ENRICO RAVA “Fearless Five”

“Fearless Five” is the latest creature of the most international of Italian jazz musicians, former Artistic Director of Bergamo Jazz from 2012 to 2015. It is a group that revolves around, in addition to the charisma of the trumpeter and flugornist who leads it, some of the most talented exponents of the latest generation of Italian jazz musicians. A group that combines young and creative energies, enhanced by a leader who knows how to draw lifeblood from the musicians he plays with, repaying them with his experience, his natural musicality, and leaving them ample room to maneuver. “With this group I feel like on an ideal island, where everyone gives and everyone receives what they need. There is great freedom but mutual respect, everyone is listening to each other, as in a perfect democracy that only jazz can represent,” says the same
Enrico Rava, “Musicians all have this great ability, almost telepathic, to listen and interact to input. But it also takes courage to be on this island. Surrounded at times by a threatening sea, at times less so, given such difficult times we are living in, it still remains my ideal island where I love to live and play music.” To make up the Fearless Five Rava brought in Matteo Paggi on trombone – scouted at Siena Jazz seminars, Francesco Ponticelli on double bass and Evita Polidoro on drums, who together provide a formidable propulsive drive. With them is guitarist Francesco Diodati, already at Rava’s side for a decade and the true center of gravity of the new quintet, which has just released its eponymous album, released by Parco della Musica Records. A record that, assembling old and new compositions, gives music of great freshness, the result of the understanding between Rava, who at eighty-five years old has lost none of his poetic vein, and his partners. And the credit must be shared equally among five “fearless” jazz musicians.

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THE COOKERS
featuring
BILLY HART, GEORGE CABLES, CECIL MCBEE, EDDIE HENDERSON, AZAR LAWRENCE, DONALD HARRISON, DAVID WEISS

Una super band o una dream band, come dir si voglia: vedere uno dietro l’altro i nomi dei componenti dei The Cookers non può che sollecitare una definizione di questo genere. Billy Hart, George Cables, Cecil McBee, Eddie Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Donald Harrison e David Weiss rappresentano infatti una fetta consistente di quello che viene comunemente inteso come mainstream jazz, ovvero jazz tutto d’un pezzo, con profonde radici nel passato ma, nel caso dei The Cookers, ben calato nel presente.

With six albums behind them, the first of which, Cast the First Stone, recorded in 2010 and the latest Look Out released in 2021, the Cookers, whose lineup has seen some alternation over time, encapsulate the spirit of a music that feeds on the most straightforward modern jazz language, yet keeping well away from mere historical review operations. Trying to summarize such long and important careers, it comes natural to start with the oldest of the bunch, double bassist Cecil McBee, born in 1935: Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Jackie McLean and Freddie Hubbard are just a few of the leaders with whom he played. Instead, 1940 saw the birth of drummer Billy Hart and trumpeter Eddie Henderson, also veterans of endless musical battles: among other things, they were members of the electric band with which Herbie Hancock took the stage at the Donizetti Theater in 1972.
George Cables (1944) is one of the ace jazz piano players: Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper and Joe Henderson stand out on his collaborative resume.
New entry to the Cookers is tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence (1952), replacing fellow instrumentalist Billy Harper but already featured as a special guest on Cast the First Stone. Most remember him alongside Miles Davis(Dark Magus) and McCoy Tyner(Enlightenment). Originally from New Orleans (1960), contralto player Donald Harrison came to prominence with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and formed a fruitful partnership with trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
Latest in age, David Weiss (1964) is also anything but a newcomer: in fact, he has played with Jaki Byard, Jimmy Heath, Clifford Jordan, Freddie Hubbard and many others. He founded the New Jazz Composers Octet and is the one who holds the ranks of the Cookers.

Playbill