CD Title: L'Arsenale delle apparizioni

Leader or group name: I giganti della montagna

Names of musicians and the instruments they play: Ferdinando D'Urso, alto sax; Lorenzo Paesani, piano; Federico Sconosciuto, cello. Guest Antonio Moncada, drum on Al Qantar.

Track details:

1) Al Qantar - 06:19 F. D'Urso

2) Al gran sole (carico d'amore?) - 03:10 F. D'Urso

3) VN - 05:58 F. D'Urso

4) Due frasi - 09:28 Andjela Bizimoska, arranged by F. D'Urso

5) Rest - 09:16 F. D'Urso

6) Mamu - 06:58 F. D'Urso

7) Concerto sacro - 10:21 F. D'Urso

8) Ginestra - 03:38 F. D'Urso

9) Estratto da "Whisteling" - 05:29 F. D'Urso

Recording details:

 Recorded on January 27 and 28 2013 at Sonoria Recording Studio, Scordia (Catania, Sicily). Mixed and mastered on March 11, 2013.

recorded and mastered by Vincenzo Cavalli

This new release from Slam Productions exposes the work of composer and
saxophonist Ferdinando D’Urso. Recorded in Italy at the beginning of 2013,
this trio brings D’Urso’s blend of traditional folk, jazz, and classical
concert music to our ears. Right from the opening "Al Qantar," the listener is
introduced to a ballroom rhumba that quickly descends into spirited chaos
before re-emerging into a dance. The music uses customary songforms that often
quickly turn into loose improvisation. "VN" is perfect example of this. D’Urso
uses a growling technique on his horn that shouts his melodic phrase. Paesani
and Sconosciuto have an opportunity for a duet of free improvisation before
D’Urso returns to finish the piece. The music reveals D’Urso’s fine
compositional abilities and a nice assembly of performances.
Dustin Mallory, Cadence Magazine Sept 2014

I Giganti Della Montagna – L’ARSENALE DELLE APPARIZIONI: What an improv adventure…. 
from Sicily, saxophonist Ferdinando D’Urso, pianist Lorenzo Paesani and cellist Federico Sconosciuto 
join forces to take you on a wild romp through music you’ve never heard before – even in your wildest 
dreams!  Mighty mellow pieces like "Al Gran Sole" are blended together with "definite jazz" compositions
 like "Concerto Sacro" to give you a genuine jazz experience like you’d get nowhere else!  What I truly 
like about this album is that the artists are presenting true art without being pretentious or "above it all"… 
very real, very down-to-earth and high-talent jazz that will melt in your mind & influence your thoughts 
about music for many years to come.  I give the trio a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an "EQ" 
(energy quotient) rating of 4.97.  Get more information at the SLAM Productions site.    
Rotcod Zzaj  http://rotcodzzaj.com/wordpress/?page_id=4412

My first thoughts were of the names both of the trio and
the album, even though the source was known to be Italian, for they were
familiar to me.
L'Arsenale delle Apparizioni is a place in an unfinished work by dramatist
and prolific short story writer Pirandello, a major Sicilian artist born
in Agrigento in 1867 (d.1936). He anticipated many of the topics exploited
later by existentialists such as Sartre and Beckett, even using formidable
techniques such as resolving a scenario so concisely that it looked more
like paradigm than reality. His 'folk tales' were truly Sicilian, but
by this I mean to exploit the thinking of a one-time Professor of
Modern History from Palermo University, who wrote that a Sicilian nation
does not exist, but that for centuries different races superimposed their
cultures one upon another and failed to fuse, never even coming close to
each other.
Ferdinando d’Urso plays alto and other saxophones and writes profusely and
profoundly on a range of jazz cultural matters. His writing moves from the
clever play of light and shadow, as though created by an unnatural source
outside of the canvas, in a work by Caravaggio, to American altoist Julius
 Hemphill and his second album ‘Coon Bid’ness’. 
D'Urso discusses its primary meaning, ‘Black pride’ and the notion that in
the album title the expression is reversed, given a positive, proud,
racist and elitist value to create an identity from the ghetto.
I believe that d’Urso has applied his considerable profundity to the
notion of the folk tale and to Pirandello’s story to allude to the
theories of Gunther Schuller regarding the ‘third stream‘ in music,
the topic of his musicology thesis at Bologna University. 
L'Arsenale delle Apparizioni, the Place of Apparitions (or Ghosts) in the
dramatist's work, is where dreams and reality congregate and where
adversity is banished, so that even when public acceptance of a
contemporary art fails – as it did with ‘third stream’ – that ‘perfect
mix’ can still be achieved. 'Eclectic' is the word. 
Here we have Sicilian folk music, contemporary jazz, modern (20thC)
European classical elements, the sway of Klezmer and the influence of
free improvisation.  There is much movement between them all,
but the way is never lost. Torpid though the pace may mostly be, inculcating
an amiable deportment through the trio, there are occasional challenges
which act as punctuation to the pieces, without which any language may
falter.  There is no faltering here, not even when two players seem
to take a 'solo' concurrently as it were: it is perhaps the presence of
the bowed cello which makes this more possible than otherwise.  The
combination of this trio of instruments has a particular sound which is
very moving, emotionally, yet very tasteful and cerebral.
L'Arsenale delle Apparizioni  is an album of very lovely music that very 
quickly becomes familiar, but its complexity maintains the depth of its interest.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham      http://jazzviewscdreviews.weebly.com/  Feb 2014

