Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru

Italian pianist Roberto Magris started his jazz journey on his home turf, notably with a trio of albums on the Soul Note label: Check-In (2005), Il Bello del Jazz (2006) and Current Views (2009). But his profile rose substantially when he got involved with JMood Records, beginning with Kansas City Outbound (2008). He offered his masterpiece on the label in 2020 with Suite! , a sumptuous double CD showcasing an artist who adheres very much to the tradition but who also boasts an adventurous and freewheeling side.

Magris' Love is Passing Thru, the album at hand, is more of the same, with some satisfying and distinctive differences.

Recorded in 2005, during his Soul Note days, coming off a Far East tour with his Italian working group—saxophonist Ettore Martin, bassist Danilo Gallo and drummer Enzo Carpentieri—the music presented (70-plus generous minutes) is as fresh and modern-sounding as anything he has recorded, beginning with his original, "Hair, Bea, Knee, Calls" that opens with a gentle splash from a Balinese gong—presumably picked up on the tour—then shifts into a probing piano solo piece featuring a hypnotic repeated riff.

As the disc's title implies, the theme here is "love." "Two-Sided Love," another Magris-penned tune, opens with an abstract quartet reverie, with the leader exploring some Cecil Taylor-like territory while saxophonist Martin probes outer space before the tune turns into a wee hours, smoky barroom ballad—beauty forming up out of near chaos.

"Love Has Passed Me By Again" comes from the pen of Duke Ellington's soulmate, Billy Strayhorn. It is a strikingly lovely rendition. Saxman Martin sounds like a young Sonny Rollins, with his straight-at-you, no-nonsense style, as Magris displays a deft and delicate touch. Magris has put together a terrific band, but the co-star of the show could be Strayhorn. The set features, in addition to "Love Has Passed Me By Again," "Love Came," co-written by Strayhorn and Ellington, "Orson," and two solo piano takes of perhaps the most familiar of Strayhorn's tunes, "Lush Life," giving Magris a chance to rival Erroll Garner with his orchestral flourishes and his crisp touch.

Balinese gongs open Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz," giving an exotic intro to the most American of tunes—a trio take in the tradition that floats like the proverbial butterfly. In keeping with the "love" theme, the trio explores the familiar "You Don't Know What Love Is," covered famously by Billie Holiday in her own vulnerable, fragile way. The Magrisl trio makes it a fractious lament—angry and disconcerted about the prospect of the emotion.

The prettiest tune of the set is Marian McPartland's "In The Days Of Our Love." It is a solo piano take that is wistful, hinting perhaps at longing of a love that once was but is no more.

Strayhorn's "Orson" should be singled out. A nod to movie maker Orson Wells, it is not one of the composer's better-known tunes. It is Magris alone at the keyboard, and he is elegant and joyful, fittingly considering the source.

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