Walking in the Night, recorded for RCA a year before the legendary
Best Italian Jazz 1962, is actually the stronger album. Along with saxophonist
Gianni Basso and trumpeter
Oscar Valdambrini, the quintet lineup includes the great bassist
Giorgio Azzolini, pianist
Renato Sellani, and drummer
Gianni Carzola. This 11-tune set is a much more diverse program, consisting not only of flaming hard bop and ballads, but killer, Euro-styled Latin groovers such as "Lotar" by the trumpeter, and
Attilo Donadio's wonderful take on American West Coast jazz in "Blues for Gerry." There are some great surprises here, too, including the fleet, knotty "Estroverso" by
Piero Umiliani, which is a showcase for how tight and quick this group could be when playing bop. The composer also contributed a ballad to the set in "Dialogo," which reveals the frontline's inherent lyricism. These tracks all deliver on the promise of the band that won the competition at the 1961 San Remo Jazz Festival, and indeed, some of the more complex repertoire here dates from that gig. This is an early, strong set by a band that, while popular even at the time, helped to introduce the modern bop and hard bop sound to the Italian scene and influenced many musicians who came after, including
Gerardo Frisina and
Nicola Conte. From top to bottom,
Walking in the Night is a sheer delight.