Kelly Moran and Maurizio Minardi

I had the pleasure of reviewing Minardi’s new album Piano Ambulance a few weeks ago for Jazz Views. Of the seven albums I received just before Christmas, this CD seemed to stand out from the rest. Yes the Chick Corea 3-album collection gave me great joy and there were lovely moments in some of the other CDs but Piano Ambulance was extra-special.

Before the gig I chatted to Maurizio online. “Why Piano Ambulance?” I asked. His response: “The use of live music in hospitals and nursing homes in England is something that still does not exist in Italy. I have played for patients in and around London and it is wonderful to see them smile as they appreciate the music. The doctors have told me how therapeutic the music is to them” He told me that he wanted the album to be expressive and wished it to appeal to the listener on an emotional rather than an intellectual level. At The Vortex I had chance to quiz Maurizio once again. He told me that within months of arriving in London he had set about organising musical events for the infirm. I was immediately touched by his altruism.

I suggested that there is a strong cinematic feel about much of his music. He agreed and admitted that he had been influenced by many film composers including Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yann Tierson, Rene Aubry, Michael Nyman, Halfdan E and Alexandre Desplat. I had already picked up on the Nyman connection. The link between the two composer/pianists is especially demonstrable on Minardi’s album The Cook, the Clown, the Monk and the Accordionist, a direct reference to Nyman’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, his score for Peter Greenaway’s film noir. As Minardi says: “Yes the album is inspired by Michael Nyman’s music to the film, particularly tracks like “The Cook in Love”, “The Monk’s Escape”, “The Monk is Back” and “The Black Book”. I like the way that Nyman parodies the baroque style. However, my Cook is more an Italian cook..a bit more sentimental, bizarre and unpredictable”. One of the things that Minardi and Nyman have in common is their predilection for minimalist techniques where a great deal of excitement can be generated by extended passages of repetition based on just a few tiny musical motifs. The rhythms are often propulsive and pulsating, blocks of chords chugging away relentlessly. They also share a tremendous love of classical and baroque styles.

I asked Maurizio why he decided to relocate to London in 2008 and how the music scene in the UK differs from that in Italy. This is what he had to say: “I moved to London to find new inspirations. London is such a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. In Italy bureaucracy and high tax kills live music in general but mainly jazz. There are very talented jazz musicians there but there’s very little opportunity for them to work. The music scene is very different in London. Musicians come here from all over the world, each one bringing his or her own culture. It is easy to meet new musicians through the many jazz jams that London offers. But unfortunately most events are only sustained by ticket sales with just a small fund from the Arts Council/Jazz Services. This doesn’t allow too many original projects to survive and be developed”

And what about your future plans?: “After my 10-day UK tour in March, which is supported by the Arts Council and Jazz Services, I will be working on the compositions for my next accordion album. It will probably be the same line-up i.e. accordion, cello, double bass and drums. I’m also collaborating with the Melange Collective, which is led by my regular cellist, Shirley Smart, to build new repertoire of original music."
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The launch party at the Vortex was just that – a marvellous party! There was a feeling of joy and expectation in the air as more and more people squeezed into the club just before the 8.45 kick-off. The noise was almost deafening but the jam-packed room fell into immediate silence as the opening bars of “Friday Almost” were announced. Beginning in a propulsive 9/8 tempo with asymmetrical internal rhythmic groupings, it’s not long before we’re into an E.S.T. flavoured uber slow 4/4 groove. The original feel returns before the music subsides, bathed in the warmth of the Lydian mode.

Minardi’s music never rambles and the pieces are invariably short. I doubt if any of the tunes on display lasted more than 5 or 6 minutes, borne out by the fact that 20 numbers were featured in the 2-set performance. Maurizio is not a head, blowing, final head kind of guy, though I know he can do this if required. Each composition is the epitome of precision, clarity and conciseness – exquisitely crafted little gems with a very wide emotional reach. As well as showcasing eight tunes from Piano Ambulance, the performance gave us many insights into the music on his previous albums, My Piano Trio and The Cook, the Clown, the Monk and the Accordionist, the latter, as the title suggests, a work where it is the brilliant accordion playing of Minardi that is on display rather than his impressive piano work.

Minardi loves to re-invent the musical past and, in this, he shows an affinity with the arch neo-classicist, Igor Stravinsky. Neo-classicism espouses the classical ideals of order, balance, clarity, economy and emotional restraint and was a reaction against both the excesses of some of the Romanticists and the strict logic of Schoenberg’s 12-tone technique which tended to alienate many audiences. Often pre-existing material is recycled and given a fresh lick of paint as in the case of Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” which uses themes by Pergolesi and his contemporaries as the basis for his ballet score. Nyman likewise loves to recycle past musical treasures, often doing so with his own works. I witnessed Minardi’s own particular brand of neo-classicalism at the gig. In “Shiny” the romantic slow movement of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto is alluded to but the deep emotion is replaced by a reflective cool. “Black Book” is inspired by the baroque (Vivaldi and Corelli in particular), Minardi’s driving accordion wowing the audience with seething moto perpetuo semiquaver figures.

Minardi tells us that two of the finest things in life are love and food….and , oh yes, music is good too! This is how he introduced “The Cook in Love”, a parody on Rossini’s music. Smart’s cello soars into the stratosphere, Rossini’s harmonies become more and more extreme, the gear shifts ever more pronounced and erratic.

In “Black Tulip” it is the tango of Astor Piazzolla that is referenced but Minardi gives it a bitter twist with mock-baroque figurations and madcap avant-garde utterings. “The Monk’s Escape” is equally sardonic, zany and surreal, extremely quiet one minute, very loud the next, the rhythms surging forward inexorably. The inevitable encore, “The Taming of the Shrew”, often sounded like a keystone cops silent movie score. And why not?

Indeed, life can be humourous, paradoxical and absurd. Minardi’s music reflects this but there is also a sense of great humanity in his work. His music has grace, tenderness and simplicity as well as moments of madness, and he has the ability to move an audience deeply. There is a directness about everything he does and he communicates so well his love of life in all its manifestations to anyone who is prepared to listen.

His supporting cast of Pini, Reeve and Smart were faultless throughout and I came away from the club with a big grin on my face.

Reviewed by Geoff Eales 19th February, 2015