Almost fifty records in ten years. This is the first assessment of Tǔk Music, the label between «dream and utopia», as Vittorio Albani recounts, which Paolo Fresu founded in 2010 and which will celebrate its tenth anniversary at JazzMI 2021 with the concert “Around Tǔk” and an exhibition.
The label was born from the idea of discovering and enhancing the new talents of the Italian and international jazz scene (and not only), presenting them with projects with attention to the smallest details, from green packaging to connections with modern art, up to the punctual notes of cover. Tǔk Music is also the natural continuation of Fresu’s artistic career, which has always been divided between pure creativity and teaching, and it is no coincidence that it all started with a record by his quintet.
Today, explains Vittorio Albani when presenting the project that will be staged at JazzMI, Tǔk Music «is a creative family in which artists come together who want to share a musical thought but who, above all, want to walk together for the construction of a new idea and a courageous new musical philosophy, in response to the prevailing crisis and the inattention of our country».
Around Tǔk. Photo: Roberto Cifarelli
“Around Tǔk” will be held on Sunday 24 October at the Milan Conservatory, in the Sala Verdi. In addition to Fresu, on stage there will be Raffaele Casarano (sax), Sade Mangiaracina (Fender Rhodes Electric Piano), Dino Rubino (piano), Marco Bardoscia (double bass), Enrico Morello (drums and percussion). It will be an open show, in which the musicians will assemble in different formations: duo, trio, quartet or sextet. Find all the information here.
To prepare us for the evening, Paolo Fresu has chosen and commented on ten songs from the Tǔk Music catalogue, one for each year of the label’s life.
“Eterninna” (Tino Tracanna) from “Songlines/Night and Blue” by Paolo Fresu Quintet (2010)
«The first track of the first double album produced by Tǔk back in 2010. A refined ballad composed by saxophonist Tino Tracanna which opens the first CD dedicated to the original compositions of one of the longest-lived groups on the European jazz scene. The second CD is dedicated to standards containing the words ‘night’ or ‘blue’. Hence the title Night and Blue with the illustration on the cover by the Italian Francesco Bongiorni. Songlines/Night and Blue it is the record that gave birth to the label’s visual concept from which all future ideas will unfold. Inside the booklet there is also an aphorism that will, from then on, always be present in all the label’s productions».
“La Mer” (Charles Trenet) from “Clear” by Luca Aquino (2011)
«A work mixed with electronic sounds and inspired by the sound lands of Scandinavia with the extraordinary participation of Lucio Dalla on clarinet and voice. The Benevento trumpeter Luca Aquino will produce several records for Tǔk Music. On the cover, the visionary work of the Nuorese artist Vincenzo Grosso Biddo inspired by the architecture of Berlin».
“Malaika” (Adhili William Mdawida) from “Zenzi” by Dino Rubino (2012)
«One of the best-known successes of the African tradition for a record dedicated to Africa, to Miriam Makeba and composed by the Sicilian pianist (and trumpeter) Dino Rubino assisted by an exceptional rhythm composed by Paolino Dalla Porta and Stefano Bagnoli. Dino Rubino will be one of the artists most present in Tǔk’s productions and today he collaborates in the Tempo di Chet project. The work on the cover is by the artist Monica Zani».
“Kyrie Eleison” from “Nadir” by Daniele di Bonaventura (2013)
«A double CD with Daniele di Bonaventura in the role of bandoneonist and pianist. An intimate work with a double quartet that tells the leader’s kaleidoscopic sound spectrum as well as his great compositional ability. Kyrie Eleison it is the mirror of Daniele’s most intimate soul which mixes with the Mediterranean and Latin American tradition. On the cover, a life-size work by Fermo Daniele Cudini to look at with a magnifying glass (supplied in the first printing together with the CD). Daniele will collaborate with Tǔk Music in other projects both as leader and with me».
“Manic Depression” (Jimi Hendrix) from “Brass Bang!” by Brass Bang! (2014)
«A crazy project with a brass quartet composed by me, Gianluca Petrella on trombone, Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet and Marcus Rojas on tuba and percussion. For music that ranges from Duke Ellington to Jimi Hendrix, from Claudio Monteverdi to Händel via Fred Buscaglione and Sardinian popular song. On the cover, a dreamlike portrait of Anna Godeassi».
“Remembering Esbjorn” from “Medina” by Raffaele Casarano (2015)
«An orchestral project by the Salento saxophonist Raffaele Casarano who was the first young musician to join the Tǔk Music team as early as 2010. Collaborator of Giuliano Sangiorgi of Negramaro (also present on the CD Noah) the project Medina combines a symphony orchestra with an acoustic quintet and with the samplers of Erik Honoré. Raffaele still collaborates with the label in various projects that have also involved the rapper Simone Eleuteri Danno and international artists such as Manu Katché and Lars Danielsson. On the cover, the Venetian lagoon seen by the artist Anna Sutor».
“What Lies Ahead” (Peter and Isaac Gabriel) from “Eros” by Paolo Fresu & Omar Sosa (2016)
«What Lies Ahead is an unreleased song composed by Peter Gabriel and his son Isaac. Performed by his band during the 2014 Italian tour, it was subsequently transcribed and reprized together with the Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and the Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum on the occasion of the recording of the album Eros. Published with Gabriel’s consent, it is part of a successful record work that follows the first success from the title Alma and prepares the third work which will be recorded in 2022. The work on the cover is by Alessandro Gottardo, already a collaborator of the label in the past».
“Alabama” from “Kon Tiki” by Francesco Ponticelli (2017)
Second recording work for the Tǔk by the Arezzo bassist and double bass player Francesco Ponticelli. A refined quartet album with a strong compositional vein and a sound architecture between acoustic sounds and synths that involves some of the most important young people on the jazz and experimental scene. The artwork on the cover is by the Cantabrian Pilar Gómez Cossío.
“You will travel” (Carlinhos Brown, Nicola Lapidari) from “Clay” by Ornella Vanoni (2018)
«A historic re-edition of an album I produced with the late Beppe Quirici in 1997. Clay it is a work that draws inspiration from the sounds of Brazil and the South American continent, but also from jazz as well as from the repertoire of Mina and Fossati. A precious work as well as courageous and visionary for the pop of the late 90s with a profound and exceptional interpreter like Ornella Vanoni. The cover image is by Fabrizio Ferri, one of the most renowned Italian photographers».
“Voi ch’amate lo criatore” (Transcription, adaptation and arrangement by Paolo Fresu and Daniele di Bonaventura) from “Altissima Luce” by Paolo Fresu and Daniele di Bonaventura (2019)
«Very High Light it is the reinterpretation of the Franciscan laudi of the 1200s contained in the Laudario di Cortona and today brought back to the present by a jazz quartet (acoustic and electronic), a chamber orchestra and a female choir. The manuscripts of the time written with neumatic notation were expanded and arranged, in order to obtain a polyphonic version, by me and Daniele di Bonaventura. On the cover a photo of one of the works contained in the Laudario. This is divided by a cross which denotes belonging to a section of the label dedicated to voices. Other sections of Tǔk are expressly dedicated to other chapters (live, art, kids, movies, re-editions, air…) and a new section dedicated to the crossover with classical music will soon be inaugurated».
