Giovanni Mirabassi : Avanti! (2000)

1. Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido
2. Chant des Partisans
3. Ah! Ca Ira
4. Temps des Cerises
5. Hasta Siempre
6. Je Chante Pour Passer le Temps
7. Sciur Padrun
8. Paso del Ebro
9. Si M'Bonanga
10. Butte Rouge
11. Addio Lugano Bella
12. Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye
13. Bella Ciao
14. Imagine
15. My Revolution
16. Plaine, Oh Ma Plaine


Personnel :


Giovanni Mirabassi - piano

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« Fascinated by collective imagination and the capacity of certain tunes to inscribe themselves on people’s memory, I have found in revolutionary songs a musical writing which draws its truth, its very strength in a state of urgency where every single note is necessary. » Giovanni Mirabassi « His latest album proposes in solo, an intimist reading of fifteen revolutionary songs of different periods in time and of different regions of the world, melodies that events in time or fortuitous meetings have happened to transform into symbols of resistance, melodies strongly laden with political emotion. » Stéphane Vincent-Lancrin - Classica « Giovanni Mirabassi had the nerve and showed a lot of panache in tackling, so young as he is, such a repertoire… of revolutionary and patriotic songs, songs of resistance, struggle and refusal…As usual, he chooses to stay as close as possible to the original melody…which dictates his chords, imposes by itself its rhythmical logic, its own interior dance…Mirabassi dares to reveal the whole of his lyrical sensibility « à l’italienne », and to develop an already very personal sense of melodic drama and rhythmical staging. Well done! » Pascal Anquetil - Jazzman « …every song is a story, a mark of distress, a cry, an intense emotion that this young pianist whose talent is now established, finely retranscribes with great subtlety… here in solo, we discover a committed jazz man of an astonishing maturity. » Sébastien Vidal - Nova Giovanni Mirabassi …is concerned with maintaining alive a collective memory which has been so much harmed in recent times. The hymns, revolutionary songs and popular songs are evoked here with great decency, sticking closely to the original melody and the right note, without any sense of heaviness and giving free rein to the emotion that underlies their evocation… » Jean-Paul Ricard - Jazz Magazine « … Each theme is a pretext to improvise without falling either into clichés or excess. With just the touch and the concision which are adequate to bring out all the lyrical quintessence, that which raises a crowd all the same as one lone man…An album which comes with a booklet of neat illustrations… » Jacques Denis - Vibrations « Giovanni Mirabassi possesses a marvelous quality…: that of being able to make a melody sing, to make it blossom, thus liberating from it the fullness of its aroma, of its shape and of its chromatic shimmer…(…) Signed by Philippe Ghielmetti, the edition in itself is object of art. » Alain Gerber - Diapason

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