ALESSANRO GALATI - piano SIMONA SEVERINI - vocals STAN SULZMANN - tenor sax STEFANO CANTINI - soprano sax ARES TAVOLAZZI - bass ENZO ZIRILLI - drums
01. KEN 02. k 03. e [#1] 04. n [#1] 05. NY 06. n [#2] 07. y 08. WHEEL 09. w 10. h 11. e [#2] 12. e [#3] 13. l 14. ER 15. e [#4] 16. r Music and lyrics composed and arranged by Alessandro Galati
The Wheeler Variations consist of four songs: “KEN”, “NY”, “WHEEL”, “ER”, followed by some improvised pieces played in the form of variation.
As you can notice, the name of each song is a chunk of “Kenny Wheeler”, containing a specific number of letters, according to the number of the variations that follow.
For example, the first song “KEN”, is followed by three variations called “k”, “e [#1]”, and “n”. Each song is played by the whole group, whereas the variations are played by different combos of a few members.
This rather complex scheme is what makes the project really adventurous, yet maintaining a solid structure. As Kenny Wheeler declared in an interview “I’m still trying to find soppy melodies mixed with a bit of chaos”. The Wheeler Variations state my clear declaration of love to the imaginary world of Kenny Wheeler.
Recorded by Andrea Benassai at Sonoria Studios, Prato. Mixed by Stefano Amerio at Artesuono, Cavalicco (UD) 2017 Produced by Diskunion, Somethin' Cool, 2017 Purchase @ jazzos or amazon