Gianluigi Trovesi - Around Small Fairy Tales (Soul Note, 1998)

Gianluigi Trovesi, clarinets & alto sax
Orchestra Da Camera Di Nembro "Enea Salmeggia"

Bruno Tommaso, arranger & conductor

Recorded January 1998
Auditorium Giovanni XXIII di Nembro (Bergamo)

Gianluigi Trovesi turns 82 this year. He has been leading jazz groups since 1977. His recordings on Soul Note and ECM have established his worldwide reputation as an instrumentalist and an innovative conceptualist. He is best known for his proclivity to combine genres, often jazz and Italian folk music. 

Around Small Fairy Tales is Trovesi’s orchestral‑jazz exploration of fairy‑tale imagery, performed with the Orchestra da Camera di Nembro under Bruno Tommaso’s direction. The album extends Trovesi’s long-standing interest in folkloric storytelling, theatrical characters, and medieval musical forms. Trovesi and Tommaso appear to effortlessly blend classical chamber‑music sensibilities with jazz modes of expression; yet it is also clear that the effort needed to compose, arrange, and perform this music is enormous. 

The results of this ambitious hybrid are mesmerizing. The themes, arrangements, and individual contributions all cohere into a long suite-like adventure. The colors of the orchestra help to accentuate Trovesi's improvising skills on alto sax and both B♭ and bass clarinets. Solo opportunities for trumpet, vibes, flute, viola, and drums are expertly woven into the fabric of the arrangements. Oboe and harp provide gorgeous colors throughout, and the string ensemble adds just the right weight to every piece.  

Nembro is in Lombardy in Northern Italy, one of the loveliest regions in Europe. Nembro's local Orchestra Da Camera consists of approximately 24 youthful musicians, shown in the booklet photo below. The orchestra may lack virtuosity but compensates with an eager innocence, carefully nurtured by Trovesi, as main soloist, and by Tommaso's arrangements. 

Tommaso himself is a major figure in Italian jazz orchestration and, along with Trovesi, a founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra. His arrangements for Around Small Fairy Tales do not resemble classical genres; they feel more like those of Gil Evans, e.g., the pairing of flutes and trumpets and avoidance of saxophones except for Trovesi's alto features. The ebbs and flows across the numerous sections are executed flawlessly.