Franco D’Andrea

An exciting D’Andrea, who leaves the reins free to his own interiority. Es is an admirable and much-needed record
G. Piacentino, Musica Jazz

«The truth is that this is not only the best album recorded so far by D’Andrea, who was from the beginning and is now more than ever one of the most important soloists expressed by our jazz: it is also one of the most notable Italian jazz records made to date. D’Andrea does not bother being a revolutionary: he is clearly linked, instead, to the great tradition of the American jazz piano. But in compliance with certain rules, D’Andrea plays absolutely “his” music, improvised from top to bottom, and yet always structured, coherent and always fascinating. And every time I listened to the record, the music seemed new and different to me, so rich is the imagination of its author; and each time it came to me as fresh and elegant as the first time».
Arrigo Polillo, Musica Jazz

«I will not tell the story of Franco D’Andrea but I would like to underline how this pianist has always been one of the protagonists of the more or less great turning points that jazz has made in Italy. Today, D’Andrea shows up with a brand new quartet and a record that certifies his great value. What music does D’Andrea make with this new quartet? I could answer with a phrase taken from the liner notes by Alberto Rodriguez: “I am struck by D’Andrea’s not being a powerful musician; I like his identity as an artist who knows what effort and poetry are.». Made in Italy
Giuseppe Piacentino, Musica Jazz

«Truth be told, esteem and admiration continue to grow with each of his performances and on the occasion of a new album. Furthermore, in recent years his piano playing has acquired an exceptional relaxion that favors perfect timing. D’Andrea can now afford the most daring attempts without thereby altering the continuity, dynamics and progression of his action in the least. Proper timing is essential to express oneself at certain levels, but when you phrase, as in D’Andrea’s case, using a very wide range and a very strong alternation of rhythmic scans (what is precisely synonymous with “high levels”), controlling it can be very difficult. If this is handled with the utmost nonchalance, then we can go so far as to talk about true artistic expression». My One And Only Love
Bruno Schiozzi, Musica Jazz

«It is quite unusual for Italian jazz to have to welcome as masterpieces a couple of albums released more than a year later but both coming from the live recording of a single concert. My Shuffle completes the memory of the Franco D’Andrea quartet’s performance at the French festival in Montpellier: the first great fragment “Quartet Live” turned out to be the best Italian record of 1986 in the Top Jazz poll and this appendix is at least on the same level». My Shuffle
Gian Mario Maletto, Musica Jazz

«What immediately transforms this interest into admiration is the coherence and intelligence of the project, as well as the imaginative acuity of its execution, on everyone’s part. This No Idea Of Time is not a suite divided into two parts, as it might seem, but it is the representation in two versions, albeit of different extensions, of a single piece, as if the quartet invited us to its music room to show us how they work or as if D’Andrea wanted to spare a future archaeologist of Italian jazz the arduous search for alternate takes. It is No Idea of Time that offers those who remember the piano solo version contained in Es the first emotion: it is like seeing the reverse recomposition in slow motion of an explosion. Those that were nervous phrases that escaped the pianist’s fingers the first time around, now are relocated in a decidedly bluesy theme, a sort of riff, which the quartet enunciates and then overturns in an irresistible acceleration (but at the end of each piece we will find instead, for symmetry, a soft landing). The two versions retain the pattern made above all – the title announces – of tempo variations. But if the journey, the individual stages and the travelers are identical, the ideas that pass through the brain vary. This is a test of collective mastery». No Idea Of Time
Gian Mario Maletto, Musica Jazz

«The whole album is a test of exceptional maturity, on a solo, competitive, organizational level. Everywhere there is a perfectly detailed sense of construction: from the preludian thematic “anticipations” of solo piano to the exhibitions arranged in unison, from the synthetic central recapitulations of the theme to the timeless chamber interludes, to the burning free sequences, to the always different close, often surprising. An album-balance of the quartet experience, and the first step towards new horizons. Ultimately, a great record».
Pino Candini, Musica Jazz

«Luis Agudo’s function is not that of a simple supporting actor. In the percussionist, D’Andrea seems to have found his own dark counterpart, the dark and wild side, the surprise effect, the iconoclast that allows him to unscrupulously bump into the spaces of more suffix lyricism. D’Andrea’s musical career can be read as a constant conflict (or conflict creation) between impulse and rationalization; and Enrosadira, with its extraordinary vitality, is the most obvious expression of it». Enrosadira
Giuseppe Piacentino, Musica Jazz

