Insonnie CD - Import

Inno is an Italian ensemble who plays the kind of jazz that is texturally rich, rhythmically varied, and harmonically very sophisticated. Being Italian, their notion of what is lyrical and melodic is also highly developed as it relates to their jazz tradition. Another positive is that the five members of this band compose. Wind and reedman Mauro Manzoni and pianist Giuseppe Finocchiaro kick things off in a pastoral way with "Everything Stuck to Him." Bassist Nicola Negrini (who wrote the tune) enters with a fretless bass wound loosely in 4/4 before drummer Giovanni Chiarini enters and begins rolling through a sequence of fills, accents, and rim shots that pull him toward double time. By the time we hear Maurizio Guermandi's acoustic guitar shimmering in the mix, the tune is half over and we've been through two dreamy dynamic changes. The harmonic lines are elegantly structured in minor sevenths and diminished fifths that turn around after every sixth measure without edges or seams. And as the set develops, the intensity of the pieces changes somewhat in the polyrhythmic Latin-tinged "John O'Groats," the Carribean-flavored funk of "Darbuka," or the low, lonesome drone study of "Giornata in 7/6," with its graceful, subtle timbral evocations. While it is safe to say that fans of the recordings on the ECM label might go for this, it's also safe to say that anyone interested in new jazz will appreciate it as well for its sophistication and its warm expressivity. ~ Thom Jurek