Wine & Waltzes -- Live at Bastianich Winery

"Some headlines write themselves. When one learns that the great Enrico Pieranunzi is going to play a concert in a winery, the word “vintage” immediately jumps to mind. It’s a word with at least two different meanings. At the simplest, it means of long standing, “mature” rather than “old”; but it also carries an unmistakable overtone of quality. A vintage performance isn’t necessarily one from the distant archive; it’s something special, to be savoured.  Listening to a Pieranunzi performance, and particularly to the succession of lyrical three-quarter tunes that make up much of the Bastianich recital, is very much like opening and sampling a bottle of wine. There is, from a master of his standing, the obvious expectation as one looks at the label and then there is sheer intrigue as the cork is popped and the first sounds heard. “Wine & Waltzes” we are promised, but the maestro allows his idea to breathe for a little time, tempting us first with a sweetly lyrical “nose” and then suggesting something sharper and more ambiguous underneath. When we describe a wine as “complex”, we are paying it a compliment. When we say it of a musician, sometimes we are admitting that we don’t understand, maybe find his music a bit challenging. Pieranunzi smooths all that away. He adds layer on layer of taste, persuades us that a second glass and a fresh bottle would be acceptable. In “B.Y.O.H.” and “Twoliness” he even offers a little mild intoxication. No escaping it: this is vintage jazz".   (Brian Morton)

Recorded Live at Bastianich Winery (Cividale del Friuli, Italy) on 6 June 2017 Recording engineer Stefano Amerio

Photos by Elisa Caldana