ENRICO RAVA 'Fearless Five' (1st set) / THE COOKERS (2nd set)

ENRICO RAVA “Fearless Five”

“Fearless Five” è the latest creation of the most international of Italian jazz musicians, already Artistic Director of Bergamo Jazz from 2012 to 2015. It is a group that revolves around the charisma of the trumpeter and flugelhorn player who leads it, as well as some of the most talented exponents of the latest generations of Italian jazz musicians. A group that combines young and creative energies, enhanced by a leader who knows how to draw lifeblood from the musicians he plays with, repaying them with his experience, his natural musicality, and leaving them ample room for manoeuvre.
«With this group I feel like on an ideal island, where everyone gives and everyone receives what they need. There is a great deal of freedom, but also mutual respect, each one listening to the other, as in a perfect democracy that only jazz can represent," says Enrico Rava, "The musicians all have this great ability, almost telepathic, to listen and interact with input. But it also takes courage to be on this island. Surrounded at times by a threatening sea, at times less so, given the difficult times we are living in, it still remains my ideal island where I love to live and play».
To set up the Fearless Five Rava brought in Matteo Paggi on trombone – whom he scouted at the Siena Jazz seminars, Francesco Ponticelli on double bass and Evita Polidoro on drums, who together provide a formidable propulsive thrust. With them is the guitarist Francesco Diodati, who has been with Rava for ten years and is the true centre of gravity of the new quintet, which has just released its eponymous album on Parco della Musica Records. A disc that, by assembling old and new compositions, offers music of great freshness, fruit of the understanding between Rava, who at eighty-five years of age has lost none of his poetic vein, and his partners. And the credit must be shared equally between five “fearless” jazz musicians.

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THE COOKERS
featuring
BILLY HART, GEORGE CABLES, CECIL MCBEE, EDDIE HENDERSON, AZAR LAWRENCE, DONALD HARRISON, DAVID WEISS

A super band or a dream band, as the case may be: seeing the names of the members of The Cookers one after the other can only prompt such a definition. Billy Hart, George Cables, Cecil McBee, Eddie Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Donald Harrison and David Weiss represent in fact a substantial slice of what is commonly understood as mainstream jazz, that is, jazz all of a piece, deeply rooted in the past but, in the case of The Cookers, well into the present. With six albums under their belt, the first of which, Cast the First Stone, was recorded in 2010 and the latest Look Out released in 2021, The Cookers, whose line-up has seen some alternation over time, encapsulate the spirit of a music that feeds on the most straightforward modern jazz language, while keeping well away from mere historical rehash.
Trying to summarise such long and important careers, it is natural to start with the oldest of the bunch, the double bassist Cecil McBee, born in 1935: Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Jackie McLean and Freddie Hubbard are just some of the leaders with whom he played. Drummer Billy Hart and trumpeter Eddie Henderson, also veterans of countless musical battles, were born in 1940: among other things, they were members of the electric band with which Herbie Hancock went on stage at the Donizetti Theatre in 1972.New entry to the Cookers is tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence (1952), replacing fellow instrumentalist Billy Harper but already a special guest in Cast the First Stone. Most remember him alongside Miles Davis (Dark Magus) and McCoy Tyner (Enlightenment). Originally from New Orleans (1960), contralto player Donald Harrison made a name for himself with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and formed a fruitful partnership with trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
David Weiss (1964) is also no stranger to the scene, having played with Jaki Byard, Jimmy Heath, Clifford Jordan, Freddie Hubbard and many others. He founded the New Jazz Composers Octet and is the leader of the Cookers.