Released in June 1982, Opening Night is a rare album by Enrico Rava that has resurfaced (only in digital formats!) in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the label ECM. Recorded in December 1981 with double bassist Furio Di Castri, drummer Aldo Romano and forgotten pianist Franco D’Andrea, this is one of the records on Manfred Eicher’s label that was not produced by Eicher. When Thomas Stöwsand recorded the album at the Tonstudio Bauer studio in Ludwigsburg, the Italian trumpeter was already 43 years old and had six albums to his name. His free years were long gone and he continued on this record with a rather celebratory and melodic neo-hard bop, throughout which his band members’ enjoyment is palpable. Rava’s quartet is taken on an emotional rollercoaster that, without revolutionizing the genre, still showcases a total complicity which is well worth rediscovering. © Max Dembo/Qobuz