Guido Spannocchi

“Kammermusik”

(Audioguido Records)

Guido Spannocchi – alto saxophone, Danny Keane – violoncello, Andrea Di Biase – double bass, James Larter – vibraphone, tubular bells, percussion

Guido Spannocchi is an Austrian born saxophonist and composer based in London. Now resident in the UK for fourteen years he has become an established presence on the British jazz scene but still returns regularly to perform in his homeland.

I first became aware of Spannocchi’s music when he brought his regular quartet featuring Danny Keane on keyboards, Jason Simpson on electric bass and Peter Adam Hill on drums to Worcester to perform at a Music Spoken Here event at The Marr’s Bar. This excellent performance is reviewed here, my account forming the basis for much of the biographical detail reproduced below;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/guido-spannocchi-quartet-music-spoken-here-the-marrs-bar-worcester-02-05-2024

Spannocchi studied jazz saxophone, classical flute and musicology at the Conservatoire in his home city of Vienna before moving to Paris for two years as a post graduate.

His recorded output includes “Perihelion”, a 2021 album recorded with a sextet featuring Sylvie Leys on tenor sax, Jay Phelps on trumpet, Robert Mitchell on keyboards, Tristan Banks at the drums and Michaelangelo Scandroglio on double bass. 

The music on “Perihelion” is comparatively tightly arranged but Spannocchi’s live shows place a greater emphasis on the art of improvisation. The 2022 concert recording “Live at Porgy & Bess” was documented at Vienna’s leading jazz club and features a quartet comprised of Spannocchi, Keane, Hill and electric bass specialist Ruth Goller. The programme sees the quartet stretching out on a mix of pieces from the “Perihelion” recording, in addition to a number of newer tunes.

“Live at London Jazz Festival 2022” is a limited edition cassette only release that captures the Spannocchi / Goller / Keane / Hill quartet at the Signature Brew venue in Haggerston playing a wholly improvised set of “collective spontaneous compositions”. It’s not a ‘free jazz’ album as such, there are still readily discernible grooves and melodies and the sound is immediately recognisable as that of the Guido Spannocchi Quartet. Each side of the cassette is a continuous performance with the ‘compositions’ linked together. The album packaging doesn’t list tune titles but online sources demarcate the music into titled sections, these presumably named by Spannocchi.

The above are the recordings that I caught up with following that Worcester performance, but as his Bandcamp page reveals Spannocchi has been far far more prolific than this. Previous recordings include the albums “Terms and Condition” (2018), “All of the Above” (2019) and “Elevated Music” (2020), the latter made with pianist / vocalist Rupert Cox. There are also a number of digital EPs and single tracks recorded with a wide range of different international line-ups. 

From 2021 “ease and ooze” is a freely improvised set credited to the quartet of Guido Spannocchi alto saxophone, Martin Siewert guitar, slide guitar, effects Gina Schwarz electric bass, Matheus Jardim drums.

For full details of Spannocchi’s recorded output please see;
https://audioguido.bandcamp.com/music

First released in April 2026 Spannocchi’s latest offering is “Kammermusik”, an album that combines the classical music influences of his Viennese childhood with the jazz and world music aesthetics that he has since embraced during the course of a musical career that has taken him to many countries, including the US, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.

Here’s what Spannocchi’s Bandcamp page has to say about his new work;
 With “Kammermusik” (chamber music) Spannocchi explores his childhood growing up in Vienna surrounded by classical music and shows how his professional life in the British metropolis London makes its mark with a modern cosmopolitan sound informed by his experiences and impressions of extensive touring and embracing the sound of the world. The music combines idioms of jazz, contemporary chamber music and elements of exotica yet stays fresh and afar from clichés or tropes presenting a new soundscape and element of solace in our hectic world 

The line up finds the versatile Keane, a virtuoso keyboard soloist, moving to cello alongside Italian born, London based Andrea Biase on double bass and James Larter, percussionist with the London Philharmonia, on vibes, tubular bells and other percussion.

Given the album title and an instrumental format devoid of kit drums it comes as no surprise to learn that the music is essentially ‘chamber jazz’, or for those with a knowledge of jazz history ‘third stream’. But that’s not to say that the music is lacking in terms of dynamism or interest. The unusual line-up opens a range of textural possibilities, which Spannocchi and the trio deploy to maximum advantage.

