CD: Be-Bop!
Pasquale Grasso
release date: 17 Jun 2022
For his new album, "Be-Bop!" virtuoso guitarist Pasquale Grasso revisits timeless compositions from the 1940s-1950s be-bop era, with a special emphasis on the works of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He is assisted as usual by bassist Ari Roland and drummer Keith Balla
Highlights of the album include the Gillespie classics "A Night in Tunisia" and "Shaw "Nuff", Thelonious Monk's "Ruby, My Dear", Parkers standards "Ornithology" and "Quasimodo" and an original composition by Grasso entitled "Lamento della Campagnia", inspired by the area where Pasquale grew up in Italy and based on the Duke / Kitchings composition "Some Other Spring". The final track "I'm In A Mess" featuring singer and rising star Samara Joy rounds out this album. About the album Pasquale Grasso says: "Bird, Diz and Bud were my supermen in my childhood and youth, and this album illustrates my love for the swing and bop era. Oddly enough, it's the music I listened to in southern Italy since I was six years old. All these songs take me to my 'happy place' - when I want to be comfortable, I know what songs to play."
Highlights of the album include the Gillespie classics "A Night in Tunisia" and "Shaw "Nuff", Thelonious Monk's "Ruby, My Dear", Parkers standards "Ornithology" and "Quasimodo" and an original composition by Grasso entitled "Lamento della Campagnia", inspired by the area where Pasquale grew up in Italy and based on the Duke / Kitchings composition "Some Other Spring". The final track "I'm In A Mess" featuring singer and rising star Samara Joy rounds out this album. About the album Pasquale Grasso says: "Bird, Diz and Bud were my supermen in my childhood and youth, and this album illustrates my love for the swing and bop era. Oddly enough, it's the music I listened to in southern Italy since I was six years old. All these songs take me to my 'happy place' - when I want to be comfortable, I know what songs to play."