I Giganti Della Montagna,L'arsenale Delle Apparizioni: Fascinating release by the trio 
of Ferdinando D'Urso (alto sax), Lorenzo Paesani (piano), and Federico Sconosciuto 
(cello), mixing straight-ahead jazz, free improvisation, and Sicilian folk music. 
It's music that often has a lot of moving parts in play, yet never loses its charming 
demeanor… cerebral music that is also heartwarming. The way songs alternate between 
challenging disassemblages and languid melodic throes adds to the album's appeal. 
Something different that sounds like something that's supremely familiar.Pick of the Week. 
Dave Sumner http://www.emusic.com/17dots/2014/01/15/new-jazz-this-week-with-i-giganti-della-montagna-max-bab-harrison-bankhead-more/

Chi conosce l´opera teatrale di Pirandello si troverà subito a suo agio con questi nomi che ci riportano al suo ultimo dramma, lasciato incompleto. Un lavoro che come nei famosi sei personaggi in cerca d´autore è una riflessione sul teatro e sui personaggi che lo animano e che si trovano coinvolti a dare allo spettatore uno spaccato del loro immaginario. I tre giovani musicisti della provincia catanese, guidati dal sassofonista Ferdinando D`Urso sono anch´essi impegnati in una riflessione sulla musica, non solo jazz, sul loro operare appropriandosi di quelle strutture che hanno imparato durante la loro formazione. È così che pian piano per il disco si sedimenta una forma di third stream, in cui la musica classica ed il jazz più moderno (ad esempio su VN) si incontrano, improvvisazione e composizione, musica folk siciliana e accademismo, tutto messo l´uno accanto all´altro, senza farsi turbare dalla difficoltà dell´operazione, tutto in strutture dalla geometria variabile, in cui oltre al sax del leader c´è il violoncello di Federico Sconosciuto ed il pianoforte di Lorenzo Paesani. Il modello della Third Stream ai tempi reso famoso da Gunther Schuller viene qui rivitalizzato e aggioranto. L´apertura del disco vede presente la batteria dell´ospite Antonio Moncada, per il resto il disco procede lasciando liberi i tre di sviluppare una dialettica serrata, a volte malinconica – Due Frasi – dando l´idea di quello che succede nell´arsenale in cui tutto appare e scompare secondo una logica che può sembrare casuale. Il tono del sax alto, il cello, il pianoforte, costituiscono insieme un trio dalle idee inaspettate che con fare minimalista tira fuori un caleidoscopio di situazioni in cui tutto è possibile. Fra jazz e il resto la musica dei tre proietta un fascio di luce ammaliante sulla scena contemporanea. 
Vittorio lo Conte  February 2014   http://www.musiczoom.it/?p=17594
TRANSLATION  Who knows the play by Pirandello is immediately at ease with these names that remind us of his latest drama, left incomplete. A job like that in the famous Six characters in search of an author is a reflection on the theater and on the char-acters and that are involved to give the viewer a glimpse of them imaginary. The three young musicians from the province of Catania, led by saxophonist Ferdinand D `Urso are also engaged in a reflection on the music, not just jazz, their work appropriating those structures they have learned during their training. This is how slowly the disc settles a form of third stream, where classical music and modern jazz (eg on VN ) meet, improvisation and composition, Sicilian folk music and academicism, all put one next to each other, unperturbed by the difficulty of the operation, all the structures in variable geometry, in which in addition to the sax of leader is the unknown Frederick cello and piano by Lorenzo villagers. The model of the Third Stream at the time made ​​famous by Gunther Schuller is here revitalized and aggioranto. The opening of this album sees the Guest battery Antonio Moncada, for the rest of the disk, freeing the three proceeds to develop a dialectic tight, sometimes melancholic - Two phrases - giving the idea of what happens in the arsenal where everything appears and disappears in a way which may seem random. The tone of the alto sax, cello, piano, together form a trio with the unexpected ideas that do minimalist pulls out a kaleidoscope of situations in which anything is possible. Between jazz and the rest of the music of the three projects a beam of light on the contemporary scene bewitching.

I GIGANTI DELLA MONTAGNA [FERNANDO D'URSO/LORENZO PAESANI/FEDERICO 
SCONOSCIUTO] + ANTONIO MONCADA - L'Arsenale Delle Apparizioni (Slam 548; UK) 
Featuring: Fernando D'Urso on alto sax & compositions, Lorenzo Paesani on piano, 
Federico Sconosciuto on cello plus Antonio Moncada on drums (one track). 
The title of this discs translates to 'The Giants of the Mountain' which is taken 
from an unfinished work by the Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello. This piece 
was to have been the third part of a larger work called, the "Myth of Art". 
It takes place in "the Arsenal of Apparitions". I am not familiar with any of the 
musicians here except for their guest drummer who has worked with Stefano Maltese 
and Giorgio Occhipinti. The trio of alto sax, piano and cello does have their own sound. 
The first track, "Al Qantar" reminds me of the quaint, quirky melodies of someone like 
Kurt Weill with some Klezmer influence thrown in. The music here has a rustic, almost 
majestic quality at times. It has that chamber jazz sound with elegant flourishes. 
There are some moments when two of the musicians will solo simultaneously (piano & cello 
or alto sax & piano) before they resume to theme. This music reminds me of soundtrack 
music for an older European (dramatic) film from perhaps the fifties or sixties. 
Melancholy at times yet often enchanting in its own way.  
Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG Newsletter 20 December 2013