Dave Sumner on Daily Bandcamp
With influences of Dada and the AACM as its rocket fuel, Renato Cordovani’s sextet lives a dual life of jazz traditionalists and avant-garde absurdists. Random acts of dissonance interrupt passages of old-school swing. Sometimes, the melody is a lifeline to the song; sometimes it’s the tool used to obliterate its structure. In either case, the multi-reedist’s Cordonbleux ensemble possesses an abounding tunefulness and a motion that subtly suggests dance. It makes for an alluring concoction, and a nice subtext for an album built to thrill. Clarinets, saxophones, trombone, violin, bass, and drums are the tools of the ensemble’s trade. It’s released on Aut Records, a label out of the Berlin scene that specializes in bringing the noise.
Editorial on Avant Scena
“Cordonbleux at NOF” is a new avant-garde jazz album which was released by “AUT Records” this July. The album was recorded by great avant-garde jazz masters – it’s Renato Cordovani (clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax), Claudio Ingletti (bass clarinet, tenor sax, baritone sax), Francesco Cangi (trombone), Emanuele Parrini (violin), Filippo Pedol (double bass), Stefano Rapicavoli (drums) and Stefano Tamborrino (drums and percussion on tracks 1-4-5). Ensemble musicians are great and experienced avant-garde jazz players. Their free, colorful and vivacious improvisations are full of various music styles which are masterly combined together with avant-garde jazz. Vivacious and moody improvisations of this ensemble musicians always have interesting and unusual sound. The musicians have their own and unique playing style, are masterful and creative improvisers.
The album compositions have very live and colorful sound. Collective improvisations by all ensemble musicians are the main element of the compositions. The musicians try out many different musical expressions, playing techniques and styles. Avant-garde jazz, various dances elements, swing, bebop, post -bop and many other music styles elements are masterly combined together. Memorable, colorful, vital and joyful reeds melodies bring playful and vivacious sound to the compositions. The melodies are illustrated and supplemented by splendid background. The musical pattermn and background consist of various unheard timbres, dynamic and active rhythmic, wide range of playing techniques and musical expressions. Renato Cordovani, Claudio Ingletti and Francesco Cangi form a very solid and strong reeds section. The conversations between trombone, saxophones and various types of clarinets are full of joyful and memorable sound, vivacious and joyful mood, expressive and spontaneous improvising. These melodies are very important elements of improvisations musical pattern and highly effect the main sound of the album. It make compositions to sound happy, lively and joyful. Emanuele Parrini violin and Filippi Pedol double bass melodies are full of extravagant and unusual improvisations, extraordinary playing techniques and various musical expressions. Their melodies magnificent fit together with energetic reeds improvisations and also give an interesting, original and unusual sound to the compositions. Drummers Stefano Rapicavolli and Stefano Tamborrino improvisations are blasts of energetic rhtyhms, unusual percussion sounds and various rhythmic formulas. Monotonic and static rhythmic is contrasting with active and dynamic solos, powerful drum rolls and colorful percussion sounds. The musicians are improvising very different from each other. Their improvisations are based on each musician own and unique playing style, manner and individual sound. Though all these musicians are quite different from each other, they had marvelously combined various musical elements and expressions, own playing styles and expressions into one composition. Free and creative improvising, unpredictable and interesting experiments, sudden waves of styles, vivacious and joyful mood and many other elements create original and splendid sound of this album.
Baze Djunkiii on Night Stylez
Put on the circuit via Aut Records in June, 2k17 is “Cordonbleux At NOF”, the first album crafted by the Italian producer and composer Renate Cordovani for the imprints catalogue. Recorded live at the NOF Gallery in Firenze in May, 2k16 the eleven tracks on this album present quite a leftfield approach towards the traditions of Jazz and Brass, weighing in hefty portions of both styles, although served with a little tongue-in-cheek attitude, whilst bringing in bits and bops of Free Improv or even gravitating towards a Film Noir’esque feel like in the beautifully arranged “24/12/1946”, FreeJazz in “M.I.A. Con… Manico” or spine-tingling string vibrations introducing an outerworldly Bebop Swing in “Dissolution” whereas a tune like the furious “Contorsion” provides wild and storming action and havoc nicely contrasted by assortative melodic elements and a surprisingly mild plot-twist occuring throughout the mid-track breakdown. Not the easiest album to digest but a thrilling ride for die-hard jazzists for sure.
Baze Djunkiii video review on You Tube Channel
A. Bertinetto on Kathodik
Scanzonata come una banda di paese – sin dalle prime battute di Fishing Song, ma è lo stesso titolo della seconda traccia, Banda in Do, a richiamare il carattere bandistico del gruppo – e frizzante come le migliori orchestre della tradizione delle big band jazzistiche, la musica di Renato Cordovani (clarinetto, clarinetto basso, sax contralto) richiama le esperienze dell’orchestra di Mingus (si ascoltino Perversion e Best Perversion), dell’Art Ensemble Of Chicago (cfr. Contorsion) e della scena dell’improvvisazione europea (si ascoltino per es. 24/12/1946, M.I.A con Manico, e la brevissima Ping Pong. Ottimi i fiati – oltre al leader troviamo Francesco Cangi al trombone e Claudio Ingletti al clarinetto basso, sax tenore e baritono –, ma anche il violinista Emanuele Parrini, il batterista Stefano Rapicavoli (sostituito da Stefano Tamborrino nelle tracce 1, 4 e 5) e il contrabbassista Filippo Pedol fanno un’ottima figura. Tutte le composizioni (eccellenti per l’ironia fantasiosa e surreale della scrittura) sono del leader, eccetto Fishing Song di T. Honsiger, Waltz for Mickey Mouse di M. Schubert, e Ping Pong, di Schubert e Cordovani. Il disco è stato registrato live alla NOF GALLERY di Firenze nel maggio 2016. Buon ascolto.
A. Bazzurro on L’isola che non c’era
Il violino di Emanuele Parrini compare anche nei successivi due cd di cui ci occupiamo. Il primo, di tono tutto sommato non troppo dissimile dal precedente, è Cordonbleux at Nof (Aut) del sestetto guidato da Renato Cordovani, clarinettista e sassofonista fiorentino non proprio di primo pelo e tuttavia al debutto discografico a suo nome. Grandi occasioni mancate prima, vien da dire, visto il livello del disco, veramente maiuscolo, con una front line composta da due ance, trombone e violino, più basso e batteria. È una musica vociferante e ricca, quella che emerge dal cd, sempre con Ayler (ma anche certo AEOC) a far capolino dietro l’angolo
Taran Singh on Taran’s Free Jazz Hour
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