Xenya Roberto Giaquinto, Daniele Germani, Cosimo Boni, Alessandro Lanzoni, Francesco Ponticelli

• 1 The World Watched and Waited 05:04
• 2 U Do U 05:16
• 3 The Good Place 04:30
• 4 Unlike Anything Else Ahead 02:34
• 5 Little Green 06:30
• 6 Feeling Nervous 05:28
• 7 Walk a Little Quicker 05:52
• 8 Chess Game 02:24
• 9 Xenya 02:56
• 10 Trabucco 05:47
• Total Runtime 46:21

Info for Xenya

XENYA is the debut of the collective made up of five of the greatest Italian jazz talents. In a historical period in which welcoming seems difficult and almost forbidden, music offers the opportunity to subvert this trend. Welcoming not only physically but also welcoming other people’s ideas, trying to be part of them and to contribute without judging.

In the ancient Greece, hospitality was sacred and represented by the “Xenya” which contained a series of rules whereby those who welcomed and those who were hosted had to exchange gifts.

Cosimo Boni (trumpet), Daniele Germani (alto saxophone), Alessandro Lanzoni (piano), Francesco Ponticelli (double bass) and Roberto Giaquinto (drums) have donated and granted each other 10 original compositions, using them as a springboard for a dip in other people’s thoughts and souls. Music flows between the different pens without favoring any of them, creating the opening of an imaginary portal towards any possibility. Welcoming therefore becomes a point of inspiration and a beginning.

The album opens with Germani’s “The World Watched and Waited“, an intriguing theme made of lights and shades in which the sound of the collective openly declares itself in all its richness of timbres and shows an ability to conduct the pulsation in an unpredictably, meeting and moving away, but always in a mutual listening.

It’s the turn of the mysterious and introspective “U do U“, in which the compositional vein and the expressive universe of the very young Cosimo Boni are expressed in the ability to wait and enhance the silences, and in the beauty of a declarative and strong sound.

In the following “The Good Place” the drummer Roberto Giaquinto reveals his talents as an inspired composer with a luminous theme, on which his drumming full of orchestral colors, impalpable energy and polyrhythmic gimmicks of great musicality is grafted.

With “Unlike Anything else Ahead“, the writing returns to Germani, who offers us one of his great choral themes for sax, trumpet and piano with the rhythm building a second level, where the rigor of writing is contrasted by the freedom and interaction between double bass and drums.

We are halfway through the album and it is the turn of Francesco Ponticelli’s “Little Green“, an expressive turning point with a theme characterized by an edgy atmosphere and the obsessiveness of its intervals and melodic motifs. Certainly you can find in light the undisputed qualities of the now consecrated Alessandro Lanzoni, who leads the expressive atmosphere since the introduction and develops a crescendo with the quintet that acts as a springboard for his elegiac solo, and leaves space after a new thematic moment for the heated dialogue between Germani and Boni .

We are at the sixth track of the album, “Feeling Nervous” by Alessandro Lanzoni, a tune that, as the title already reveals, shows great impetuousness and descriptive skills in a post-bop dimension in which, in addition to the beautiful introduction by the composer, stand out the beautiful solos of Germani and Boni, full of rhythmic energy and freshness of ideas confirming their great qualities as improvisers as well as composers, despite the young age of both.

In fact it’s in the following track that both are confirmed as absolute out of class with “Walk a Little Quicker“, a theme of great melodic inspiration written by four hands, in which, in addition to the harmony of ideas, the great positivity and beauty of thought is highlighted.

We are approaching the end and the atmosphere relaxes with the brief and brooding “Chess Game” by Ponticelli, a real pearl in which the rhythm of a chess game manifests itself in the counterpoint between the voices of the soloists and in the waits of the hypnotic dialogue of the rhythm section on the piano vamp.

The penultimate track is the one that gives the album its name, “Xenya“, a wonderful and lyrical ballad written by Lanzoni, with a solemn gait, full of hope and underground bluesy references, capable of distilling the most distant experiences of jazz in a profound and full of beauty narrative.

The album ends with “Trabucco“, up tempo even 8th written by Germani and focused on a rhythmic vamp with a light Latin flavor on which a great lyrical theme and open harmonies are released, conducted with great energy by the entire line-up. The happiest and most inspired solos on the album take turns, in an atmosphere of sharing that translates the inspiring idea of ​​this album into music and interplay.

Cosimo Boni, trumpet
Daniele Germani, alto saxophone
Alessandro Lanzoni, piano
Francesco Ponticelli, double bass
Roberto Giaquinto, drums

Recorded on September 2020 at Cicaleto Recording Studio (Arezzo) by Francesco Ponticelli
Mixed & Mastered on April 2021 at Sear Sound (NY) by Jeremy Loucas
Produced by GleAM Records

Cosimo Boni
is a trumpet player, composer and educator. He was born and raised in the countryside near Florence (Italy) and he is now based in New York.

