Enrico Rava & Stefano Bollani - The Third Man

They have been playing together since the early 1990s, Bollani hailing trumpeter Rava as his mentor, and Rava regarding Bollani as �perhaps the most gifted pianist since Art Tatum�. After Rava�s highly acclaimed �Easy Living� (quintet featuring Bollani) and the Rava/Bollani/Paul Motian collaboration �Tati�, comes this superb duo set, recorded in Lugano in November 2006. Here is marvellous linear playing and melodies plucked from the air, two master improvisers making freely lyrical jazz together � inspired by jazz history, South American music (an important source for both musicians), the Italian song tradition, contemporary composition and more, all developed, under Manfred Eicher�s supervision, into a unique programme. The repertoire includes compositions by each of the protagonists, two takes of Antonio Carlos Jobim�s famous ballad �Retrato Em Branco Y Preto�, a reinvention of �Estate� by the Italian singer Bruno Martino (whose own inspirations included Neapolitan folk song as well as jazz ) and spontaneous �yet profoundly melodic � free improvisation on the title track.