Tag: Renato Sellani

Title: Gianni Basso and Renato Sellani – Body and Soul (2008) [Japan 2017]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

According to Eugene Chadbourne of AllMusic, “Gianni Basso was one of the lights who began shining on the European jazz scene following the end of World War II”. He began as a clarinetist before switching to saxophone, and became a renowned Italian jazz tenor saxophonist influenced by Stan Getz. A native of Italy, Renato Sellani has fast become one of the most popular jazz pianists in Europe. Japanese producer Tetsuo Hara discovered him and has recorded him regularly for his Venus label.

After World War II’s wave of adulation and imitation, it’s clear that many Italian musicians have branded jazz with individual characteristics. To jazz, they bring a poetic sense of eternal cantabile, drama, film, classical and folk influences. Saxophonist Gianni Basso and pianist Renato Sellani, Piemontese octogenarians, pay retrospective homage on Body and Soul, caressing Swing Era favorites with devotion and delight, grace and poetry. Basso models his brimming, avuncular style on Coleman Hawkins, complete with gruff, burly tone, nowhere more in evidence than on the pace-setting title track. Sellani approaches Teddy Wilson with a conservatory touch, discreetly tasteful and tidy, bubbling over but occasionally, as on ‘Watch What Happens’. This Legrand tune, along with ‘Beyond The Sea’ and Latin classics, give away their European bent.

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