Description
'The Long Line' is a concept album from pianists Massimiliano Coclite and Stefano Travaglini whose unique synergy produces a kind of improvisation they call 'instant composition', often inspired by an eclectic range of classical works.
'Garden of Delights' was inspired by one of the 'Four Temperaments (Sanguinisch)' by Hindemith; 'Querendo dançar' takes inspiration from a 'Giga' by John Bull from the 'Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'; and 'Folk song, Clowns and Litany' is a piano transposition of the compositional ideas found in Stravinsky's 'Trois pieces pour quatuor a cordes'. 'The Long Line' is an original composition, its title deriving from a quote by Copland, who was in turn influenced by the compositional message of his teacher Nadia Boulanger (in 'La Grande Ligne'): "Music must always flow, for that is part of its very essence, but the creation of that continuity and flow – that long line – constitutes the be-all and end-all of every composer's existence".
The remaining songs are free improvisations, each based on a musical gesture, in which the two performers end up alternating hands and even, in 'Opsis', playing directly on the piano strings. There is also a crepuscular arrangement of 'Body and Soul', a jazz standard which acknowledges the duo's love of African-American music.
Massimiliano Coclite is a true polymath, an acclaimed pianist and singer whose first Odradek Jazz album, 'Strange People', was praised for its "Very beautiful music… with an enormously emotional charisma, calm, restrained narrative and with that certain magic that invites us to dream…" (Musik an sich). Described as "a wondrously eclectic talent" in Jazz Journal, Stefano Travaglini is a pianist and composer specialising in uniting diverse musical styles.