ANTONIO RAGOSTA GROUP - Il Mare e l'Incanto a Roma (Slam 540; UK)
Antonio Ragosta on electric & Portuguese guitar & compositions, Paolo
Domiani on cello, Tony Cattano on trombone, Irene Angelino on flute,
Emiliano Pallotti on accordion, Stefano Napoli on contrabass and
Pasquale Angelini on drums. I've got to hand it to the UK-based Slam
label which has released nearly 150 discs from British musicians,
known & unknown, as well as under-recognized musicians from South
America, Eastern Europe and more recently a handful of Italian
players. I only recognize one musician on this disc, Mr. Damiani, who
has worked with Kenny Wheeler & Norma Winstone. This music is not
free improv but well-written by Mr. Ragosta. Trombonist Cattano is
often featured and has a nice, warm tone, taking spirited yet somber
solos. Mr. Ragosta is a gifted guitarist with an elegant, Pat
Metheny-like tone. Ragosta likes to use those volume pedal or pinky
swirls on his guitar and often creates lush harmonies for the
trombone and cello. This music is closer to the folk-rock sound of
the sixties or seventies, sunny, somber and pretty lyrical. This disc
would do well on WBGO-FM, the twenty-four (mainstream) jazz station
that I only listen to when I rent a car on rare occasion.
The debut album of guitarist Antonio Ragosta is a voyage where the
author summarizes through a personal language, a massive musical
literature, the result of academic studies and a wide range of
performance experiences.
This album contains nine original songs composed and arranged by
Antonio Ragosta. The wide range of influences characterise his
compositions; they seem to confirm that the music was born by a
commonsense drawn from styles and natures. The album's title alludes
to an ideal universe from which he draws on for his creations. The
sea represents places of his childhood, on the other hand his
enchantment is a discovery of the possibility to artistically express
himself in a dimension where all his past ways seem to focus in the
places where the album has taken its final artistic form, or the
crowded and multi-ethnic streets in the Eastern zone of the Italian
capital.
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Nel suo album d'esordio Antonio Ragosta riassume le esperienze emozionali e
i ricordi che lo hanno portato alla sintesi di uno stile personale,
riconoscibile e dall'accentuata cifra evocativa. Il chitarrista napoletano,
ma romano d'adozione, traccia un percorso di nove brani - otto dei quali
autografi - con diverse sfaccettaure stilistiche.
C'è un'atmosfera chiaroscurale nell'iniziale "Lascio al caso," dovuta anche
al violoncello dell'ospite Paolo Damiani (il quale mette la firma su "Invisibile");
c'è una sorta di nostalgia rilassata sullo sfondo de "La ronda" e anche
influenze latin, e di maggiore disimpegno, in "Alessandra," dedicata alla
figura della sorella. Ragosta ama viaggiare con la fantasia, e descrive
melodie ispirate ai romanzi di Stefano Benni in "Tristalia" e ne
lla conclusiva
"L'ultimo Baol," dove la fisarmonica di Emiliano Pallotti allaccia il discorso
con elementi folkloristici. Radici che nelle corde del leader si traducono in
venature bluesy quando si tratta di chitarra elettrica, mentre quando imbraccia
la chitarra portoghese emerge un carattere più mediterrano, inteso come l'amore
per l'ellissi melodica, per la sfumatura timbrica.
Il mare e l'incanto a Roma esttrova la sua forza nelle varie soluzioni espressive,
per un debutto che è certamente di buon auspicio per il prossimo futuro.
Roberto Paviglianitihttp://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=8398
TRANSLATION
In his debut album Anthony Ragosta summarizes the emotional experiences and memories
that have led to the synthesis of a personal style, recognizable and evocative figure
accentuated. The Neapolitan guitarist, but Roman by adoption, plots a course of nine
tracks - eight of them autographs - sfaccettaure with different styles.
There is an atmosphere in the initial chiaroscuro "I leave to chance," also due to
the cello guest Paolo Damiani (who puts his signature on "Invisible"), there is a
kind of nostalgia relaxed in the background of "The ronda "and even latin influences,
and greater commitment, in" Alessandra, "dedicated to the figure of her sister.
Ragosta loves to travel with the imagination, and describes melodies inspired by
the novels of Stefano Benni in "Tristalia" and the closing "The last Baol," where
the accordion Emiliano Pallotti tying her speech with folkloric elements. Roots
than in the strings of the leading translate into bluesy veins when it comes to
electric guitar, and when it embraces the Portuguese guitar emerges a more Mediterrano,
understood as the love of ellipses melodic tone for the gradient.
The sea and the charm of Eastern Rome finds its strength in the various expressive
solutions for a debut that is certainly bodes well for the future.