Baghèt

Saxophonist Gianluigi Trovesi is one of the contemporary giants of European jazz, a figure of endless resource and imagination, with a score of album releases under his own name and many more as a participant and collaborator. Now available on digital platforms worldwide, the very first recordings Trovesi made under his own name some forty years ago for the Dischi Della Quercia label… Baghèt is a virtuosic trio performance with Trovesi’s close colleagues of the time, bassist (and sometimes cellist) Paolo Damiani and drummer Gianni Cazzola. Beginning with variations on an old saltarello dance piece, the leader deploys no less than five instruments, including the rarely played, high-pitched sopranino saxophone to create a modern jazz recording that sounds as fresh today as it did in 1978. It is always illuminating to hear a great master at the beginning of his career. Here, though, Trovesi already shows a mastery of the music, with nothing tentative or hesitant in his thinking. Few recording careers have sustained such a consistency for so long. (Brian Morton)

Recorded live on 14 July 1978 at the 1^st Europa Jazz Festival in Imola (Italy), and in studio in October 1978 at Cinemusic - Milan (Italy) by Giancarlo Lupo.