Double bass player Carmelo Leotta met pianist Massimo Faraò in a studio in 2005.
Faraò already had an experience on the international jazz scene.
They recorded an album with Bobby Durham, the famous drummer from Philadelphia
who had played and recorded with Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald
and many others (Bobby Durham died in 2008).
In the years that followed, Faraò involved Leotta in highly exciting collaborations
with artists of the stature of Benny Golson, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Cobb and many others.
In the summer of 2009 Leotta suggested they formed a quintet, and put on the
table a few of his own compositions plus some new arrangements of songs they
had already been playing with other bands.
This idea led to the birth of the Racing Jazz Quintet, the name of which was
inspired by Faraò’s great passion for race horses. The first recording session
of the combo took place in June 2009, and led to the album “Pick up the slack”,
which was produced by Leotta and included two compositions by Faraò.
The album was presented the following month at the Bobby Durham Jazz Festival.
The Italian tour which came after, in November 2009, stated the project’s solidity,
and released it on the national scene; in the summer of 2010, just before the
Serravalle Jazz Festival, trumpet player Giampaolo Casati joined the band, and
his highly refined interpretation immediately jelled with the quintet’s approach.
During the spring of 2011 Leotta produced this new record, adding to the
playing of Faraò and Casati the very personal and full-bodied sound of tenor
player Antonio Giordano, and the sensitive and musical approach of Enrico Morello,
a young drummer who has already gained quite an experience on the national scene.
“Never Lie” has been imagined as a tribute to the simplicity with which this
music expresses feeling and sentiments, and is based on the tight and bright
sound of the band.
Faraò already had an experience on the international jazz scene.
They recorded an album with Bobby Durham, the famous drummer from Philadelphia
who had played and recorded with Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald
and many others (Bobby Durham died in 2008).
In the years that followed, Faraò involved Leotta in highly exciting collaborations
with artists of the stature of Benny Golson, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Cobb and many others.
In the summer of 2009 Leotta suggested they formed a quintet, and put on the
table a few of his own compositions plus some new arrangements of songs they
had already been playing with other bands.
This idea led to the birth of the Racing Jazz Quintet, the name of which was
inspired by Faraò’s great passion for race horses. The first recording session
of the combo took place in June 2009, and led to the album “Pick up the slack”,
which was produced by Leotta and included two compositions by Faraò.
The album was presented the following month at the Bobby Durham Jazz Festival.
The Italian tour which came after, in November 2009, stated the project’s solidity,
and released it on the national scene; in the summer of 2010, just before the
Serravalle Jazz Festival, trumpet player Giampaolo Casati joined the band, and
his highly refined interpretation immediately jelled with the quintet’s approach.
During the spring of 2011 Leotta produced this new record, adding to the
playing of Faraò and Casati the very personal and full-bodied sound of tenor
player Antonio Giordano, and the sensitive and musical approach of Enrico Morello,
a young drummer who has already gained quite an experience on the national scene.
“Never Lie” has been imagined as a tribute to the simplicity with which this
music expresses feeling and sentiments, and is based on the tight and bright
sound of the band.
