Enrico Pieranunzi and Bert Van Den Brink on piano. CD

Enrico Pieranunzi on piano, Marc Johnson on double bass, and Joey Baron on drums. CD

Enrico Pieranunzi on piano – with Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, Chris Potter on sax, Charlie Haden on bass, and Paul Motian on drums. Includes themes from "I Vitelloni", "Amarcord", "La Dolce Vita", "La Strada", and "Le Notti Di Cabiria". CD

The great Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi is featured here in three great records! First up is New Lands – a warmly-crafted trio set from Enrio Pieranunzi – a set that still shows his modern tones on the piano, but which also has a sensitivity that really makes things open up overall! The group is a trio – with Marc Johnson on bass and Joey Baron on drums – both subtle players who really let the piano take the lead at times, as Enrico stretches out on long tracks that include "New Lands", "A Child Is Born", "The Mood Is Good", and "If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You". Daedalus Wings is an unusual record, and one that features twin piano work from Bert Van Den Brink and Enrico Pieranunzi – not on long, free tracks, but on these beautiful shorter numbers that really seem to resonate strongly with the voices of each player! Titles include "Daedalus Suite", "Si Peu De Temps", "Pour Claude", "Guitar Blues", "Woods", and "O Toi Desir" – plus two solo takes by each player on "I Can't Get Started". Improvised Forms For Trio is a really different album from pianist Enrico Pieranunzi – and one that really lives up to its title! Rather than being song-based – featuring compositions by Enrico or some of his contemporaries – the record features the trio improvising, but never in a free jazz way – always with a groove, and a strong sense of rhythmic cohesion – but clearly improvising their way through the 18 short numbers that make up the set! The energy is great – in ways that maybe make the record one of Pieranunzi's most compelling records – and the rest of the group features Hein Van De Geyn on bass and Hans Van Oosterhout on drums. Titles include "Forms" 1 through 18. CD

Enrico Pieranunzi on piano and Paul Motion on drums. CD

Featuring Kenny Wheeler on Trumpet. CD

A great idea – jazz piano trio versions of Morricone soundtrack tunes, played here by Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, with backing by Marc Johnson on bass and Joey Baron on drums. The team of Johnson and Baron have a perfect touch of lyricality to open these tunes up – taking lesser-known Morricone themes, and working them like jazz standards to show the depth of composition and possibilities available to the tunes. One of the great shames of Morricone's career is that he wrote so many darn great soundtracks that most of his tunes never got as much variation and acclaim as the work of other 60s soundtrack composers – and hopefully a set like this will begin to correct that! Titles include "Addio Fratello Crudele", "I Malamondo", "La Domenica Specialmente", "Mio Caro Dottor Grasler", "Ninfa Plebea", "Jona Che Visse Nella Balena", "Le Mani Sporche", "Quando Le Donne Avevano La Coda", "Il Prato", and "Just Beyond The Horizon". CD

A really different album from pianist Enrico Pieranunzi – and one that really lives up to its title! Rather than being song-based – featuring compositions by Enrico or some of his contemporaries – the record features the trio improvising, but never in a free jazz way – always with a groove, and a strong sense of rhythmic cohesion – but clearly improvising their way through the 18 short numbers that make up the set! The energy is great – in ways that maybe make the record one of Pieranunzi's most compelling records – and the rest of the group features Hein Van De Geyn on bass and Hans Van Oosterhout on drums. Titles include "Forms" 1 through 18. CD

Enrico Pieranunzi on piano, Mark Johnson on bass, and Joey Baron on drums. CD

Enrico Pieranunzi on piano, Marc Johnson on double bass, and Joey Baron on drums. CD

A really different album from pianist Enrico Pieranunzi – and one that really lives up to its title! Rather than being song-based – featuring compositions by Enrico or some of his contemporaries – the record features the trio improvising, but never in a free jazz way – always with a groove, and a strong sense of rhythmic cohesion – but clearly improvising their way through the 18 short numbers that make up the set! The energy is great – in ways that maybe make the record one of Pieranunzi's most compelling records – and the rest of the group features Hein Van De Geyn on bass and Hans Van Oosterhout on drums. Titles include "Forms" 1 through 18. CD

A great date that's almost as noteworthy for the presence of Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax and flute as it is for that of leader Enrico Pieranunzi on piano! There's a really great feel to the record – one that's got some of the lighter, airier moments of Pieranunzi's other records of the time – but which also takes on a bolder, more soulful sort of feel too – especially when Cuber steps in on his well-blown baritone! A few tracks feature flute, taken slightly more lightly – but only just a bit more so – and the rest of the group features Enzio Pietropaoli on bass and Alfredo Golino on drums and percussion. Pieranunzi plays electric piano on a few tunes – and titles include "Hip Switch", "Inconsequence", "The Bluesman", "Roberta", and "The Secret Ingredient". CD

Killer funk from the Italian scene of the 70s – work by the Pulsar Music Ltd combo, originally used as the soundtrack for the crime classic Milano Violenta! Italian crime films were really hitting their height at the time – documenting the new wave of terror that was hitting the cities in the 70s – and music like this perfectly set the scene, with a sharp mix of funk, jazz, and other urban elements – all served up in a non-stop barrage of totally great cuts, of the sort that you'd only find sparsely on American soundtracks of the period. Music is composed by Italian jazz great Enrico Pieranunzi with Silvano Chimenti – and titles include "Leyla Theme", "Running", "Walking At Sunrise", "Six In", "Swinging Day", "Blue Funk", "Dreamland", and "Cat Theme". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful sound library set from Piero Umiliani, and one that's overflowing with contributions from some mighty hip jazz musicians on the Italian scene of the 70s – including Enrico Pieranunzi on both electric and acoustic piano, Oscar Valdambrini on trumpet, Dino Piana on trombone, and Bruno Tommaso on bass – all working with very cool organ and moog from Piero himself! There's flute on many tracks – played by both S Genovese and N Rapicavoli, both players we don't know at all – and the instrument is often used in these cool, compressed ways that are mighty nice – and which make a stunning sonic counterpart to the other instrumentation, especially when Umiliani turns up some of the odd effects in the production! Titles include "Regalita", "Babilonia", "Chiaroscuro", "Battimenti A Tarantella", "Flauto Notturno", "Penombra", and "Fantasia Italica". LP, Vinyl record album