Da Vinci Jazz
Physical and Digital Release: 1 January 2016
Enzo Fornione's The Orange Side brings improvisation, jazz and pop into an intimate piano-led programme. Inspired by the colour orange, the music moves between rhythmic energy, reflection and melodic invention, with a guest appearance by saxophonist Gianni Virone.
13.67€
The Orange Side · 10 tracks
Track timings refer to the digital edition. Enzo Fornione, piano; Gianni Virone, saxophone on In ovest.
Enzo Fornione began studying music at the age of nine. He graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin and studied jazz and composition with Palmino Pia. During his studies, he presented advanced work ahead of the normal schedule and received a scholarship in his third year.
After a classical education, his artistic curiosity led him to explore different musical genres, developing a personal style that embraces pop, jazz and contemporary music. In jazz, he led New Swing Quartet.it as pianist and singer, recording a double live CD and winning first prize at the Voghera Festival. He appeared on the RAI 1 television programme Periferie and performed in Italy and France.
His concerts in Italy have included the Puccini Festival in Viareggio, the Christmas Festival in Aosta, the Altomonte Festival in Cosenza, conservatories, jazz clubs and theatres, as well as Torino Jazz and Milan’s Blue Note. With guitarist Luca Allievi, he recorded Milo, a collection of original compositions by the two musicians with a Latin jazz character.
He collaborated with actors Corrado Vallerotti and Mario Bois on a musical theatre show inspired by The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean. For the Primoatto theatre company, he composed music for Andy & Norman and Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter (Il calapranzi), directed by Mario Bois and performed by Alessandro Cosentini and Paolo Tibaldi.
Fornione worked as arranger and pianist on Giacomo Manfredi’s recordings The Dancer and Song of Light and Darkness, and as pianist on Chiara Rosso’s H2O, distributed in Italy by Egea. He composed music for the documentary Assolo and Matteo Cadorin’s audiobook Nel tempo di un caffè, whose performers included Michele Placido.
He contributed songs to Kachupa’s Giù la maschera and wrote Ladro di parole, a collection of spiritual poems that received the Jury Prize in the European “Penna d’Autore” literary competition. Alongside his performing and composing activities, he has taught at Fondazione Fossano Musica. His Da Vinci Jazz album The Orange Side brings together improvisation, jazz and pop through the expressive associations of the colour orange.
Gianni Virone is a saxophonist, arranger and composer from Chieri, near Turin, Italy. Professionally active since 2002, he has worked with small ensembles, big bands and orchestras, and in recording sessions as an arranger, section player and soloist. He also performs his own compositions with his trio. His teaching encompasses saxophone, improvisation, jazz harmony, composition, arranging and big-band performance.
He graduated with the highest marks and honours from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin, studying with Furio Di Castri. He attended masterclasses in Italy and abroad with musicians including Dave Liebman, Airto Moreira, Jerry Bergonzi, Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Steve Coleman and Ayn Inserto. He received scholarships at Siena Jazz in 2002 and Nuoro Jazz in 2003, where he was also recognised as the best student. Following the Nuoro workshop, he was selected to perform at the 2004 Berchidda Jazz Festival.
In 2003 he won the Talens competition for jazz soloists organised by the Istituto Musicale di Rivoli, and attended the New School University’s summer workshop in Bassano del Grappa, where he was selected for a scholarship. He won the first national Nuovi Talenti del Jazz Italiano competition in 2004 and was a finalist that year in the Premio Nazionale Massimo Urbani. His writing for large jazz ensembles reached the finals of Barga Jazz in 2007 and Scrivere in Jazz in 2010 and 2014.
As both arranger and section player, he has worked with several big bands, playing saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet and flute. His collaborators have included Paolo Fresu, Furio Di Castri, Roberto Gatto, Gianni Basso, John Riley, Fabrizio Bosso, Flavio Boltro, Javier Girotto, Rita Marcotulli, Scott Hamilton, Dusko Gojkovic, Jimmy Cobb, Philip Harper, Terell Stafford, Eric Vloeimans, Maria Pia De Vito, Danilo Rea, Emanuele Cisi, John De Leo, Nguyên Lê and Pietro Tonolo. He has been an endorser of the Italian saxophone maker Rampone & Cazzani since 2004.
Enzo Fornione began studying music at the age of nine. He graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin and studied jazz and composition with Palmino Pia. During his studies, he presented advanced work ahead of the normal schedule and received a scholarship in his third year.
After a classical education, his artistic curiosity led him to explore different musical genres, developing a personal style that embraces pop, jazz and contemporary music. In jazz, he led New Swing Quartet.it as pianist and singer, recording a double live CD and winning first prize at the Voghera Festival. He appeared on the RAI 1 television programme Periferie and performed in Italy and France.
His concerts in Italy have included the Puccini Festival in Viareggio, the Christmas Festival in Aosta, the Altomonte Festival in Cosenza, conservatories, jazz clubs and theatres, as well as Torino Jazz and Milan’s Blue Note. With guitarist Luca Allievi, he recorded Milo, a collection of original compositions by the two musicians with a Latin jazz character.
