Tell Duke – Aldevis Tibaldi Plays the Music of Duke Ellington
(Self-released/ Bandcamp. Review by Quentin Bryar)
This very welcome CD is a sincere and heartfelt but in no way slavish tribute to the musical world of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Aldevis Tibaldi, who is London-based though born in Trieste, leads a cracking quartet that could have come straight from one of the better U.S. labels of the 1960s. He has a darkly attractive sound on tenor redolent of the era, and sticks within the saxophone’s natural range (although the album is dedicated to the memory of Tony Coe who rarely stayed within the saxophone’s range). It was also terrifically recorded in Trieste by Fulvio Zafret who achieves a great drum sound as well as capturing the acoustic bass and piano beautifully.
UMMG (by Strayhorn, of course) leads off and with no piano at the start of the theme (in a 2/4 feel) and behind the start of the tenor solo, you are immediately aware of how hip and airy the recording is, and also of how swinging the band is when the piano does come in. The Feeling of Jazz is appropriately enough from the great Duke Ellington album with John Coltrane (but with better drumming than the rather stiff Sam Woodyard), while Johnny Come Lately, another Strayhorn number, sees the piano of Croatian Leon Benko really dig in. A third Strayhorn title, the beautiful A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing is next and sees drummer Marco Quarantotto, who I think is another Croatian albeit now based in the UK, switch to brushes. His swinging take on kit drumming post Elvin Jones gets its time in the sun in the closing Perdido.
Tell Duke is a 32 bar Tibaldi original with more than a hint of Strayhorn’s A Train. Ellington’s great 12 bar blues Such Sweet Thunder is next and has a neat arrangement –piano, bass and drums take the opening chorus before the tenor saxophone plays the section played by brass on the Ellington record before the feel changes to a swing four for solos led by the piano player.
Then a complete change as the leader switches to soprano for Take The Coltrane, the theme played on just soprano and piano before breaking into a fast boppish swing for the solos, which include some outstanding playing from Italian bass player Ares Tavolazzi, a relative veteran who is terrific throughout. Tibaldi stays on soprano, on which he sounds very much post John Coltrane, with little or no vibrato while still playing mostly “inside”, for Petite Fleur Africaine which features more fabulous bass playing. Tibaldi is back on tenor for the closing Perdido, with another bass solo and band exchanges with the drums. Terrific album.
Aldevis Tibaldi (tnr & sop); Leon Brenko (pno); Ares Tavolazzi (bs); Marco Quarantotto (dms)
UMMG
The Feeling of Jazz
Johnny Come Lately
A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing
Tell Duke
Such Sweet Thunder
Take The Coltrane
Petite Fleur Africaine
Perdido
LINKS: Album available from Bandcamp …
…or Aldevis.com
The Trieste album launch is at the Trieste Loves Jazz Festival on 17 July (all events are free admission)
The UK album launch – with a UK trio – is at Twickenham Jazz on 11 September
Aldevis Tibaldi’s tribute to Tony Coe from 2023
