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The Italian tenor saxophonist has chosen three partners with a similar approach, in which the general result is more important than each soloist's particularities. To do so it is essential to possess a contagious interior serenity and a rational calmness, which can be confronted with the exercise of creativity.
Surrounded by Paul Motian, Steve Swallow and Gil Goldstein, Pietro Tonolo provides, without giving it any particular label, an unhoped-for encounter with Duke Ellington’s music, varying between mainstream, free cool, abstract forms or the slow tempo of a dance theme, letting the Duke take us wherever he likes.
Photograph: D.R.
At seven he started studying the piano, then moved on to the violin and finally, at the age of seventeen decided on the tenor saxophone for good.
Three years later he went to the Academy of Milan and took Giorgio Gaslini’s course in jazz. At this time he also met other Milanese musicians such as Franco d’Andrea and Massimo Urbani - amongst others.
He went to live in New York for a while and then, on his return, played with Franco d’Andrea and Enrico Rava. Very quickly he formed his own group with Piero Leveratto and Valerio Abeni.
At the end of the '80s he could be heard playing in the quintets of both Paolo Pellegatti and Guido Manusardi. In 1982, he joined Gil Evans’s band for a series of concerts in Italy and took part in the recording of Andana.
In 1986, he formed a quartet with Rita Marcotulli (piano), Enzo Pietropaoli (double bass) and Roberto Gatto (drums). From 1988 onwards, he played regularly with Henri Texier, Enrico Pieranunzi and Giovanni Tommaso, whilst still directing his own groups with Piero Leveratto, Sandro Gibellini, Alfred Kramer and Roberto Rossio. He could also be heard playing with Kenny Clarke, Roswell Rudd, Sal Nistico, Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, John Surman, George Lewis, Barry Altschul, Joe Chambers, Aldo Romano, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Tony Oxley.
And then, in 1999, Pietro Tonolo revisited Duke Ellington’s work, with the help of his colleagues Paul Motian, Steve Swallow and Gil Goldstein. For our greatest pleasure it seems that once more the Duke is to escape us, in the fugato of the saxophone and the accordion, in the modesty of the brushes, in the elegant, brazen and unpredictable lines of the bass…
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