Franco D’Andrea

An exciting D’Andrea, who leaves the reins free to his own interiority. Es is an admirable and much-needed record
G. Piacentino, Musica Jazz

As sideman

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«The truth is that this is not only the best album recorded so far by D’Andrea, who was from the beginning and is now more than ever one of the most important soloists expressed by our jazz: it is also one of the most notable Italian jazz records made to date. D’Andrea does not bother being a revolutionary: he is clearly linked, instead, to the great tradition of the American jazz piano. But in compliance with certain rules, D’Andrea plays absolutely “his” music, improvised from top to bottom, and yet always structured, coherent and always fascinating. And every time I listened to the record, the music seemed new and different to me, so rich is the imagination of its author; and each time it came to me as fresh and elegant as the first time».
Arrigo Polillo, Musica Jazz

«I will not tell the story of Franco D’Andrea but I would like to underline how this pianist has always been one of the protagonists of the more or less great turning points that jazz has made in Italy. Today, D’Andrea shows up with a brand new quartet and a record that certifies his great value. What music does D’Andrea make with this new quartet? I could answer with a phrase taken from the liner notes by Alberto Rodriguez: “I am struck by D’Andrea’s not being a powerful musician; I like his identity as an artist who knows what effort and poetry are.». Made in Italy
Giuseppe Piacentino, Musica Jazz

«Truth be told, esteem and admiration continue to grow with each of his performances and on the occasion of a new album. Furthermore, in recent years his piano playing has acquired an exceptional relaxion that favors perfect timing. D’Andrea can now afford the most daring attempts without thereby altering the continuity, dynamics and progression of his action in the least. Proper timing is essential to express oneself at certain levels, but when you phrase, as in D’Andrea’s case, using a very wide range and a very strong alternation of rhythmic scans (what is precisely synonymous with “high levels”), controlling it can be very difficult. If this is handled with the utmost nonchalance, then we can go so far as to talk about true artistic expression». My One And Only Love
Bruno Schiozzi, Musica Jazz

«It is quite unusual for Italian jazz to have to welcome as masterpieces a couple of albums released more than a year later but both coming from the live recording of a single concert. My Shuffle completes the memory of the Franco D’Andrea quartet’s performance at the French festival in Montpellier: the first great fragment “Quartet Live” turned out to be the best Italian record of 1986 in the Top Jazz poll and this appendix is at least on the same level». My Shuffle
Gian Mario Maletto, Musica Jazz

«What immediately transforms this interest into admiration is the coherence and intelligence of the project, as well as the imaginative acuity of its execution, on everyone’s part. This No Idea Of Time is not a suite divided into two parts, as it might seem, but it is the representation in two versions, albeit of different extensions, of a single piece, as if the quartet invited us to its music room to show us how they work or as if D’Andrea wanted to spare a future archaeologist of Italian jazz the arduous search for alternate takes. It is No Idea of Time that offers those who remember the piano solo version contained in Es the first emotion: it is like seeing the reverse recomposition in slow motion of an explosion. Those that were nervous phrases that escaped the pianist’s fingers the first time around, now are relocated in a decidedly bluesy theme, a sort of riff, which the quartet enunciates and then overturns in an irresistible acceleration (but at the end of each piece we will find instead, for symmetry, a soft landing). The two versions retain the pattern made above all – the title announces – of tempo variations. But if the journey, the individual stages and the travelers are identical, the ideas that pass through the brain vary. This is a test of collective mastery». No Idea Of Time
Gian Mario Maletto, Musica Jazz

«The whole album is a test of exceptional maturity, on a solo, competitive, organizational level. Everywhere there is a perfectly detailed sense of construction: from the preludian thematic “anticipations” of solo piano to the exhibitions arranged in unison, from the synthetic central recapitulations of the theme to the timeless chamber interludes, to the burning free sequences, to the always different close, often surprising. An album-balance of the quartet experience, and the first step towards new horizons. Ultimately, a great record».
Pino Candini, Musica Jazz

«Luis Agudo’s function is not that of a simple supporting actor. In the percussionist, D’Andrea seems to have found his own dark counterpart, the dark and wild side, the surprise effect, the iconoclast that allows him to unscrupulously bump into the spaces of more suffix lyricism. D’Andrea’s musical career can be read as a constant conflict (or conflict creation) between impulse and rationalization; and Enrosadira, with its extraordinary vitality, is the most obvious expression of it». Enrosadira
Giuseppe Piacentino, Musica Jazz