He collaborated with actors Corrado Vallerotti and Mario Bois on a musical theatre show inspired by The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean. For the Primoatto theatre company, he composed music for Andy & Norman and Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter (Il calapranzi), directed by Mario Bois and performed by Alessandro Cosentini and Paolo Tibaldi.
Fornione worked as arranger and pianist on Giacomo Manfredi’s recordings The Dancer and Song of Light and Darkness, and as pianist on Chiara Rosso’s H2O, distributed in Italy by Egea. He composed music for the documentary Assolo and Matteo Cadorin’s audiobook Nel tempo di un caffè, whose performers included Michele Placido.
He contributed songs to Kachupa’s Giù la maschera and wrote Ladro di parole, a collection of spiritual poems that received the Jury Prize in the European “Penna d’Autore” literary competition. Alongside his performing and composing activities, he has taught at Fondazione Fossano Musica. His Da Vinci Jazz album The Orange Side brings together improvisation, jazz and pop through the expressive associations of the colour orange.
The Orange Side is a project that arises almost entirely from the spirit of improvisation. A thematic line acts as a guide, yet harmonies, arpeggios and rhythm are free to move, allowing space for immediate feeling, the interpretation of the moment and the artist’s pure creative enjoyment. In this way, a crossover style emerges: a meeting point between the sounds of jazz and the expressive world of pop, whose origin lies in the perception suggested by the colour orange. Orange is able to express energy and introspection at the same…
The Orange Side is a project that arises almost entirely from the spirit of improvisation. A thematic line acts as a guide, yet harmonies, arpeggios and rhythm are free to move, allowing space for immediate feeling, the interpretation of the moment and the artist’s pure creative enjoyment.
In this way, a crossover style emerges: a meeting point between the sounds of jazz and the expressive world of pop, whose origin lies in the perception suggested by the colour orange. Orange is able to express energy and introspection at the same time, perfectly reflecting the meaning of this colour from several perspectives.
Warm and bright, it symbolises optimism, balance, concentration and determination. The tracks flow from these inspirations, placing colour at the centre of the musical imagination and using music as a medium through which each listener may project their own freedom and instincts.
The artist and the listener reach a meaning that goes beyond the simple visual perception of colour. A clear example can be found in “Emission”, where one can hear the breath and the balance of breathing; or in “Resus”, whose main components are positivity and growth. Track by track, this same path continues through “L’attesa” (“Waiting”), “In Est”, “In Ovest” – linked to determination – “Goodnight My Car” – abandoning matter in favour of spirit – and finally “Una sera” (“One Night”) and “Saturn”, where the listener may discover harmony in simple things.
The piece “L’isola di polvere” (“The Dust Island”) also remains connected to the colour orange and to its multiple meanings. In the past, and still today in some countries, orange has been the colour worn by prisoners and by those condemned to death while being led to the place of execution. This fact inspired the piece. In this context, the word “island” symbolises loneliness and detachment from the earth: a mysterious place, at times a scenario outside time. Within this darker dimension, the word “dust” takes on the meaning of sin, guilt and what we wish to conceal.
Structurally, some pieces, such as “Una sera” (“One Night”) and “In Est”, are based on one of the fundamental frameworks of jazz: theme and improvisation, or theme A-B followed by improvisation. The piece featuring saxophone refers explicitly to jazz as a tribute to its country of origin: America.
Other compositions, including “Emission”, “Goodnight My Car”, “Aletia”, “Saturn” and “Resus”, follow the classic song format based on verse and chorus.
By contrast, “In Ovest” follows a path that might be described as flexible, exactly like a journey: departure, route, arrival, observation of the new, return and, finally, memory. In this piece, the musical path mirrors that process. The departure is represented by the first theme, A; the route by B, a more agitated rhythmic stage; the arrival by C, a line that recalls the original theme while moving through a different harmonic space; and the observation of the new by D, a moment of stability in which the right hand insists on a constant musical line. The process then reverses itself, returning through C, B and A like a journey travelled backwards. The final improvisation becomes the memory of that journey: what remains of it within its transfiguration, and within us.
Enzo Fornione, piano; Gianni Virone, saxophone on “In ovest”. All tracks composed by Enzo Fornione. Recorded at Only Music Studio, Bruino, Turin, Italy. All photographs by Greta Canu. Produced by the Osaka Mozart Association, which also provided design and art direction and owns the sound-recording and artwork copyright. ℗ & © Da Vinci Classics, as credited in the original booklet. DDD. Manufactured in Japan.
Selected awards, reviews and interviews. Radio broadcasts and podcasts are listed separately below.
Gli Scrittori della Porta Accanto
“uno specchio d’acqua in cui il sole si riflette”
An interview exploring the intimate character of The Orange Side, its inspiration in the colour orange, and Fornione’s connections between music and poetry.
Read the interview ↗ - Gli Scrittori della Porta Accanto
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