Nefertiti Quartet & NDR Bigband / Luigi Grasso

Time spent somewhere else

Nefertiti is well-known as an Ancient Egyptian queen, but jazz lovers know that it is also the title of an album recorded by the second Miles Davis quintet. The title song itself was written by Wayne Shorter. »Shorter is our god,« says pianist Delphine Deau. The unique melodic and harmonic ideas of the American saxophonist, who died in March 2023, remain an influence on the compositions that Deau writes for the band founded in 2013. The quartet was formed at the Conservatoire de Paris with what is at first glance a traditional line-up: saxophone, piano, bass and drums; but the music they produce is always unpredictable. They can be heard in this NDR jazz concert with their new album »Frameless«. The NDR Bigband under Geir Lysne appears after the interval. Luigi Grasso gave his 1999 debut album the title »A Love Supreme«, an obvious tribute to the late, great John Coltrane. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, for a saxophonist who wasn’t even 13 at the time. The original idea was that playing the saxophone would cure the young Luigi’s asthma, but in the end it became his lifeblood. He first attended courses given by the Berklee College of Music in the Italian city of Perugia when he was only 11; then a year later he was offered the chance to study in Boston, won an international competition and became a professional musician.

In addition to daily concert appearances, he studied classical composition, later teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris and playing alongside the singer China Moses, for example, and in a quartet with his brother Pasquale on the guitar. Luigi Grasso has been enriching the NDR Bigband with his brilliant and soulful playing since 2019, and he now moves on to a big format, voicing the question of someone who has travelled a lot: where is really home? »La Dimora dell’ Altrove« – Time Spent Somewhere Else – is a title as poetic as the music itself.