Onofrio Paciulli's second album has a particular scent, flavor. From the first seconds and the first notes it seems to retrace the streets of New York. The smell is just what you can breathe between 52nd Street, Manhattan, Greenwich, Hudson Street and the Jazz Gallery, or places like Birdland and Blue Note. And under the bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn flows a river of sound that pervades the entire album, between a swing and bop substrate and the most modern, fresh, energetic jazz, in the manner of the most avant-garde hard bop. River-musical path that the pianist Onofrio Paciulli called “Epoca”, probably marking the moment in which the hands of his artistic creativity have reached a considerable maturity.
The disc opens with "Believe" a relaxed, relaxed even eight, with modern but catchy harmonies and a memorable arrangement of winds that immediately give us proof of the stature of Onofrio Paciulli who, not only proves to be a pianist with an excellent and very personal style , but also a capable arranger, with a strong character and very clear ideas. It also makes use of excellent collaborators such as Rosario Giuliani who exhibits here a formidable solo on alto sax. “You Go to My Head”, one of the few non-original songs on the album, winks at the most classic jazz, played with great skill also by Guido Di Leone's guitar who phrases with his typical melodic and harmonic awareness. With “Birth” Onofrio Paciulli lets the listener enter a recess of the soul; the music thus descends into the author's intimate, giving us the possibility to listen to the notes and the voice of the soul at the same time. “My Happiness” immediately brings us back to the heart of the big apple, showing off a highly articulated, effective and captivating theme and a tenacious straight bop rhythm magnificently supported by Francesco Angiuli on double bass and Daniele Scasciamacchia on drums. The other special guest, Fabrizio Bosso, unleashes a stroke of remarkable virtuosity with his trumpet solo, and then staged a very enjoyable moment of solo exchanges with Rosario Giuliani. “Epoca” is a ballad that surprises at every corner, crossing the paths of major and minor harmonies with the creative abilities of the mind and heart. Here another rhythm that often alternates with the previous one in the album, frescoes the compositional canvas with skilful soft brushstrokes: Dario Di Lecce on double bass and Fabio Delle Foglia on drums. A second standard, “You and the Night and the Music”, sees Onofrio Paciulli boldly emerge in giving character to the solo aspect, intertwining with Guido di Leone's virtuous impromptuism. A 5/4 Latin is the setting for another beautiful original composition: "My Love and I", with a very elaborate theme, a very refined harmonic carpet and an interesting one with Afro reminiscences of the drummer Giovanni Scasciamacchia. The penultimate piece, “Enjoy”, original composition in 3/4 that recalls the grace and lightness of a fairy-tale and relaxed atmosphere, is a very cantabilissimo piece in which to recline comfortably and let yourself be carried away. The album closes with the "Old Devil Moon" standard, cleverly introduced by a rhythmic-harmonic obligate,
"Epoca" therefore, marks the dizzying rise of Onofrio Paciulli in the Olympus of the great pianists as well as of the original and ingenious composers who can be counted in the Apulian panorama, through important space-time coordinates: this second album (a new 'era' in fact) of profound stylistic maturation and the breaking of the overseas boundaries that bring him closer to the greats of American jazz.
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