This live album breaks with Enrico Rava’s own traditions. In his ECM albums, all the way back to 1974’s “The Pilgrim And The Stars”, Rava has set his own compositions in the foreground. Not this time. Nor does he pay tribute to aspects of jazz history. Instead, on “Rava On The Dance Floor” the great Italian trumpeter enthusiastically turns his attention to the musical universe of the late Michael Jackson. And in this unexpected context, drawing also upon the energy of the Parco della Musica Jazz Lab band, he delivers impassioned and extroverted trumpet playing.
Rava acknowledges that he had paid scant attention to Michael Jackson during the singer’s earthly existence, and it wasn’t until June 2009 and the days after Jackson’s death that Enrico, curiosity piqued by the intensity of the media coverage, began to listen to his music in earnest, finding himself more and more attracted by its range of possibilities. “What finally convinced me,” he says, “was the contagious riff of ‘Smooth Criminal’.
The fact is that, from a certain moment on, Michael Jackson simply invaded my life. My wife and I bought all the Jackson discs and videos we could find. And my long and dull road trips were transformed into enthusiastic listening sessions. It became clear to me that for years I had ignored one of the great protagonists of 20th century music and dance. A total artist, a perfectionist, a genius. I was especially knocked out by the film ‘This is it’, which documents the rehearsals for that extraordinary show. How amazing to see that 50-year old Peter Pan, so fragile and vulnerable, transformed into a benevolent but absolute authority on stage, in control of every small detail, correcting a spotlight, the emphasis of a bass note, a dancer’s step, or the length of a musical pause.”ECM
Enrico Rava trumpet
Andrea Tofanelli trumpet, flugelhorn
Claudio Corvini trumpet, flugelhorn
Mauro Ottolini trombone, tuba
Daniele Tittarelli alto saxophone, flute
Dan Kinzelman tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Franz Bazzani keyboard
Giovanni Guidi piano, Fender Rhodes, toy piano
Dario Deidda bass
Marcello Giannini electric guitar
Zeno de Rossi drums
Ernesto Lopez Maturell percussion
Speechless
They Don't Care About Us
Thriller
Privacy
Smile
I Just Can't Stop Loving You / Smooth Criminal
Little Susie
Blood On The Dance Floor
History
Recorded May and November 2011
