Jazz
Enrico Rava releases “Corners” (ECM 2868) on 16 October, the first album his Fearless Five quintet has made for the label, with tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano as a guest. It was recorded from 21 to 23 July 2025 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in Rome, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Rava plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He is joined by Matteo Paggi on trombone, Francesco Diodati on guitar, Francesco Ponticelli on double bass and Evita Polidoro on drums and voice.
The nine tracks are all originals and they do not come from a single pen. Rava writes three of them (“Certi Angoli Segreti”, “Hitchcock at the Beach” and “Bowery Dance”), Lovano two (“Sun Rava” and “Tone, Shape and Colours”), and the rest come from Diodati (“Sin Peso”), Polidoro (“Le Mie Gambe”), Ponticelli (“Ça va sans dire”) and Paggi (“Mamma”).
“As they all have their own bands, where they are leaders and composers, I thought it makes sense to let each one of us contribute tunes to that new album,” Rava explains.
The two long pieces are the opener and the fourth track: “Certi Angoli Segreti” runs eleven minutes thirty-nine and “Sun Rava” ten forty-three. Rava, born in Trieste on 20 August 1939, has recorded for ECM since “The Pilgrim and the Stars” (1975).
Text by Aina Torrents