Music
Covering the duties of bandleader and composer, Paolo Lattanzi has released two internationally acclaimed recordings featuring his original compositions. For information about those projects please scroll down.
He is also involved in several projects as a sideman, spanning in style from traditional to contemporary jazz, and from form-free improvised music to groove-oriented jam bands and rock-blues.
A collection of different Collaborations
The following playlist is a selection from early 2013. These live recordings were made with basic portable devices and feature different bands and music genres.
The The Black Cube was an experimental synth and drums duo; the others are free jazz improvisations in acoustic settings.
During the first couple of years in New York City, Paolo got involved with the free improv scene, playing and gigging with a variety of local musicians.
“To me breaking away from the routine of playing composed and arranged tunes was a great opportunity to develop a new level of spontaneity in my playing. For a brief moment I got excited about the freedom of having no boundaries, yet, I never felt contented with playing just colors like others in the scene used to. I find that the majority of the free jazz I had a chance to listen to uses ‘colors’ as its primary tool to project outwards whatever musical idea the musicians have, sometimes resulting in a fascinating cacophony. For me, however, that was always just one of the options, and perhaps one of the least desirable because of its inevitable eventual predictability. At that time I was invested into the concept of spontaneous composition, meaning that whatever came out of the group’s collective improvisation had to sound coherent and engaging for the listener as if it was an actual preconceived tune. Following that line of thinking I put listening to the musicians and proposing my musical ideas at the same level, prioritizing one or the other at any given time, depending on the music and my own sensitivity, but always striving to make sense of any musical moment and to impart a sense of motion”.
The Characteristic Pitches featuring Robin Eubanks
The music for the Characteristic Pitches is written as it was for a large ensemble, with a special focus on the arrangements. The concept behind the tunes is strongly arranged sections that open up into open improvisation. Having rigid structures that dissolve and flow into solos allow a dialogue to happen not only between the musicians but also between the group and the composer.
The recording group features some of the best musicians in Boston: Rick Stone (alto sax), Daniel Rosenthal (trumpet), Lefteris Kordis (piano), Greg Loughman (bass), Paolo Lattanzi (drums) and guest star Robin Eubanks on the trombone.
One of the main goals for this record was to make it live: WGBH in Boston has a studio/performance center with a very large room and an open sound. The instruments were placed close to each other and the performance was captured just like that.
The result was Multitude, released the following December by Silta Records and distributed through all the major physical and digital retailers.
The name Characteristic Pitches is a reference to a notion in music theory that concerns how certain notes establish the particular sound of a scale.
Part of the material performed in this recording is based on synthetic modes written appositely for some of these compositions where the “characteristic pitches” (notes that are specific to only a certain mode or scale) are a crucial aspect.
Paolo has curated all aspects of producing the album, including composing and arranging the music, managing the logistics of renting the studio and coordinating the musicians. He also assisted in mixing the music at Avatar Studios in NYC and in mastering the album at Peerless Mastering Studios in Boston. Finally he has worked on the design and packaging of the CD.
Paolo Lattanzi Group
Paolo Lattanzi Group was born as an outlet for a diverse set of compositions written between 2002 and 2005 during the Berklee years.
After testing the music out in various scenarios and in front of different audiences and evolving through different sets of musicians, in the fall of 2005 the recording group, formed by Nikolay Moiseenko (alto and soprano sax), Aurelien Budynek (guitars), Pau Terol (piano), Marco Panascia (acoustic and electric basses) and Paolo Lattanzi (drums) entered Rear Window Studios in Brookline MA and fixed the music on disc. The album Night Dancers, takes its name from the dark introspective modal blues featured in the disc. The recording was released through Silta Records the following summer (2006).
One of the purposes of Paolo Lattanzi Group is to put together musicians with different musical roots that can meet on a jazz platform and function together as a group. The music takes different directions and colors depending on which musician is taking the lead, this becomes evident in Night Dancers when Budynek’s rock roots oppose Moiseenko’s funky sound. Pau Terol’s classical influences add a warm tone to the group and Panascia’s versatility allows each soloist to move freely to whatever direction the music takes them.
Following the release of the CD the group performed in several clubs in Boston and New York City, including Smalls Jazz Club and The Beehive and involved a variety of musicians including Nikolay Moiseenko, Evgeny Lebedev, Ignacio Long, Hyunwoo Han, Alex Gordeev and Andrew Krasilnikov.
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