Fulvio Sigurta

“The Oldest Living Thing”

(Cam Jazz CAMJ7886-2)

Italian born, London based trumpeter and composer Fulvio Sigurta studied classical trumpet at the Conservatorio Luca Marenzia in Brescia before taking up a scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. After a return to Brescia he then came to London to study Jazz at The Guildhall School of Music gaining a Masters with Distinction.

Sigurta has since worked regularly with both British and Italian musicians. He has been closely associated with the UK band Nostalgia 77 and the individual musicians involved with it including saxophonist James Allsopp, bassist Rhiaan Vosloo and drummer Tim Giles. Other musicians with whom he has worked whose names are likely to be familiar to British audiences are pianists John Taylor, Keith Tippett and Bruno Heinen and vocalists Ruthie Culver and Sara Mitra.
He has also recorded with the popular pianist/vocalist Jamie Cullum, appearing on Cullum’s recent “Interlude” album.

Sigurta has had a long term musical relationship with the guitarist Federico Casagrande, Italian born but now based in Paris. The pair met when both were studying at Berklee and they have worked together many times since with Casagrande appearing on Sigurta’s 2011 Cam Jazz release “House of Cards”, an album that also included Allsopp and the rhythm section of Vosloo and Giles. Casagrande leads several projects of his own and has released a total of ten albums as either leader or co-leader.

“The Oldest Living Thing” is Sigurta’s fourth album for the Italian label Cam Jazz, also the current recording home of the great John Taylor. Previous releases have been “House of Cards” (as alluded to above) plus “Through The Journey” (2012), a duo set with pianist Claudio Filippini and “SPL” (2013) a trio date with Andrea Lombardini (electric bass) and Alessandro Paternesi (drums).

“The Oldest Living Thing” began with both Sigurta and Casagrande composing pieces for the project and also taking the decision to include their version of Ennio Morricone’s enduringly popular “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” on the finished album. It was Sigurta, together with producer Ermanno Basso who suggested that they approach the great Steve Swallow and ask him to become involved with the project. To their delight the American accepted but the planned two days of recording at the famous Artesuono Studios were cut short due to an airline delay with regard to the delivery of Swallow’s custom made five string bass. The newly convened trio rehearsed using a borrowed bass but the actual recording session had to be telescoped into a mere six hours. The recorded evidence suggests that these problems did much to concentrate the minds of the musicians and the finished product is characterised by its clarity and beauty allied to a sense of quietly disciplined artistic rigour.

The music on “The Oldest Living Thing” can only be described as “chamber jazz”. In his liner notes Brian Morton talks of the influence on Sigurta of both Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler and posits the suggestion that the album title refers to music itself. Sigurta’s tone on both trumpet and flugel horn is rich and round but also striking in terms of both clarity and economy, he plays nothing superfluous and doesn’t waste a note. Casagrande plays acoustic guitar throughout and his playing dovetails neatly with Swallow’s distinctive, singing electric bass tone, a sound that is almost guitar like in itself. 

The album commences with Sigurta’s title track, the gorgeous melody well served by the composer’s flawless playing and the delicate tracery of acoustic guitar and electric bass. 

Casagrande’s guitar introduces his own “Sorrows And Joys Of A Lamb” which boasts a similarly delightful melody and exhibits similar musical virtues. Sigurta’s trumpeting is both agile and expressive and he combines well with Casagrande’s cleanly picked guitar and Swallow’s supportive bass. For all his qualities as a soloist Swallow is also an excellent team player as he reveals both here and elsewhere.

It’s Swallow’s bass that begins Sigurta’s gently brooding “Helichrysum”, a reflective item even in the context of this most contemplative of albums. Sigurta’s tone is almost a whisper and there’s some beautiful filigree guitar work above the underpinning ostinato of Swallow’s bass. 

Casagrande’s “Marmotte” is like a kind of courtly dance as guitar and bass intertwine exquisitely in an extended mid tune duet.

Also by Casagrande “Sunday Snow Flakes” is initially based around the composer’s insistent guitar line which provides the framework for Sigurta’s trumpet meditations which see the leader more fully exploring the full range of his instrument and introducing the slurring technique. There’s also a solo from Casagrande himself as Swallow limits himself to a largely supportive role.

Swallow’s ominous sounding bass pulse is at the heart of Sigurta’s “Travel Back” a piece that Morton describes as “the scratchiest, most restless item here”. Sigurta’s trumpet and Casagrande’s appropriately scratchy acoustic spar fitfully above Swallow’s grounding bass figure.

The Morricone piece features Sigurta on flugel, his delicately nuanced playing honouring the famous theme and contrasting well with the ringing, harder edged sound of Casagrande’s tautly strung acoustic. “The Olive Tree Of Noah” then retains essentially the same instrumental sounds on a charming melody from Sigurta’s own pen.

Casagrande’s “Loft” invokes a similar atmosphere to the earlier “Travel Back” as Sigurta’s trumpet dances airily above Casagrande’s restless, possibly flamenco inspired guitar rhythms and pulses. The piece brings a welcome sense of urgency to the proceedings.

The album concludes with a duo version of the title track played by Sigurta and Casagrande that is, if anything, even more serene and beautiful than its trio counterpart that opens the album.

“The Oldest Living Thing” is a consistently beautiful album that includes some delightful melodies and the playing is flawless throughout with Sigurta in particular impressing with both the purity and the expressiveness of his sound. However the album is rather one paced and the overall mood of prettiness allied to quiet concentration can become a little soporific after a while with tracks like “Travel Back” and “Loft” providing a long overdue injection of pace. There’s also the sense that Swallow is rather underused, he links up well with Casagrande early on and also delivers some distinctive anchoring bass lines but there’s little of the fluent, melodic, liquid soloing for which he is so justly renowned. It may be that the time restraints counted against the trio in this regard.

There is much to enjoy about “The Oldest Living Thing” but its rarefied, chamber jazz atmosphere won’t be to the taste of all listeners. The addition of a drummer, Tim Giles perhaps, on selected tracks might have helped to give the album greater variety and energy but I’ve no doubt that Sigurta considers the album to be a success on its own terms, a fulfilling expression of a unified sound and concept. 

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