Uapití by Dante Piccinelli

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Dante Piccinelli - piano/ compositions
Hernán Cassibba - contrabass
Omar Menéndez - drums

After making several albums as a sideman and finishing his studies at the Superior Technician in Jazz of the Conservatorio Superior de Musica Manuel de Falla, the young pianist and composer Dante Piccinelli releases his first album as a leader: Uapití. For the recording he called on the double bassist and composer Hernan Cassibba and the drummer Omar Menéndez.

Uapití arises from the idea of composing for a traditional format in jazz such as the piano trio (piano, double bass and drums), taking different styles within the genre and taking them to a current context. One of the objectives is to be able to show how these different styles can coexist forming something new and original and thus recover the value of the tradition of the genre without the need to enter conservative terrains.

The composition of the songs began after exploring and studying jazz before the bop that led to the first song of the album "AJ" whose acronym refers to two pianists: Albert Ammons and James P. Johnson, one from the Boogie Woogie style and the other from the "stride piano". From there, parts of that sonority were combined, modifying its harmony and its meter. The compositions, although they have arrangements and a certain harmony and meter, also contain moments of greater freedom such as the beginning of the theme "Uapití" and that of "Juan", where the drums and bass make a free introduction to the theme. These situations of solo instrument are important within the album since, although the interaction between the three is fundamental, these individual and free moments allow another type of listening, more intimate and personal. This exploration focused on the early years of jazz and the history of the genre, added to a search for a more "modern" language, and compositions linked to another type of sonority.

We can see two types of sonorities within the songs of the album:
On the one hand, songs like "Juan", "Mutando", "AJ" and "Uapití" have a sonority linked to swing and the jazz tradition with blues influences, where you can hear larger chords and a more intense expression of the music. On the other hand, songs such as "Marcas", "El Abrazo", “Para un Salteño”, "Las Manos", and "Diagonal 113" have another type of sonority closer to the song, a right bracket, small chords and a more intimate expression of the music.