Album opener “Echoes of your formal education”, the title perhaps a reference to Spannocchi’s classical background, sees the instrumental lead change hands several times as sax and cello intertwine, underpinned by Di Biase’s flexible bass lines and Larter’s use of tubular bells and later vibes. Spannocchi and Larter also emerge as featured soloists, sparkling on alto sax and vibes respectively. There’s a luminous quality to this quartet’s music that informs the album as a whole.

“Imaginary Capetown” was one of the tunes played by Spannocchi’s jazz quartet at that Worcester appearance. It sounds very different in this new arrangement, but with Larter expanding his range of percussive devices it still retains something of the rhythmic drive that made the piece such a popular item at The Marr’s Bar. Spannocchi delivers an alto sax solo that is both fluent and sinuous, and also wonderfully idiosyncratic. He’s followed by what sounds like a stylophone, presumably played by Larter or Keane, which maintains the level of quirkiness. Larter also re-introduces the tubular bells at strategic points along the way.

Di Biase, one of the most in demand bassists on the London scene, introduces “Seven Dials Triptychon”, with the clanging of Larter’s percussion providing additional urgency. Spannocchi’s alto sax then takes the lead, soloing above Di Biase’s anchoring bass as the music negotiates a series of multiple twists and turns with Larter’s percussion adding colour as well as rhythm. Keane then takes his first extended solo of the set, his playing fiery and passionate as he pushes the cello to its limits. He really is an astonishing musician, a hugely gifted keyboard player and cellist and also a talented composer who has recently issued his second solo album “Kinesis”.

Keane also features prominently on the Schoenberg inspired “Pensees / Meditations”, a more reflective and contemplative work that features his playing both with and without the bow. Keane’s contribution includes a pizzicato cello solo that interlocks with the plucked sounds of Di Biase’s bass. The performance also includes concise solos from alto sax and vibes.

“Full moon on the Bospurus” is introduced by the combination of sax and double bass, with bowed cello and the shimmer of vibes subsequently added. Keane’s cello solo is exquisitely beautiful on a piece that achieves the kind of serenity evoked by the highly descriptive title. Spannocchi also features briefly as a soloist on this charming vignette – at a little over three minutes in duration it’s the shortest track on the album, but also one of the most effective.

Larter’s percolating vibes and Di Biase’s jaunty bass walk enliven “DKT”, a beguiling blend of jazz and Minimalism with Larter’s recurring vibes motif at the heart of the performance. Spannocchi solos above the rippling motifs and Larter also breaks cover to deliver a more orthodox vibes solo, supported by the ever dependable Di Biase at the bass.

“Kivu” re-introduces the quartet’s melancholic side with Keane’s bowed cello coming to the fore alongside the leader’s plaintive sounding alto. Larter’s percussive colourations deploy a variety of small percussive items alongside the vibes while Di Biase’s sonorous bass undertow underpins the whole piece.

“Contra Corrente” re-introduces the Minimalist influence before diverging into something more straight forwardly melodic, with alto sax leading the way, shadowed by bowed cello and underpinned by plucked bass. Larter delivers a mellifluous vibes solo before the circling motifs return towards the close, with Spannocchi briefly wandering into the realms of extended technique.

The album concludes with “Retrospect”, which announces itself with an atmospheric dialogue between the leader’s alto and Keane’s bowed cello. The introduction of bass and vibes then gives the piece more of an old style jazz feel, with the excellent Di Biase delivering his first and only solo of the set on double bass, with the leader following on alto sax.

Presented as a bonus track the recording also features a lengthy spoken discourse, entirely in German, which I assume to be about the music that we have just heard.

When I first heard this album I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, especially as it was so different to the three previous Spannocchi albums that I had heard. With a greater emphasis on composition and on atmosphere building it’s an album that slowly draws the listener into the distinctive sound-world of this unusually configured quartet. Ultimately the album represents an immersive and frequently beautiful listening experience.

“Kammermusik” skilfully combines Spannocchi’s jazz and classical influences, and much more besides. The playing from all four musicians is excellent throughout and I particularly enjoyed Larter’s contribution.

A word too for Guido’s brother Raphael Spannocchi who recorded the album at the Fish Factory studio in London and acted as Guido’s co-producer. The sound quality is excellent throughout and brings out all of the nuances and subtleties of the music. Although less immediate than much of Spannocchi’s previous work this intriguing and beguiling album is definitely something of a ‘grower’.

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus