Mark Corroto per All About Jazz – October 2022
Birds of a feather, as they say, flock together. Proof positive is the trio of Italian trumpeter Gabriele Mitelli (who also doubles on soprano saxophone and electronics), and the Englishmen, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders. Three Tsuru Origami (tsuru is the Japanese word for crane) continues the avian theme with the bulk of the material dedicated to our feathered friends.
Sanders and Edwards are familiar names in free jazz and improvisation circles, being the first call for artists such as Agusti Fernandez, John Butcher, Frode Gjerstad, Paul Dunmall, and Evan Parker. Mitelli can also be heard in multiple settings from Cristiano Calcagnile’s Multikulti Ensemble to the Italian supergroup Nexus, and Pipeline 8. He also organizes the European Galactic Orchestra, plays in the duet Groove & Move with vibes player Pasquale Mirra, and released Star Splitter (Clean Feed, 2019) a duet with Rob Mazurek.
The three musicians intersect at two reference points, the music of Don Cherry and Evan Parker. It is Cherry’s sound via the Ornette Coleman tribute band Old And New Dreams that Mitelli keys on with tracks such as “New One” and “Karma.” Likewise, he draws from the Evan Parker wellspring for the title track, trading his trumpet for soprano saxophone. First he exercises a quiet and metallic edgy sound before switching to trumpet to mark a procession, and finally returns to his saxophone to mimic loud bird squawks. With Edwards and Sanders, Mitelli has perfect partners. The pair always supply the perfect accompaniment, even for the spluttering electronics of “Green Lake, Black Bird” and “The Eagle And The Hawk.” If these three birds are migratory, let us hope they return soon for another session.
