premiere
Dave Burrel : piano, music direction
Giovanni Falzone: trumpet
Paolo Botti: viola
Re-arrangement of Puccini's score to La Bohème
Distinguished composer-pianist Dave Burrell is a performing artist of singular stature on the international contemporary music scene. His dynamic compositions, with blues and gospel roots recall the tradition of Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson and Duke Ellington. After majoring in music at the University of Hawaii, he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1961. After graduating with degrees in composition/arranging and performance in 1965, he moved to New York City, where he quickly established himself as one of the most innovative and original pianists, collaborating with the emerging leaders in contemporary jazz.
During the last 30 years Dave Burrell has appeared on over 100 recordings, 25 under his own name.
He appears regularly on national and international TV and radio broadcasts, including NPR's Centennial Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton, Dr. Jazz, Duke Ellington's Centennial Duke and the Piano, Louis Armstrong's The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, and Leonard Bernstein: An American Life.
Dave Burrell is renowned for his many pivotal recordings with tenor saxophonists Archie Shepp (Live from Pan-African Festival, There is a Trumpet in My Soul, Blas?, Attica Blues, The Cry of My People, Montreaux One, Montreaux Two, Lover Man), Pharoah Sanders (Tauhid), Marion Brown (Jubalee, Three For Shepp), David Murray (Lovers, Deep River, Ballads, Spirituals, Remembrances, Picasso, Windward Passages), and Odean Pope (Epitome, Chances and Changes).
Trumpeter and composer Giovanni Falzone enrolled in the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Palermo, where he graduated in a short period of time. In addition, he graduated, with the highest honors, from the Jazz Studies Program (arranging, historical-formal analysis, and improvisation) at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He won first prize as Best Talent at Umbria Jazz, 2000, earning a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music, in Boston. After graduating from the conservatory studies, he filled the chair of first trumpet with Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, Teatro Lirico di Spoleto, Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Teatro G. Verdi di Trieste, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano G. Verdi, and Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia.
Since 1996, he has played under the direction of world famous conductors and soloists such as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Chailly, Yutaka Sado, Luciano Berio, Vladimir Jurowski, Valere Giergev, Salvatore Accardo, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. He has toured extensively with the Milan Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, playing throughout Europe, South America and Japan. Giovanni Falzone currently teaches courses in "Improvisation and Jazz Pronunciation for Wind Instruments", and plays regularly with the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan. He is also the artistic musical director of the NO'HMA under the direction of Teresa Pomodoro, alternating his work in classical music with work in the jazz field.
Paolo Botti, born in Rome, violist, recently toured with Honsinger's Free Strings & Drums combo. Then he joined American pianist Dave Burrell featuring the veteran keyboardist's arrangement of Puccini's La Bohème.
Botti has been proclaimed a New Star by Musica Jazz magazine in 2005. Although he plays an un-traditional instrument for jazz, the violist is firmly in the tradition as are the others, each citing a long list of influences ranging from Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman. Although much of his discography on a Milan-based co-op label involves string trios and quartets - including a soon-to-be released disc featuring the Instabile's violinist and bassist - it also includes a Mingus-inflected big band session.
