Oltre confine

Some of the finest jazz has been created by unassuming collectives, the sort that produced the stunning set of quintet recordings led by Shelly Manne at just past mid-20th century. That model is appropriate here, too, because leader and guitarist Gaetano Valli's reach only barely exceeds his grasp, and his model is the early-1960s mainstream. Perhaps when the expectations are diminished, the results are more easily appreciated. As Davide Ielmini suggests in the liner notes, this is not particularly expansive or experimental music. It is, though, characterized by a genuine joy and a careful attention to detail, that although not always challenging, produce viable, though simple, listening delights. Valli has a knack for pleasant melodies immersed in the hard bop idiom, tunes that sound familiar even though they are not. He favors laid-back lines even at the faster tempos, and his guitar solos reflect the same modus operandi. Yet there is no compromising the quality of the individual players, whether Valli is cooing improvisations, pianist and organist Oscar Marchioni's more intense explorations, or David Jarh's mature, yet sometimes raw lines on trumpet. The quality of the performances, and appealing lack of pretension, are unusual, and even if there is nothing particularly innovative here, there is a charm that marks this as something special