Norma (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) Paolo Fresu, Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo, Paolo Silvestri

• Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835):
• 1 Norma: Casta diva (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 09:44
• 2 Norma: Ite sul colle, o druidi (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 07:21
• 3 Norma: Dormono entrambi - Mira o Norma (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 12:56
• 4 Norma: Va, crudele, al Dio spietato (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 09:32
• 5 Norma: Deh! Proteggimi o Dio! - Oh! Rimembranza! (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 10:13
• 6 Norma: Oh, di qual sei tu vittima! (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 03:18
• 7 Norma: Guerra! Guerra! - Qual cor tradisti - Deh! Non volerli vittime (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra) 13:55
• Total Runtime 01:06:59

Info for Norma (Arr. for Jazz Orchestra)

“Norma” is the new album by Paolo Fresu with the Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo and Paolo Silvestri and is scheduled for release on October 18th on the trumpeter’s label Tǔk Music.

It is definitely not simple to make the musical score of a true opera masterpiece such as Norma by Vincenzo Bellini meet with the world of jazz. But in the truest sense of interpretation and of free adaptation typical of the afroamerican music world, in the same way in which jazz mastered the great american songbook around 1950’s, it looks possible and appropriate to have the freedom of revisiting a landmark of the opera tradition through the lenses of the freest among the modern musical forms.

Paolo Fresu, omnivore of contemporary musical art, respectfully tributes the work of Bellini and with just one sentence describes what this project is about: “it’s the plain revisitation in its instrumental version, where the trumpet takes the place of the voice, of some of the beautiful arias of Norma by Bellini, produced in Catania and taken to the contemporary era thanks to the magisterial pen of Paolo Silvestri”.

For this reason it is noteworthy that Fresu decided to include this album in his label branch dedicated to voices. It’s the sound of the trumpet instead of Maria Callas voice, who was the sublime and peerless interpreter of the score of the Catania born musician. “The trumpet becomes voice” was the title of a sicilian newspaper at the time of its first live performance. We think it’s the most accurate way to describe this wonderful adventure that musical director Paolo Silvestri recounts:

At first the project commissioned by I Art – Sicilia Jazz Festival and by the Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo was a revisitation of the most famous arias by Vincenzo Bellini. During the arrangement I gained the intention of creating a modern version of Norma, leaving the melodies almost unaltered in their extraordinary beauty, often keeping a shape that remembers the popular songs of our time, without respecting the original order but working in a jazzy way with the harmony and the instruments. The reference goes immediately to the Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin interpreted by Miles Davis and arranged by Gil Evans, and in particular to an orchestration with the “deep” sounds typical of the symphonic colours of classical music of the early 1900s and the tradition of American big bands.

In this case the soloist is a trumpet, that of Paolo Fresu, that sometimes works with the mute Harmon and the flugelhorn, taking care of the melodies and most of the improvised solos on harmonic structures elaborated by the original pieces. (Paolo Silvestri)

So “Norma” here has been “rethought” according to the stylistic canon of jazz music thanks to the Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo and Paolo Fresu’s trumpet. Melodies have been left untouched but the creative goal has been to expand the colours of their own artistic expression. Considering how it turned out, this is an album not just for the curious and the omnivore.

The artwork image is a work by Alessandro Gottardo, an artist who has already collaborated with Tǔk Music for the cover of the album Eros by Paolo Fresu and Omar Sosa which was released in 2016. Gottardo was born in Pordenone, has studied art in Venice and at Ied and is now living in Milan. His works has been published on important publications such as The New Yorker, El Pais, Die Zeit, The Guardian, Le Monde, Internazionale, The New York Times.

Paolo Fresu, trumpet
Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo
Paolo Silvestri, conductor

Paolo Fresu
was born in Sardinia in 1961. He began studying the trumpet at the age of eleven while playing in his town band. Following his experience with pop music he discovered jazz in 1980 and began his professional career in 1982, first attending the Siena seminars and then recording for the RAI (Italian State Radio and Television) led by Bruno Tommaso. In 1994 he graduated in trumpet studies from the Conservatory of Cagliari (Sardinia) after studying under Enzo Morandini and attended the University of Musical and Performing Arts in Bologna (DAMS).

That same year he received numerous awards, among them: the Radio Uno Jazz award by RAI, the Arrigo Polillo award from the Musica Jazz magazine, and in August 1995 received the Radiocorriere TV prize. Since then he has always been at the top in the 'Top Jazz polls' and surveys both as best artist and group leader or best recording artist (in 1990 he was elected the best musician, the Fresu Quintet - best group and Live in Montpellier - the best record). In 1996 he received two news awards in Paris: the Bobby Jaspar prize from the Académie du Jazz and the Django d'Or for best European musician.

Fresu has taught music in a variety of schools and for years has been actively involved in the didactic aspects of his art. Since 1985 he has been a professor at 'Siena Jazz national Seminars' and since 1987 at the Jazz University courses at Terni. Since 1989 he has conducted the winter courses in Siena and seminars in Nuoro. In addition, he has conducted classes in various cities such as Pordenone, Bari, Matera, Pisa, Sassari, Bologna, Vicenza, Brescia, Boston (USA), Atlanta (Georgia, USA), Melbourne (Australia) and Beijing (China).

He has been artistic director of the Time in Jazz festival in Berchidda since 1988, EuroJazz-Concorso internazionale per giovani musicisti europei in Oristano since 1994 and also Jazz Seminary in Nuoro since 1989.

He plays periodically in orchestral groups performing contemporary music by composers such as M. Nyman and G. Schiaffini and he also composes music for the theatre, for poetry, for dance and for Radio/TV/ video and film with past performances at Parma, Salerno, Milano and Spoleto-Festival of Two Worlds.

Paolo Fresu has recorded some 130 albums, eleven of which are under his own name. He has taken part in many innovative recording projects from jazz to popular and new age music. On these albums he has collaborated with many great Italian musicians inclucing D'Andrea, Tommaso, Trovesi, Gaslini, Pieranunzi, Giammarco, Damiani and top European and North American musicans such as K. Wheeler, J. Taylor, D. Liebman, T. Oxley, Trilok Gurtu, D. Humair, A. Mangelldorff, P. Favre, M. Portal, G. Mulligan, D. Holland, Ph. Woods, B. Brookmayer, J. Zorn, P. Daniellson, R. Beirach, J. Abercrombie, T. Gurtu, G. Shuller, N. Winstone etc. He also performs and records with his own ensembles - the Paolo Fresu Quintet and Sextet, Paolo Fresu-Furio di Castri Duo, The Open Trio with Di Castri and J. Taylor, P.A.F. with Furio di Castri and Antonello Salis, Fresu-Di Castri-Balke-Favre and Paolo Fresu Euro4th with the Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê.

He has performed at all of the leading Italian festivals and at festivals in France, USA, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, UK, Poland, Russia, Ireland, Canada, Japan, India, Australia, Africa, Israel, China and Brazil.

This album contains no booklet.