The Pucciarelli Group - Uplift Review The Jazz…

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Review

The Pucciarelli Group

Uplift
by Ian Mann
April 28, 2022
/ ALBUM

The title is wholly appropriate. With its

unashamed focus on melody “Uplift” is
an enjoyable and highly appealing
album. Each group member leaves an
indelible mark on the music.

The Pucciarelli Group

“Uplift”

(Ubuntu Music UBU0101)

Giuseppe Pucciarelli – guitar, Ergio Valente – piano &

synth, Aldo Capasso – double & electric bass, Marco
Gagliano – drums
Giuseppe Pucciarelli is an Italian born guitarist who
moved to London in 2017 to study at the Guildhall School
of Music & Drama, where his tutors included fellow
guitarist John Parricelli, Other mentors include Mark
Lockhart, Malcom Edmonstone, Stuart Hall, Martin
Hathaway and Scott Stroman, He remains based in the
English capital and performs regularly on the London
jazz circuit.

Pucciarelli was initially influenced by his father’s love of

Italian folk music and a strong sense of melody informs
the seven original compositions on this latest album.

“Uplift” represents Pucciarelli’s fourth album following

“Shall We Say It Is Worth It” (2017), Feel Free To Feel
Free”, recorded with a group of British musicians, and
“Tunes We Like” (2020), which features an Anglo-Italian
line up.

“Uplift” reunites the four Italian musicians that made

“Shall We Say It Is Worth It”, which was recorded when
Pucciarelli was just twenty three. The guitarist regards
this new album as a “natural extension” of the previous
album by this quartet and remarks;
“I had the sound of Ergio and Marco in mind when
composing the music and I knew I had my friend Aldo
watching my back, he’s played on all of my albums and
most of my concerts. ‘Uplift’ wouldn’t sound the same
without these guys and that is the reason why the album
gets issued under the Pucciarelli Group name. It’s about
them too”.
With regard to his writing process Pucciarelli comments;
“Although I like the complex harmonies, chord
progressions and rhythms used in jazz music I like
writing and playing melodies which can be memorable
and singable. For me, music goes beyond classifications
and names, it is just music”.

The album commences with the title track, an

impressionistic but highly melodic piece that establishes
Pucciarelli as both a guitarist and composer of some
substance. There are hints of Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell
in his sound, and maybe John Abercrombie too, but he
still has an instrumental voice that is very much his own.
Composed with this specific line up in mind Pucciarelli’s
episodic writing allows for plenty of interaction between
the players, with the interplay between the leader’s guitar
and Valente’s piano a particularly engrossing component
of the music. The rhythm section respond with flexibility
and intelligence. The featured soloist is Pucciarelli
himself, who stretches out with a fluent and expansive
solo.

“Kenny’s Time” was written as a homage to the late,

great trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler and to the
musicians who worked with him. The piece opens with
rippling piano arpeggios, double bass and Gagliano’s
cymbal embellishments. Capasso then helps to create a
subtly propulsive groove as the music gathers
momentum. Pucciarelli’s love of melody is still evident in
a series of darting guitar motifs. Valente takes the first
solo, his melodic flourishes sometimes reminiscent of
Lyle Mays, sadly another musician to fall into the ‘late
great’ category these days. Pucciarelli follows, as
elegant and melodic as ever, with his playing exhibiting a
subtle blues tinge.

The focus on melody and lyricism continues on “Bolo”,

which features Capasso on electric bass as he shares
the solos with Pucciarelli and Valente. Capasso’s liquidly
lyrical soloing exhibits the influence of Jaco Pastorius,
another ‘late and great’.

The Metheny-esque “What I’ve Seen” opens with a

passage of unaccompanied Americana style guitar that
develops into a lyrical ballad that features one of
Pucciarelli’s most direct and affecting melodies. Gagliano
deploys brushes throughout, subtly underpinning the lush
guitar and piano melody lines. Pucciarelli’s guitar solo
sees the music soaring gently skywards, while Capasso
also demonstrates his capacities as a dexterous and
melodic soloist on acoustic double bass.

“Wooden Sign” exhibits a greater urgency but still retains

something of that Metheny influence. Valente delivers an
expansive piano solo, easily his most effusive and
exuberant of the set. The leader follows on guitar, his
cleanly picked lines skilfully supported by intelligently
nuanced bass and drums.

The impressionistic “Theme From ‘Song For Aldo’” is

more loosely structured but still retains Pucciarelli’s
characteristic love for melody. Solo guitar introduces the
piece before Valente takes over at the piano, his lyrical
piece before Valente takes over at the piano, his lyrical
but probing explorations underscored by guitar
shimmers, bowed bass and the gentle rumble of mallets
and swish of cymbals.

The album closes with “Did You Know”, ushered in by a

roll of the drums and cut from the same melodic cloth as
the rest of the album. The Metheny influence is again
present in the bright melodic motifs and the lyrical but
inventive solos from both Pucciarelli and Valente. Once
again the rhythm team provide excellent support,
Gagliano’s drumming is deft, responsive and full of detail
and nuance. Ultimately he is given his chance in the
spotlight with a colourful and inventive drum feature
during the closing stages of this performance. The
standard of interaction between the four musicians
throughout this recording totally justifies the “Pucciarelli
Group” billing with all the members of the quartet making
a substantial contribution to the success of this
recording.

With its unashamed focus on melody “Uplift” is an

enjoyable and highly appealing album. The title is wholly
appropriate, one can’t help feeling uplifted by
Pucciarelli’s innately lyrical compositions.
As previously mentioned the members of his hand picked
quartet respond brilliantly to his writing and each group
member leaves an indelible mark on the music.

There will be some listeners who will find the music a

little bloodless and for whom the Metheny influence may
be a little too overt. That said there will be many more
who will respond to Pucciarelli’s gift for melody and will
love this record. It is likely to appeal to Metheny’s huge
fan base, particularly listeners who still appreciate the
relative simplicity of Pat’s early records for ECM.

A few reservations then, but ultimately this is an album

that I very much enjoyed. I’d certainly be keen to see the
Pucciarelli group live, should the opportunity ever arise.
London based audiences will get their chance on
Saturday 30th April 2022 when the Pucciarelli Group
launch the “Uplift” album at the Pizza Express Jazz Club
in Dean Street, Soho.
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