Unshot Movies

An unshot movie is a story that, being uncompleted, still exists in the imagination of the one who would have liked to complete it: it is nourished by a sort of nostalgia for something that has never happened, by the wish to tell a story and is also rich in thousands of still possible, and reasonable, versions. Jazz may express all these feelings given its nature of music “in the making” that unfolds from a concept and mutates into something different.  Unshot Movies isn’t a soundtrack, but recounts twelve unshot movies through music. The narrators here are four remarkable musicians: Javier Girotto, Jon Balke, Furio Di Castri and Patrice Héral, who rely on their own energetic creativity, exciting melodic themes, sophisticated arrangements and innate, natural cohesiveness, and manage to give each track its own distinctive moods, colors and features with great expressive power. This is all accomplished by depicting events occurring in a not quite distinct imagination. While the soprano sax in Ghazal writes melodies suggesting joy, yearning and even drama, the completely unfettered drums and unison playing of sax and piano make Javajazz playful and lively. While Things We’ve Lost has nearly a chanson-like framework, C’est Dengue!!! is captivating, forceful, sensational. While Inmigración draws its force from a sudden emotional impact, Historia De Markarí seems to represent a mysterious journey to an unknown planet that both startles and irresistibly attracts us, revealing itself, little by little, to be less threatening, almost friendly.  These are unshot movies: if your imagination is excited by such a potent, musically eloquent quartet, you listeners are lucky to still be able to change their plots and finale in the way that most appeals to you.

Recorded in Cavalicco on 7 - 8 March 2016 at Artesuono Recording Studio Recording engineer Stefano Amerio

Photos by Elisa Caldana

Liner notes by Brian Morton