Vancouver Archive

Antonio Ciacca Quintet – Volare, The Italian American Songbook – Cellar Live

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 21, 2016 | Jazz CD Reviews

Antonio Ciacca Quintet – Volare, The Italian American Songbook – Cellar Live CL101815, 55:31 ***: A mostly robust and assertive session. (Antonio Ciacca – piano; Paul Gill – acoustic bass; Peter Van Nostrand – drums; Cory Weeds – tenor saxophone; Benny Benack III – trumpet & vocals) The Italian word Volare means “to fly” in English. It was the title to  a popular song of the same name with a sub-title of ‘nel blu di pinto di blu‘ ( translated as “in the blue that is painted blue”). Composed, recorded and sung by Domenico Modugno, it won a Grammy in 1958 for record and song of the year. Although the other tracks on this Volare release do not have Italian-sounding titles, their congruity comes from the composers.  Pianist Antonio Ciacca who is originally from Foggia, Italy composed six compositions, Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna) two numbers, and Frank Signorelli one. While the titling may be the thinnest pretension, the music itself is mostly robust and assertive. The trio of Ciacca/Gill /Van Nostrand open the session with the title track “Volare” in sprightly-swinging fashion and while Ciacca shows he has the chops to hold the tune together, he often falls […]