Listen on:
This album was recorded on the 16th of December, 2005 in an old cold stone house in the tuscan hills outside of Florence. It was a meeting of a couple of hours between Edoardo Ricci and Thollem Mcdonas. Edoardo is a highly regarded long time improvisor in Italy who has up to now not been fully introduced in the states.
In this great old cold house was a great old beatup
rickety wild intoned piano. Thollem loves wild pianos because with the encouragement of natural forces they have rebelled against the expectations of western human ears.
- Thollem - beatup piano
- Edoadro Ricci - alto saxophone
The sublimation of the two instrumental characters is almost perfect, making for a vivid conversation that often borders on the row, but always with reciprocal patience and an ongoing will to listen carefully to what the other has to say.
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
…very intense and sensitive moments, where an optimum musical celebration of the moment is reached…this album is of great ‘actuality’.
Frans de Waard Vital Weekly
…an hour of intense improvisation by two artists of immense creativity and thrilling brilliant technical virtuosity.
Eduardo Chagas, Jazz e Arredore
… flames and spasms, serenades and slaps. A rough and brilliant piano, sometimes rarefied, sometimes massive and an insidious, and dense saxophone but also furious and enjoyable are the protagonists of this strange meeting in S. Giuseppe, Nippozano, Florence, Toscany.
In the duo with Mcdonas on Sono Contento…, Ricci’s sluicing flutter-tongue alto saxophone elaborations and other advanced techniques fit firmly into a sort of Universalist Free Music.
Ken Waxman, Jazzword
Four lively improvisations on the same theme.
J. Worley Aiding & Abetting