Digital programme · 11 tracks
Track timings refer to the digital edition.
G B Orchestra is a big band based in Bassano del Grappa and directed by trumpeter, arranger and composer Gastone Bortoloso. Its work places the sound of the ensemble at the centre of the musical experience, bringing together jazz, funk and a broad range of orchestral colours.
The Da Vinci Jazz album Hybrid reflects this approach through original music and arrangements spanning Duke Ellington, Clifford Brown, Italian songs and the repertoire associated with Maynard Ferguson. Carefully shaped ensemble playing and space for individual voices are complementary parts of the orchestra’s musical identity.
Gastone Bortoloso is an Italian trumpeter, arranger, composer and bandleader. He directs G B Orchestra, the Bassano del Grappa-based ensemble whose repertoire connects jazz and funk with a wide range of big-band traditions.
On the Da Vinci Jazz album Hybrid, his arrangements and original writing explore the relationship between individual expression and collective playing. The title piece grew out of his experience in New York, combining the energy of the city with electronic colours and collective improvisation.
Bill Conti is an American composer and conductor whose work spans film, television and concert performance. His score for Rocky includes Gonna Fly Now, which became one of the most recognisable themes in cinema.
He won the Academy Award for his score for The Right Stuff and received song nominations for Gonna Fly Now and For Your Eyes Only. His other film scores include The Karate Kid, Broadcast News and Private Benjamin. He has also worked extensively as a musical director and orchestral conductor.
Bruno Martino (1925–2000) was an Italian pianist, singer, composer and bandleader. Born in Rome, he developed a musical language shaped by jazz, radio orchestras and the European nightclub circuit.
His 1960 song Estate became an international jazz standard, interpreted by musicians including João Gilberto, Chet Baker, Shirley Horn and Michel Petrucciani. Its melodic directness and harmonic richness have made it equally at home in vocal performance and instrumental arrangements, including G B Orchestra’s version on Hybrid.
Carlo Alberto Rossi (1921–2010) was an Italian composer, music publisher and record producer. His songs played a significant part in post-war Italian popular music and in the history of the Sanremo Festival.
His works include Quando vien la sera, Le mille bolle blu and E se domani, the last with lyrics by Giorgio Calabrese. First presented at Sanremo in 1964 by Fausto Cigliano and Gene Pitney, E se domani became especially associated with Mina and has continued to attract singers, jazz musicians and arrangers.
Clifford Brown (1930–1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, he began studying the trumpet at thirteen and developed his playing through college bands and contact with leading jazz musicians, including Fats Navarro. His recordings and collaboration with drummer Max Roach helped shape the sound of hard bop. His compositions remain part of the jazz repertoire, including Joy Spring, recorded by JexPat in Simone Trovato’s arrangement. His career was cut short by a fatal car accident at twenty-five.
Duke Ellington (1899–1974), born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington, DC, was an American composer, pianist and bandleader. His orchestra became internationally influential, and he wrote much of its repertoire, creating music around the distinctive sounds and personalities of its players.
His work ranged from songs and short instrumental pieces to extended suites and sacred concerts. His partnership with Billy Strayhorn became central to the orchestra’s musical identity. Across a career of more than fifty years, Ellington brought an exceptional sense of orchestral colour and form to jazz, leaving a body of music that continues to be performed in many different settings.
Gastone Bortoloso is an Italian trumpeter, arranger, composer and bandleader. He directs G B Orchestra, the Bassano del Grappa-based ensemble whose repertoire connects jazz and funk with a wide range of big-band traditions.
On the Da Vinci Jazz album Hybrid, his arrangements and original writing explore the relationship between individual expression and collective playing. The title piece grew out of his experience in New York, combining the energy of the city with electronic colours and collective improvisation.
Jeff Steinberg is an American composer and music educator whose writing includes music for jazz and wind ensembles. His composition Gospel John became particularly well known through performances and recordings by trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
The piece’s gospel character and energetic brass writing have made it a lasting part of the big-band repertoire, with arrangements published for different ensemble settings. G B Orchestra performs it on the Da Vinci Jazz album Hybrid, in Gastone Bortoloso’s programme of original music and jazz standards.
Joe Zawinul (1932–2007) was an Austrian keyboard player and composer whose work helped shape jazz fusion. After moving to the United States, he worked with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis before co-founding Weather Report with Wayne Shorter.
