The Barga jazz Festival 2011 changed gear and picked up speed this evening with a rousing concert in the Teatro dei Differenti by the band from Emilia Romagna – Quintorigo. The five members of Quintorigo have been on tour for most of this year presenting to the public their latest disc – English Garden. Ironic that the theme for the Barga Jazz Festival 2011 is the Italian song book as the Quintorigo played most of their set with Luca Sapio singing in almost perfect English.
Never the less, a thrilling, thought provoking (if very loud) concert with some great moments as the trio of violin, cello and double bass produced some incredible sounds and providing a Phil – Spector – like – wall – of – sound for the sax and voice to play off.
Originally conceived as a band made up of three string instruments,a saxophone and a voice, Quintorigo took their first steps during the mid-90s, while developing their approach to arrangement and performing as an unusual cover band in the clubs of Emilia Romagna. The Beatles, Hendrix, Deep Purple, Nirvana are the first famous victims of their personal reinterpretation, but also Battiato, Area…and then Mozart, Rossini, and even Davis and Hanckock. Examining the great masters of the past, they gained more familiarity and easiness to break the gap between the percussion and harmonic elements; so, the arrangement becomes a challenge, a testing ground, an art that Quintorigo reprocess in their own way, and that will lead them to put down their own music.The faith in their project and their intellectual honesty bring the band to some performances in local contests and festivals, and then to the national ones.
That’s where they start to achieve the first successes: first place at Arezzo Wave ’98, “premio della critica” and first prize (the same year) for the best first work, best arrangement at San Remo 2001 and, finally, the last recognition: 2008 best group, assigned by Top Jazz magazine.During more than 10 years of career, Quintorigo have turned their passion for music into a work; they carried out several tours, performing thousands of concerts, being followed by a fond audience( their most memorable and prestigious performances took place at some famous Italian festivals: Primo Maggio in Rome, Premio Ciampi, Umbria Jazz, Premio Recanati, Alterfesta in Cisternino, Mittelfest in Cividale…).At the same time they recorded 7 Cds: from “Rospo” (1999) up to the recent “Quintorigo play Mingus” and “Le Origini”.Quintorigo featured several artists. It’s with great love and emotion that the band remembers the collaborations with Carmen Consoli, Ivano Fossati, Franco Battiato, Enrico Rava, Antonello Salis, Roberto Gatto, Gabriele Mirabassi, Maria Pia De Vito among the others.
Quintorigo factory is back with its new album, English Garden, great proof of their continuous evolution. Luca Sapio‘s voice (succedeed to Luisa Cottifogli, who took John de Leo‘s place years ago) perfectly harmonizes with the italian combo’s experimentations: blues, 70s rock, punk, jazz and classic melodies. Everything played only with non-rock instruments like violins, saxophones, double-basses and stuff like that. The icing on the cake is Juliette Lewis partecipation on the vocals of two tracks.
Listen and try to define it, if you can. – source
Jazz for dinner – L’Orchestrina di taglio e cucito
L’evento “jazz for dinner”, organizzato in collaborazione con Villa Moorings Hotel, Ristorante Scacciaguai e BargaJazzClub, si terrà nel giardino di Villa Moorings a Barga e prevede la creazione “estemporanea” di una miscela fatta di musica, cibo, luoghi, vini di qualità. Formula che verrà riproposta nei giorni del Festival grazie alla sinergia positiva che finalmente si sta creando tra il Festival, gli enti promotori, e gli operatori economici.
Eno Jazz Afterhours Jam session
