A convivial ringmaster you could cast Stefano Bollani as here. The pianist in this live high wire of a document fronts an “All Stars of Italian jazz” gathering at Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti theatre recorded in February last year.
Framed under the Tutta Vita “all life” banner, there’s a wider film project too.
The cast list is seriously strong: Bollani joined by European jazz icons Enrico Rava and Paolo Fresu on flugelhorns, Daniele Sepe on saxes and flute, Antonello Salis on accordion, Ares Tavolazzi on double bass and Roberto Gatto on drums, with guitarists Matteo Mancuso and Christian Mascetta plus Frida Bollani Magoni on voice and piano in the mix.
The weight of Italian jazz history on stage is obvious, but what registers most is the elasticity of the band sound. It rocks out when it can – and you feel the band slipping off the leash at quite a few points notably on the scintillating take of ‘The Old Castle.’
But they can shrink down to almost chamber scale when Bollani, Rava and Fresu are left to it, then swell to something more raucous and theatrical once Sepe, Salis and the guitars pile in.
Repertoire is where the concept quietly does its work. You get the title piece ‘Tutta Vita’ but also Romanian and Greek traditionals, ‘Billy Boy’ you’ll know if you are an Ahmad Jamal fan, the aforementioned Mussorgsky theme of ‘The Old Castle,’ and by striking contrast Purcell’s ‘When I’m Laid in Earth’, Rimsky-Korsakov, ‘Plaisir d’Amour’, Jobim, tango staple ‘El Choclo’ and, crucially, a pair of Rava tunes, ‘Certi Angoli Segreti’ and the frequently recorded ‘Theme for Jessica’ aka ‘Theme for Jessica Tatum.’
The joins are deliberate. Purcell sliding into Jobim, Rimsky-Korsakov pivoting towards Buenos Aires: the effect is third stream by instinct rather than manifesto, classical and folk material pulled into a loose Mediterranean and pan-European songbook without overstatement.
Bollani does not treat the gig as a piano showcase. Instead he sets up the conditions, steers the flow and lets the personalities through. Rava’s writing brings with it all the history of his partnership with Bollani; Fresu’s sound, especially when treated, adds halo and haze; Sepe and Salis push things towards the street and the circus when needed. The younger players – Mancuso and Mascetta on guitars, Frida Bollani Magoni on vocals – freshen the picture, giving the set an intergenerational tilt rather than pure nostalgia.
Tutta Vita Live doubles as an audio counterpart to Valentina Cenni’s Tutta Vita film, which tracks the band living and rehearsing together before the Trieste concert. Heard on its own terms, the album stands as a snapshot of a particular moment in Italian jazz: a gathering of friends of long standing, plus new blood, roaming across eras and idioms in a way that feels relaxed, unforced and very Bollani. If it has a fault it’s a bit relentless but you give in to its charms in the end because of its fabulous exuberance. As fellow believers know Bollani is one of the world’s best jazz pianists and is always worth taking a punt on.
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