As never before
| As never before | ||||
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| Studio album by Enrico Pieranunzi , Marc Johnson & Joey Baron Featuring Kenny Wheeler | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | CAM jazz | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
58:28 |
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Studio (s) |
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As Never Before is an album by Enrico Pieranunzi , Marc Johnson , Joey Baron and Kenny Wheeler . The recordings made on November 30th and December 1st, 2004 in the recording studio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, were released in 2008 on CAM Jazz
background
Enrico Pieranunzi has worked occasionally with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron since the early 1980s. In these sessions from 2004, the trio was supplemented by the trumpeter and flugelhorn player Kenny Wheeler. According to John Kelman, Pieranunzi was heavily influenced on this album by Kenny Wheeler's classic LP Gnu High . For the author, the trumpeter's debut in 1976 as a leader for ECM "with the perfect cast of pianist Keith Jarrett , bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette [as] one of the most influential small-group jazz albums of the last thirty years" is considered. The album contains seven Pieranunzi compositions and two group improvisations "of complete spontaneity, but just as direct compositional focus."
Track list
- Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron featuring Kenny Wheeler: As Never Before (CAM Jazz CAMJ 7807-2)
- Soundings 6:51
- Improheart (Pieranunzi, Baron, Wheeler, Johnson) 3:16
- A Nameless Gate 6:44
- As Never Before 7:48
- Many Moons Ago 9:11
- Impromind (Pieranunzi, Baron, Wheeler, Johnson) 3:17
- Song for Kenny 6:50
- Time's Passage 7:01
- Winter Moon 7:20
- All other compositions are by Enrico Pieranunzi.
reception
According to Ken Dryden, who gave the album 4½ (out of five) stars in Allmusic , Pieranunzi has long been one of the best jazz pianists in Europe with a talent for poetry, with Johnson and Baron being part of many important recordings and making convincing CDs themselves. The main focus of the session is on the pianist's thoughtful original compositions. Some of the pieces would have a melancholy feel, starting with the introspective opener showing Pieranunzi's Latin American undercurrent with Wheeler's emotional open trumpet. “Song for Kenny”, presumably dedicated to the trumpeter, is a mid-tempo bossa nueva number that Wheeler presents on the flugelhorn. The trio always makes beautiful music, the author sums up, "when they have the opportunity to work together, and the presence of Kenny Wheeler proves to be an inspired decision."
John Kelman wrote in All About Jazz that Pieranunzi, Johnson and Baron might not have had the stamp of approval from Jarrett, Holland and DeJohnette. “Even so, they have established themselves individually in a variety of settings over the past quarter century and now, at the beginning of the third decade, as a trio capable of musical empathy like that which Johnson did with his first major employer, the late Legend Bill Evans , has experienced. Pieranunzi, like most modern pianists, owes a lot to Evans, but he has long since surpassed Evans as an obvious reference point. ”If there is one pianist with whom he shared a lot at the time, the author thinks it is John Taylor , who worked regularly with Wheeler for five decades, which makes the Pieranunzi / Wheeler pair an equally profitable combination.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ↑ a b John Kelman: Enrico Pieranunzi / Marc Johnson / Joey Baron, Featuring Kenny Wheeler: As Never Before. All About Jazz, May 2, 2008, accessed March 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron featuring Kenny Wheeler: As Never Before at Discogs