Pianist Giorgio Mazzarino is a tour de force of modern creative lyricism. Taking his cues from a number of different pianists, most notably John Lewis and Thad Jones, Mazzarino crafts an angular new hybrid on the modern creative large group model with a palette that includes brass (trumpet and trombones), reeds (alto sax), vibes, strings (electric guitar and bass), his piano, of course, and drums. However his own use of the pianos colors and rhythmic possibilities, Mazzarino's compositional ideas are tempered by an encyclopedic knowledge of Mingus' motifs which are used with stunning alacrity and extrapolated upon harmonically to create a new, driving, elegantly ragged Italian soul music. Take, for an example, "Anatol Party," with its chromatic guitar shadings accompanying the trumpet up to the point that Mazzarino enters the melody proper and courses a graceful blues through the center until Marcello Sczokol's vibes roots the thing in the funkiness of them and pulls the entire band down into the swam with him. On "Torpolini," the three horns go head for head with ringing harmonic tones and strident blues epistemologies (to one another before being cut through the heart with stinging chromatic and arpeggios by Mazzarino and a trail-end vibes solo). This is music as interplay, aggressive yet warm, impetuous and impeccably arranged. Silence, please, indeed. Before this slab has reached its last digital groove, you'll be yelling and laughing your ass off. ~ Thom Jurek