2.
gasuto (4:11)
3. gasiform (18:44)
4. gasonata (2:44)
5. twice across the table (8:53)
Total time: 43:50
Augusto
Forti - clarinet, ukulele (2)
Felicity Provan - cornet, tenor ukulele (2)
Paul Pallesen - banjo, el. guitar (3)
Gregg Moore - banjo, tuba (3), mandolin (4)
Joost Buis - lapsteel guitar, trombone (3)
Mary Oliver - violin
Tristan Honsinger - cello (1,3,5)
Alex Waterman - cello (2,4)
Meinrad Kneer - double bass (1,3,5)
Wilbert de Joode - double bass (2,4)
Han Bennink - drums & percussions (1,3,5)
Michael Vatcher - drums & percussions (2)
All compositions
by Augusto Forti [Buma/Stemra]
Recording: Dick Lucas
Recorded: February 28 2003 (tracks 1,3,5) and November 2000 (tracks
2,4)
Editing: Augusto Forti, Dick Lucas
Cover: "stringato" A.F.
Layout: Augusto Forti, Francesca Patella
Photo: Monica Ragazzini
Release for T 02 Amsterdam January 2006
Special thanks to:
Fonds voor Amateurkunst en Podiumkunsten - The Hague
Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst - Amsterdam
Thuiskopie Fonds - Amstelveen
Federatie van Kunstenaarsverenigingen - Amsterdam
Personal thanks to:
Jaap de Rijke - Stichting GossipArt - Amsterdam
Huub van Riel - Bimhuis - Amsterdam
………………………………………………………………………………………
Reviews
Equally unique yet sharing a similar mix of profundity and absurdity
is Italian clarinetist Augusto Forti, a musician with close ties to
the New Dutch Swing scene. He’s been based in Amsterdam for
the last decade or so and his band the Gravitones is made up of Holland’s
best (Han Bennink, de Joode, Buis) and other expatriates who have
adopted the city as their home (cornetist Felicity Provan, tubist
and trombonist Gregg Moore, [and Michael] Vatcher).
Live at the Bimhuis is this band’s second album and it finds
the group emphasizing strings and textures over their prime instruments.
For instance tubist Moore plays mostly banjo and mandolin and trombonist
Joost Buis plays his secondary instrument, lap steel guitar. One might
think the music is leaning toward an Americana sound but this is about
as far from that as one could get. Many of the themes have a pentatonic
modality of an Asian dimension but it’s not very Asian either.
It’s as if all of these elements have been put through a blender
and it comes out sounding very ‘Dutch’ (all the more strange
since it is filtered through an Italian). Of course the jazz element
is always somewhere underneath in this music, coming to the fore on
the longest track, “Gasiform”, with the leader’s
clarinet solo swinging lithely over Han Bennink’s loping gait.
Special mention too must be made of the fantastic cornet work of Australian
expatriate Provan. Buis shows lap steel mettle (or is it metal) with
an apocalyptic solo on “Twice Across The Table”. As with
the Corkestra album, it’s a unique vision and there’s
little around that sounds quite like it. Both of these discs are well
worth hearing and show Dutch improvising musicians still searching
for new ways to make unique music and coming up aces. Robert Iannapollo, All About Jazz
On his
second album, Italian clarinetist Augusto Forti is joined by a host
of strong Amsterdam based musicians including the legendary Han Bennink.
The music is absolutely fascinating, fusing Americana instrumentation
(ukuleles, banjos, lapsteel guitars) with Dutch free jazz/improv aesthetics.
Though freely improvised, the players move within fully composed songs
with constant tonal centers throughout resulting in a very intellectual
but listenable record. It is records like this that show just how
actively innovative experimental jazz/free improv circles are today.
Unexpected, unusual, and unheard: sounds like WNUR. WNUR Chicago March 2006
Da molti
anni trasferito in Olanda, il clarinettista Augusto Forti ha trovato
in quel Paese campo d'elezione per sperimentare il suo jazz libero
e fantasioso, memore della lezione delle avanguardie, ma per nulla
sciupato dagli aspetti lugubri e autoreferenziali che spesso infestano
quei campi. Forti è un musicista intelligente, che ama il sorriso
e la surrealtà: come Frank Zappa, come Django Bates. Qui i
suoi Gravitones sono rinforzati da una sghemba sezione d'archi, con
Tristan Honsinger al violoncello in primo piano, e Han Bennink alla
batteria. Guizzi e lazzi, sviluppi imprevedibili, un folle e saggio
cartoon sonoro che appare svaporato, in realtà costruito con
lucida lungimiranza. Guido Festinese, Il Manifesto
Klarinettist Augusto Forti is een bescheiden man.
Op deze tweede cd van zijn Gravitones, ”Live at the Bimhuis‘,
pakt hij pas in het derde stuk een solo voor zichzelf. Met een ouderwets
vibrato en een
grillige notenkeuze doet hij daarbij soms denken aan een 21e eeuwse
Pee Wee Russell. Verder stelt de Italiaan in Amsterdamse dienst zich
tevreden
met het schrijven van stukken en het scheppen van voorwaarden voor
improvisaties. Het gezelschap dat hij om zich heen heeft verzameld,
blinkt
uit in een bijzondere klankkleur. Met twee banjo‘s (Paul Pallesen
en Gregg Moore) en een lapsteel guitar (Joost Buis) ontstaat een bizar
klankspec-
trum dat soms wat oriëntaals aandoet (vooral in ”Gasaku‘).
De hele sfeer van de plaat is trouwens wat volksmuziekachtig, maar
nergens traditioneel,
hetgeen de vergelijking oproept met Available Jelly. Het grote verschil
tussen Michael Moore‘s sextet en Forti‘s ensemble zit
hem echter in de concentratie. De Gravitones worden erg vrij gelaten,
waardoor het eindresultaat soms wat te vrijblijvend klinkt, en geen
van de topsolisten echt uitgedaagd wordt tot topprestaties. Dat is
jammer, want de ingrediënten zijn zeker aanwezig om het
geheel meer te doen zijn dan de som der delen die het nu is. JazzFlits nummer 10 - Herman te Loo
