Enrico Rava & Stefano Bollani at Birdland

[7/4]

An Odd Couple, in Character and in Harmony

Enrico Rava on Thursday night at Birdland, where he performed a jazz program with the pianist Stefano Bollani

By BEN RATLIFF, NYTimes

There are no casting directors in jazz, but sometimes you see a pair of musicians who could have been brought together by one: for example, Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani, the Italian trumpeter and pianist.

Late on Thursday night at Birdland, they performed a few songs by themselves to open a set, and their notes and even their rests had character. Mr. Bollani kept a steady, impatient motor in his right hand, giving the songs their rhythm and dynamics; Mr. Rava draped warm melody over them, giving his individual notes a glow or a bitterness.

But even in a language beyond music, that of gestures and body language, they embodied basic character opposites. They formed an odd couple we might see in movies: Mr. Bollani, 35 — who in fact has a sideline career in Italy as a comedian — played fidgety compulsion; Mr. Rava, 68, played a silvery hippie, all sageness and whispers.

A couple of Mr. Rava's pieces had explicit connections to film. One was written to suggest Fellini; another, "In Search of Titina," was dedicated to Charlie Chaplin, and in its jerky, stop-and-start, staccato motions Mr. Bollani really showed his skill, as well as his sense of history.

Hands working in frenetic coordination, he seemed to be connecting very old and very recent languages of jazz, from Fats Waller to Don Pullen to Brad Mehldau. (The song can be found on a duo album by the two musicians, "The Third Man," just released by ECM.)

But even three songs in, when the duo became a quartet with an American rhythm section — the bassist Larry Grenadier and the drummer Paul Motian — the Italians kept a semblance of their dramatic characters within the group, without being restricted by them. They played older songs of Mr. Rava's, with sweet and witty melodies: he is a true songwriter, and this band demonstrated an earthy, elegant, funny kind of jazz, without intending to be difficult.

In "Secrets," a ballad, Mr. Rava began a solo, the rhythm section went into double time, and his aggression came forward: he played loud, short, pointed phrases, and Mr. Bollani and Mr. Motian locked into a groove. Another excellent piece, "Algir Dalbughi," was a kind of lampoon boogie-woogie pinned together by Mr. Grenadier's walking bass line; the band almost took it apart, with Mr. Bollani's drifting chords and Mr. Motian's freer and freer sketching of four-to-the-bar rhythm.

They closed with a song called "Happiness Is to Win a Big Prize in Cash," an orderly 32-bar waltz, and it was Mr. Motian's moment. He played a loose, one-chorus solo on the drums and cymbals that observed the curve of the theme, from beginning to end. He treated the song as a song, and he was disarmingly simple about it.

[JSngry]

Rava is looking really...old, and in the coolest possible way.

If they ever make a movie of his life, they should dig up Lee Marvin to play him, and not bother to touch him up.

[WorldB3]

I read Mark Turner will joining them this week as well. Damn what a band. Rava, Bollani, Motian and Grenadier.

Can someone please go for me?

[sidewinder]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

[porcy62]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

Yep, they are good.

[sidewinder]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

Yep, they are good.

I have seen both with their separate lineups - Bollani as a solo artist at Bath a few years ago and then Rava with his quartet at Cheltenham a year or so later. Enjoyed both so - as you say - should be good.

[Trumpet Guy]

Cool!

They are recording for ECM next week in NYC...

[A Lark Ascending]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

Yes...I also have a ticket for a Nottingham performance in April. Could end up seeing them twice within a month!

[pepe]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

Not the quartet? I hear Motion won't go to Europe anymore - he's an old man feeling more comfortable staying at home, and he has plenty of work round NY.

[A Lark Ascending]

Looks like these guys will be playing the Cheltenham Fest this year in the UK. Should be good.

Not the quartet? I hear Motion won't go to Europe anymore - he's an old man feeling more comfortable staying at home, and he has plenty of work round NY.

No, these are duo performances.