIES’ CHANGES is my transposition 80 years later… What I am interested in keeping , as far as the Duke is concerned, are, moreover, the atmosphere and the colors, that is the mood in which he could dip his wonderful melodies by making them unique and instantly recognizable. I think I reached this goal in writing CHEZ MOI, where I
particularly identified myself with my model. I was probably helped by the fact that the changes building the structure of this piece are the ones of AZURE, one of his most poetical themes. I must say that, wishing to insert even this piece into my CD, I could not find a better way than to re-harmonize it by changing all the changes, but by playing it “on velvet” as he did. I love playing in . I Got it Bad And That Ain’t Good one of the masterpieces of the Duke ,as I really love Don’t Get Around Much Anymore very much, even if over the changes of it I wrote Don’t Blow Bop Much Anymore. The title of this last piece would have been an advice to stop playing this Be Bop style, so fashionable even nowadays among Jazz people. Curiously it turned out to be a piece of pure Be Bop style.
On the other hand among Ellington’ merits, there is the fact that he got through every kind of style making the whole history of Jazz, from New Orleans times to his meetings with avant-garde musicians such Mingus, Roach and Coltrane. Therefore, thinking of Ellington who, with his wonderful orchestra , played everything, why not to play in this CD even ALTER EGO, a Fusion song. Maybe he tried such a style as well, even if I don’t have any notice about it… Two more words on his other compositions: BOO –DAH is a beautiful theme by Strayhorn and it was part of his repertoire for many years. I like playing it while I think of my sextet as if they were a real Big Band. MY IDEA ABOUT WW and THE ALCHEMY OF WW represent two different ways of performing an old Ellington’s piece afresh, in this case WHASHINGTON WOBBLE that he recorded in 1927.
With great immodesty I ‘d like to think that if Ellington and Strayhorn had listened to this music of mine, they would not have been sorry. On the other hand, if I had not been wholly convinced, I would not have made it…
Beppe Aliprandi / 2013
