Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album: Rituali – “Rituali”

Sunday morning is when the serenity comes down.  Sunday morning is the cocoon from the heavy exhaustion of too much Saturday night fun.  Sunday morning is when the city agrees to use its inside voice.  Sunday morning is when a hush settles in over the land.  It is a time for sitting still and listening to quiet music and silently praying the aspirin and coffee do something to stop your head from exploding.  Drama and stress are strictly forbidden on Sunday morning.

Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album is just for you, for times just like these.  If you possess the freakish compulsion to get-up-and-go when the clock strikes Sunday morning, this music is not for you.  Go and listen to a Spotify EDM playlist or something.  But whatever you decide, just do it quietly and far away from those of us who appreciate the true solemn nature of a Sunday morning.

Hoo boy, does this music instill a calming effect upon the room.  The quartet Rituali doesn’t appear to have in mind the goal of constructing a cocoon of tranquility, but, damn, if that isn’t what they do.  Clarinetist Francesco Ganassin, pianist Stefano Battaglia, bassist Andrea Lamacchia and percussionist Andrea Ruggeri find a sweet spot where modern jazz, Mediterranean folk and classical musics exist in a state of equanimity, and the result is pure serenity.

Yes, they raise the heat a bit on “Boes e Meres de Ules” and “Negakok” has a quirky personality, but all of this stays well in line with the peaceful atmosphere.  That atmosphere is best exemplified by the “Canzone per Pierrot (che sorride).”  It has a melody that could rest upon the surface of a cloud, and yet the lively chatter of drums and percussion keep things animated just enough to keep the music from compelling the eyes to grow heavy and the introspection from getting too deep.  Just a lovely recording.

You need this album today, right now.

• Artist-Title:  Rituali – Rituali
  
• Personnel:  Francesco Ganassin (clarinets, gralla, ciaramella, ocarina), Stefano Battaglia (piano, percussion), Andrea Lamacchia (double bass) and Andrea Ruggeri (drums, percussion, objects).
• Proper Use:  1) Staring vacantly into space and imagining all the seaside villages you could visit on your next vacation, 2)  Keeping perfectly still so as not to disturb the cat(s) napping at your side, or 3) Catching up on all of those cool-looking articles you bookmarked, and spend the morning quietly reading.

Released in 2009 on Dodicilune Records.

Listen to more of the music on the artist’s Youtube page.  Also, Bandcamp.

Music from Sienna, Italy.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic