Morphé

Now in digipak CD format.

“...For Carbonelli’s guitar playing falls into that fascinating category of music which seems to defy analysis, always holding back something, retaining its air of energetic mystery. The title tune of Morphé falls into the latter category rather than the first. For the moment, the group’s energy is held in reserve, in order to create a dreaming landscape that seemingly hovers in the realms of sleep. It’s a brave way to open a disc and a variation on the usual preference for an upbeat number. That comes second with “Arrgh”, a guess-the-next-note theme that sidelines the initial impression of something like Jimmy Giuffre’s pioneering trio with Steve Swallow and Paul Bley and delivers something closer to Ornette’s guitar-heavy harmolodics, or even one of Frank Zappa’s more abstract conceptions. Riccardo Gambatesa’s drums, an important feature of the record and the most obvious difference from the Giuffre trio, are quite ridiculous here, driving the music along joyously, but with just an edge of danger and even panic. It’s exhilarating.  Daniele Tittarelli’s alto hovers somewhere between sorrow and joy on all these tracks, but what one notices more than anything is the intelligence of his note-choices, which are always logical, but never predictable. Likewise the bassist; Matteo Bortone varies his sound with degrees of amplification, but not just on the heavier tracks... Carbonelli is a young master, a sound scientist who understands that the most productive path for scientific enquiry is a kind of playfulness”. (Brian Morton)

Recorded in Cavalicco on 27, 28 March 2017 at Artesuono Recording Studio
Recording engineer Stefano Amerio

Photos by Elisa Caldana

Liner notes by Brian Morton