He started playing trumpet at age 11 and soon after he started taking private lessons at the local school of music. After falling in love with the sounds of great masters like Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Wayne Shorter he moved to Boston,MA to study at Berklee College of Music on a scholarship where he graduated with a Bachelor in Performance and a Master Degree in Contemporary Performance at the prestigious Global Jazz Institute. ​

During his time in Boston he studied and performed with a lot of different artists like Darren Barrett, Jason Palmer, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, George Garzone and many others. ​

Cosimo is now leading his own bands and has performed in venues and festivals in the USA, Italy, Dominican Republic, Spain and Poland.

Daniele Germani
is a saxophone and piano specialist. He graduated from the Conservatory of Licino Refice in Frosinone (Italy) and earned a bachelor degree in music performance at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. During his time in the United States he has studied and collaborated with many great musicians such as Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, John Patitucci, Ben Street, Terry Lyne Carrington, Kenny Werner, Bob Moses, Dave Kikoski, and George Garzone. He has also traveled and performed in famous jazz festivals and clubs around United States, South America and Europe. Daniele currently resides in Brooklyn where he is actively involved in numerous musical projects. His most recent work includes and an album traversing the boundaries of modern and free jazz, created in collaboration with pianist Leo Genovese. Daniele was one of the last student of the legendary saxophonist Lee Konitz

Alessandro Lanzoni
The award for “Top Jazz 2013” as best new talent of the year, decided by the most qualified Italian journalists on behalf of the Musica Jazz magazine, recognizes Alessandro Lanzoni as one of the great personalities of Italian jazz . With his impressive curriculum, having experiences of absolute prestige, Alessandro has for a number of years now come to the attention of the world of music.

Alessandro, already at a very early age, showed himself to also be a successful leader and he can by now be proud of important international experiences in Europe, Latin America, Israel and the USA, where he has received very gratifying reviews otherwise not so common for a foreign artist. (Ira Gitler, after having heard him in Piano Solo at the UN Building, stated from the heights of his seventy years’ of pure jazz history in his column for Jazzimprov. NY:” He shouldn’t be judged as a young musician. He is already exceptional and with every probability he will become even more so”).

The new album “Dark Flavour”, produced together with his Trio, recently released by Cam Jazz, has been received by critics as proof of artistic development, making the epithet of “enfant prodige” out of place. This “title” was acceptable when it referred to the initial period of a career which started at the early age of just 14, confirmed with the “Premio Massimo Urbani “(2006) and then reconfirmed with the “Primo Premio” dedicated to “Luca Flores” of Florence (2008), until being awarded the “Best Young Soloist” at the prestigious “Martial Solal” of Paris (2010) competition.

His training as a musician is the result of an intense journey, developing in two directions: His “classical” studies, leading to his Diploma of Piano obtained in 2012, gaining the highest marks, namely Distinction and Honourable Mention at the Cherubini of Florence Conservatory with Giovanna Prestia as the music instructor. After this came a period of further jazz studies under the watchful eye of L. Pieri and M. Grossi, which was followed by summer courses of Siena Jazz and those of Berklee at Boston and the two-year course In Jam, also part of Siena Jazz, where he was able to take advantage of high level teaching by Masters of the caliber of Danilo Perez, Kenny Werner, Aaron Goldberg, Steve Kuhn, John Taylor, Franco D’Andrea, Stefano Battaglia, Danilo Rea. Also, as proof of an unusual versatility as a musician, Alessandro took up the study of cello and composition which will lead to a specialist Degree in Composition and Jazz Arrangement at the Conservatory of Florence.

Visible from a very young age in the posters of the most important Italian music festivals (Umbria Jazz, Ravello Festival, Roma Casa del Jazz, Moncalieri Jazz, Roma Auditorium Parco della Musica, Metastasio Jazz , Dolomiti Ski Jazz, Umbria Jazz Winter, Finestra Jazz, Pescara Jazz Festival, Musicus Concentus, Ancona Jazz Summer Festival, Forma e Poesia nel Jazz (Cagliari), Festival Letterature di Roma, Sudtirol Jazz Festival Alto Adige, Bologna Jazz Festival, Padova Jazz Festival, Grey Cat Festival, Festival Pianistico di Trieste, Music Pool Network Sonoro, Estate Fiesolana, Novara Jazz, Festival Mundus, Etruria Jazz, Chianti Festival, Odio l'estate Festival -Roma Villa Carpegna-, Vicenza Jazz, Festival Crossroads....), his career has lead him to play side by side with the most prestigious musicians such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lee Konitz, Aldo Romano, Roberto Gatto, Jeff Ballard, Larry Granadier, Ambrose Akinmusire, Aaron Goldberg, Miguel Zenon, Michael Blake, Barbara Casini, Ares Tavolazzi, Nico Gori, Walter Paoli, Lello Pareti, Cocco Cantini, Maria Pia De Vito, Fabrizio Bosso, Fabrizio Sferra, Gianni Basso, Renato Sellani, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Nick Myers and many more.

