Pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella, key figures in what some are hailing as a “golden age” of Italian jazz, found their strong improvisational rapport inside Enrico Rava’s band (see for instance the 2010 ECM album Tribe) and, keen to play more, formed a duo, giving many concerts in which they are intermittently joined by guests. For this studio recording, producer Manfred Eicher brought the duo together with US drummer Gerald Cleaver and French clarinetist Louis Sclavis, for an outgoing set of music which includes lyrical free improvising and tunes composed by Giovanni and Gianluca.

New music forms contaminated by various genres characterize our globalized world’s recent history; the intertwining of individual experiences creates new collaborations, as in this specifc case. Sixteen years after the release of “New Standards” (2001, SCEP336) Nicola Conte meets again his friend and colleague Gianluca Petrella, an eclectic Italian jazz scene talent, open to new experiences and collaborations: this encounter let to the publication of three new 12” EP’s in only three years, plus the recent single “The Higher Love” and the release of “Let Your Light Shine On” by Nicola Conte & Spiritual Galaxy.

One of the greatest jazz trombonist sui generis, a phenomenon who has recorded for ECM, Blue Note and! K7, the other is one of the best Italian vibraphonists. On 11 June Gianluca Petrella and Pasquale Mirra will release the album Correspondence for Tǔk Music. The first excerpt is Correspon-Dance which the two define «the most surreal window of the record, a hammering of drums and percussion without a defined melody or theme, but characterized by a tight rhythm. The instruments we use and the intention with which we play them are as if they represent an ideal embrace between the north and south of the world, such as between the Malian balafon and the more western-sounding trombone".