OVERLAND - Paolo Russo Trio

Flavio Caprera / July 2019

“The distance from his native Abruzzo, perhaps, is good for Paolo Russo. The sense of nostalgia that pervades his music is very strong and rooted in his bones as a musician (Nobil Son E Fatal). The distance creates a lucid and visceral detachment, and at the same time gives life to strong emotions that Russo manages to mediate and represent through the bandoneon. After all, nostalgia is a feeling that underlies tango, music that Russo performs with excellent results. To this is added jazz, bossa nova, the sounds of his native land and that suffused and resplendent Danish brilliance which in itself can be classified as the sound of silence (Kinsarvik). Overland, recorded in trio with the Swedish Thommy Andersson on double bass and Marcello Di Leonardo on drums, also benefits from the external contribution of the soprano sax by Fabrizio Mandolini and Bruno Marcozzi on percussion. Here Russo moves in a dual capacity as a pianist and bandoneonist, to which is added the composer's signature style. Overland is a little gem, balanced, diverse in form and played with skill and rigour. It ranges between genres with a profound knowledge of the subject, without sacrificing a narrative full of feeling; exciting and poetic. Favourite song: Ruinen. Recommended!”

Marco Maiocco / June 2019

“The "nuevo tango" by Paolo Russo, virtuoso of the bandoneón, pianist, composer, originally from Pescara, but resident in Copenhagen for over twenty years, is enriched with swinging and dynamic jazz cadences, which blend airily with refined South American atmospheres and an acquired Nordic sensibility, decidedly sunnier than usual.

Russo is a complete musician who graduated in piano at the Conservatory of Pescara, then perfected it (among many other things) in New York with the American jazzman Richie Beirach (collaborator of Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dave Liebman), and in Buenos Aires with the maestro Argentine bandoneonist Néstor Marconi.

With fifteen albums already to his name, Paolo Russo boasts a series of illustrious collaborations, including prestigious examples with some great jazz artists, such as Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu and Gian Luigi Trovesi.

The bandoneón is an instrument with an unmistakable sound, slightly "sighing", melancholy, and yet not without its darting exotic vitality, which shelters it (in our opinion) from the risk of being boring, as an accordion can sometimes be; and it is also a "diabolical" instrument, very complicated to play (especially for those who venture, as Paolo Russo masterfully does, into articulated and courageous evolutions), at least in its diatonic version: every button (very broadly) is able to produce two tones or sounds, depending on whether or not the bellows are compressed, and is arranged on the keyboard in a non-scalar manner, so as not to grant intuitive reference points.

Russo is a profound connoisseur and passionate divulger: for the famous instrument that was definitively brought to the world by Astor Piazzolla's compositional inspiration, he has been able to write, with insight and sensitivity, several works and arrangements for duo, ensemble and orchestra.

In the coming months his first Concerto for Bandoneon and Chamber Orchestra will be presented in Europe and in South America, while the instrumental eleven movements of the octet Tangology have recently been published, and the third volume is dedicated to the exploration of the diatonic bandoneón, Bandoneon Solo Vol. III - Songs From The Forest, whose material, entirely made up of original pieces and free improvisations, has found inspiration in the tranquil peace of the Danish forest landscapes.

The vibrant Overland, which Russo has co-produced with the US label Odradek Records, features a dozen pleasant and engaging original songs: the music flows with extreme naturalness, without ever being watered down into inconsistent easy listening.

Accompanying Paolo Russo are the valiant members of his trio, namely the excellent Swedish double-bass player Thommy Andersson, who revives the noble tradition of Nordic double-bass with taste and talent (just listen to the bow in the initial Nobil son and fatal), and the trusted and precise Pescaran (but now Roman by adoption) drummer Marcello Di Leonardo; then there is the addition (here and there) of the agile and suggestive incursions of the Abruzzese Fabrizio Mandolini on soprano sax, and elegant and colourful percussion by Bruno Marcozzi. An invigorating listen.”

June 2019

“He is one of the leading musicians on the Northern European scene. True master of the bandoneon, welcomed and exalted in the exclusive circles of Paris and Buenos Aires, Paolo Russo is originally from Pescara but for over 23 years he has lived in Copenhagen, a city that initially "adopted" and then artistically inspired him: he established himself in the Danish and Scandinavian jazz scene, both for his expressive and disruptive style on the piano, and for the uniqueness of his approach to the bandoneon, an instrument with which he was invited to the most prestigious locations around the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Symphony Space in New York, the Berliner Konzerthaus, the Musikverein in Vienna.

"Vibrant Mediterranean sounds, ethereal Nordic landscapes, dreamy cinematic reminiscences that suddenly turn to jazz, permeated by a distant echo of Argentine tango": this is how his music is described.

In his career, Paolo Russo has collaborated with great artists of the Italian and international scene, including Lelo Nika, Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu, Caroline Henderson, Howe Gelb, Marilyn Mazur, Nico Gori, Gianluigi Trovesi, Pablo Ziegler, Bo Stief, Etta Cameron, Line Kruse, Thomas Clausen, Robertinho Silva, Diego Figueiredo, Poul Krebs, Jesper Bodilsen, Emanuele Cisi, Eliel Lazo, Diego Schissi, Calixto Oviedo, Karima Nayt.

Among his various projects with Italian musicians is the Russo-Bollani-Fresu trio with which he performed in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

For the bandoneon he has written several arrangements for duo, ensemble and orchestra, formations with which he regularly performs live. His recent album "Bandoneon Solo Vol.II - Originals" is an anthology of original compositions for the instrument, published both as a physical disc and as a manual-book, and has been called a masterpiece by the great Argentine Maestro Néstor Marconi (who also wrote the introductory notes), while his recent work "Imaginary Soundtrack", recorded in the studio in Italy last January, inspired by the magic of Italian cinematographic music, is a courageous attempt to present a soundtrack without a film, inviting the audience to create, by listening, their own images, characters, sets and dialogues.
In the coming months his first Concerto for Bandoneon and Chamber Orchestra will be presented in Europe and in South America.

He has 15 albums in his name (and has participated in over 50 recordings); the new one is titled "Overland", which he co-produced with the US label Odradek Records. Ten original pieces form the compelling and charismatic narrative, sometimes dreamy and melancholy, for which Paolo Russo wanted as traveling companions the Swedish double-bass player Thommy Andresson - with whom he has collaborated for various record productions - and the drummer Marcello Di Leonardo, colleague and longtime friend with whom he has already shared many moments of his musical journey.

The timbral alternation between his piano - his first instrument - and the bandoneon and his colorful sound interaction with the rhythm section, enriched at times by the presence of the soprano sax of Fabrizio Mandolini and the colours of the percussion by Bruno Marcozzi (guests in the album), reveal a surprising variety in the texture of the musical tale, typical of the aesthetics of Paolo Russo. The ten tracks Nobil son and fatal, Ruinen, Filastrocca, Kinsarvik, O Golfinho Azul, Riviera, Rita, Carioca dream, The chant, Overland - are ten stories that dance between Nordic atmospheres, burgeoning Mediterranean flavours, and syncopated South American accents.