Abroad he has already been able to show his talent in Germany, Austria (Porgy and Bess Jazz Club-Wien), Israel (Haifa e Festival Internazionale di Eilat), Colombia, Panama Jazz Festival, the USA (Morgan Library Auditorium New York), France (Parigi-Sunset Sunside, Savoie Jazz Festival, Les Mans....), and recently in Spain, where he played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Oviedo Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Marzio Conti.

Alessandro collaborates on a regular basis with Roberto Gatto, with whom he has recorded together with his Trio, the album Replay for the Auditorium Parco della Musica label (and in Otteto the album “Pure Imagination”, Albore), and with Aldo Romano who asked him to participate in his group “New Blood” (together with Michel Benita and Baptiste Herbin) so as to produce the “Connection” CD (Dreyfuss), and for a long series of concerts in the most important French Festivals.

After the first albums recorded with Philology (“Should I care”, “On the Snow” and “Poetical Lee” with the participation of Lee Konitz), the recent release of “Dark Flavour” for the CAM JAZZ label, recorded together with his Trio (Matteo Bortone double bass and Enrico Morello drums), has created interest on behalf of the Press and music critics. They have defined this production a “crystalline beauty” (Jacopo Cosi – L’Unità)in which “the pianist masters and controls the structures with creativity, he shapes the musical material and he forms it again following the fertile inspiration of his very own sensibility”.(Paola Parri . Pianosolo.it)

His activity is followed with attention by the Media: his partecipations in Rai radio programmes are frequent (“La stanza della musica”, “Piazza Verdi”, “Doctor Djembé”, Radio Tre “Radio3 Suite”, Radio Due “Rai Tunes”).

Lots of newspapers (Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Il Tirreno, Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione, L’Unità and so on) have dedicated him several articles and the eminent, specialized magazines (Jazzit, Musica Jazz, Jazz Magazine, the American “Jazz Times”, the French “Jazz Hot” and the German “Neuen Musik Zeitung”) have reviwed his recording production. The monthly “Jazz Magazine” dedicated him its cover and a long interview.

Francesco Ponticelli
is one of the most active jazz bass players in Italy, able to fit in the most diverse contexts, he collaborated with many of the most influential musicians of the scene, making himself known for the great interplay and the continuous imaginative contribution.

Self-taught double-bass player, he had the privilege of playing alongside some of the most influential musicians on the international scene, to whom he owes much of his musical training; Enrico Rava in the first place, who hired him in the group “New Generation” at the beginning of his career when he was 22 years old.

The interest in writing led him to create formations in his name with which he recorded two records, “Ellipses” and “Kon-Tiki” (published by Tuk Music), which highlighted him as one of the composers more interesting and innovative in the Italian jazz scene.

Roberto Giaquinto
Italian drummer Roberto Giaquinto started out his musical journey with his older brother in Naples, Italy, playing with different local bands around the city while still in middle school.

Thanks to the support of his family he was able to keep developing his passion for music throughout high school. After he moved to Rome he graduated in jazz arranging at the conservatory Licino Refice. In 2009 he was awarded a scholarship for Berklee College of Music and after moving to Boston in 2010 he was selected to be part of the Global Jazz Institute, an intensive honorary program directed by Danilo Perez, and with Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Dave Liebman, Adam Cruz and Ben Street.

Since coming to the States Giaquinto has performed in many festival and clubs such as the Blue Note, Birdland, Kimmel Center, Detroit Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Nancy Jazz Pulsation, Kennedy Center, Jazz en Comminges, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Bregen Jazz Fest among many others.

Giaquinto has collaborated with musicians such as George Garzone, Chris Cheek, Donny McCaslin, Aaron Parks, Dayna Stephens, Gilad Hekselman, Troy Roberts, Miguel-Atwood Ferguson, Jason Palmer, Steve Wilson and many more.

He is currently based in New York City and he is involved in a lot of projects such as the Daniel Rotem Group, Mike Bono Trio, Adison Evans Quintet, Silvano Monasterios Group etc. With pianist Yakir Arbib he has formed the band Radio Intro, a duo of improvised music that also has recorded a very acclaimed album “Sketches on the Radio” live in Canada. Encouraged by his mentor Hal Crook, Giaquinto gave life to his own project in which he plays his original compositions. Also very passionate about education, besides teaching regularly in NYC and in masterclasses around the world, he is the founder and director of the In Motion Beat Fest, a very progressive music workshop and concert series in Naples, Italy.

This album contains no booklet.