His music combined melodic invention, electronic keyboards and rhythmic influences from many cultures. His best-known compositions include Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, In a Silent Way and Birdland, first released on Weather Report’s Heavy Weather. He later continued his musical explorations with the Zawinul Syndicate. G B Orchestra performs Birdland on Hybrid.
John Waldo Green (1908–1989), generally known as Johnny Green, was an American composer, conductor, arranger and bandleader. A Harvard graduate, he worked in radio, popular music and the film industry, becoming a prominent musical director at MGM.
His best-known song, Body and Soul, became one of the enduring standards of jazz. His film work includes the musical adaptations of Easter Parade, An American in Paris, West Side Story and Oliver!, for which he received Academy Awards.
Nick Lane is an American trombonist, composer and arranger based in Los Angeles. His career combines performing, studio work and writing for a wide range of musical settings.
His work with Maynard Ferguson includes the composition Admiral’s Horn, recorded on Ferguson’s album Storm and subsequently taken up by other big bands. Lane also formed his own group, releasing Bone in the USA in 1985. His music is represented on G B Orchestra’s Da Vinci album Hybrid.
Working with a large orchestra always demands considerable energy and a strong sense of responsibility. Big bands are complex ensembles, not simply because they bring together more players than a small jazz group, but because each musician must think beyond the individual part. Their work depends on a shared vision of jazz: an approach that begins with playing together rather than with the solo. This collective approach runs through our new project. Everyone works towards a common direction, making jazz in its original spirit and finding satisfaction in the most…
Working with a large orchestra always demands considerable energy and a strong sense of responsibility. Big bands are complex ensembles, not simply because they bring together more players than a small jazz group, but because each musician must think beyond the individual part. Their work depends on a shared vision of jazz: an approach that begins with playing together rather than with the solo.
This collective approach runs through our new project. Everyone works towards a common direction, making jazz in its original spirit and finding satisfaction in the most important goal: being together. Throughout the rehearsals, the musicians showed remarkable flexibility in adapting to the inevitable changes of schedule involved in coordinating such a large group. I am grateful for their sustained effort, patience and respect for our work.
Hybrid brings together a deliberately varied repertoire—hence its title—combining ideas, periods and styles through a language I love and do not want to lose sight of: jazz. This variety is not intended as a display of eclecticism. It reflects a search for melody, sometimes taking us in a different direction from our previous work.
In Body and Soul, the principal theme does not stand at the forefront: it remains concealed within the harmonic texture, creating an intimate, meditative atmosphere. E se domani and Estate recall the elegance and musicality of Italian radio and television in the 1960s, when the great RAI light-music orchestras played for their evening audiences. Admiral’s Horn, Gonna Fly Now, Birdland and Gospel John celebrate the demanding, incisive and energetic repertoire associated with the unforgettable trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
In a Sentimental Mood is a modest tribute to Duke Ellington, reimagined here through funk, swing and bossa nova. Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring draws on hard bop, while Blues for Basie explores the colours and accents of big-band blues in the tradition of Count Basie.
I composed Hybrid during my stay in New York. The city’s restless pace, traffic and constant sounds suggested musical ideas that I tried to bring into the score. Combining elements of tradition with carefully controlled electronics created a different palette from our usual work. Its persistent dynamism eventually gives way to a particularly free form of musical expression: collective improvisation.
The original arrangements take account of each instrumentalist’s individual abilities, seeking enjoyment even in technical challenges. This matters because the aim reaches beyond technical accomplishment: it is about sharing the joy of making music and the satisfaction of achieving something together.
For me, this has been the most exciting challenge, and one that reaches back to the reasons jazz came into being. We want to communicate with our audience, although words cannot always convey everything we feel. Perhaps that desire to share something through a universal language is one of the forces that keeps art evolving.
My warmest thanks to all these musicians. This is only one stage of our journey: another programme already awaits us.
Album notes by Gastone Bortoloso. Original English translation credited to Theresa Williams; language revised.
Selected awards, reviews and interviews. Radio broadcasts and podcasts are listed separately below.
Broadcasts, conversations and listening features dedicated to this recording.
Radio UNAM FM
The official FM schedule lists music from Hybrid at 18:51, performed by G B Orchestra under Gastone Bortoloso, with arrangements of music by Duke Ellington and Clifford Brown. The link documents the broadcast; no replay is claimed.
Explore the broadcast ↗ — Radio UNAM FM
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