Da Vinci Jazz

Le nuvole e il fulmine

Felice Clemente, Felice Clemente New Quartet

C011871 CdDouble-Bass, Drums, Flugelhorn, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Trumpet

Physical Release: 26 June 2026
Digital Release: 3 July 2026

Felice Clemente New Quartet explores the space between lyrical reflection and rhythmic energy, with the saxophone at the centre of a shared improvisational dialogue.

13.75€

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Digital programme · 9 tracks

  1. 01Sparkling BlueFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet5:44
  2. 02AwakeningFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet5:11
  3. 03Le nuvole e il fulmineFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet7:46
  4. 04Dark GlowFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet5:53
  5. 05Living LightFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet4:20
  6. 06Whispered BeginningsGiulio Corini · Felice Clemente New Quartet1:50
  7. 07Red or BluesFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet4:15
  8. 08Urban GrooveFelice Clemente · Felice Clemente New Quartet4:56
  9. 09Il sogno profondoAlberto Mandarini · Felice Clemente New Quartet7:06

Track timings refer to the digital edition.

Streaming
ArtistsFelice Clemente, Felice Clemente New QuartetBiographies

Felice Clemente
Born in Milan in 1974, Felice Clemente developed a passion for music within his family environment under the guidance of his grandfather, a master clarinetist.
He has been nominated and voted among the finest saxophonists by Musica Jazz and Jazzit Magazine, and is actively involved in numerous projects dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of jazz culture.
He boasts an impressive discography, with 18 albums as leader or co-leader and 16 as sideman. His albums Nuvole di Carta and 6:35 AM received four stars from the renowned American magazine DownBeat (November 2011 and June 2015).

The album Solo was ranked among the Top 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2020 by the prestigious international award Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, alongside works by Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, the JLCO led by Wynton Marsalis, and Charlie Porter. In May 2023, his book Clemente, una vita per la musica was published by Blonk Editore.

Felice Clemente maintains an intense concert activity both in Italy and abroad, collaborating with some of the most prominent figures on the national and international jazz scene, including Gregory Hutchinson, Xavier Davis, Eliot Zigmund, Danny Grissett, Ugonna Okegwo, Jimmy Greene, Quincy Davis, Asaf Sirkis, Yuri Goloubev, Ken Field, Mike Westbrook, Cyro Baptista, Stjepko Gut, Adam Rudolph, Michel Godard, Paolino Dalla Porta, Marco Tamburini, Karima, Flavio Boltro, Ares Tavolazzi, Massimo Morriconi, Paolo Birro, Tino Tracanna, Massimo Colombo, Massimo Manzi, Sandro Gibellini, Paolo Fresu, Bebo Ferra, Stefano Di Battista, Andrea Dulbecco, Attilio Zanchi, Stefano Bagnoli, Antonio Faraò, Ferdinando Faraò, Tullio De Piscopo, Daniele Di Gregorio, Alberto Mandarini, Carlo Uboldi, Javier Pérez Forte, Giulio Corini, Francesco D’Auria, and many others.

He has performed no fewer than 40 times at Blue Note Milano, one of the world’s most prestigious jazz clubs.
He remains deeply connected to his musical roots, shaped by the early influence of his grandfather, a clarinet master, and inspired by the example of his uncle, Mino Reitano.
www.feliceclemente.com

Felice Clemente, tenor and soprano sax
Alberto Mandarini, trumpet, flugelhorn
Giulio Corini, double bass
Massimo Manzi, drums

ComposersAlberto Mandarini, Felice Clemente, Giulio CoriniBiographies

Alberto Mandarini, born in Trino Vercellese in 1966, is an Italian trumpeter, flugelhorn player, composer and teacher. His work spans classical music and creative jazz, with appearances in the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin and brass chamber ensembles alongside collaborations with the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Enten Eller, Enrico Fazio and Giorgio Gaslini’s Proxima Centauri Orchestra.

He founded the Phoebus Ensemble in 1996, exploring a repertoire extending from Renaissance music to contemporary improvisation, and formed his own quartet in 2001. He has also worked with musicians including Elton Dean, Tim Berne, Maria Schneider and Cecil Taylor. His compositions and ensemble projects reflect this dialogue between written music and improvisation.

Felice Clemente
Born in Milan in 1974, Felice Clemente developed a passion for music within his family environment under the guidance of his grandfather, a master clarinetist.
He has been nominated and voted among the finest saxophonists by Musica Jazz and Jazzit Magazine, and is actively involved in numerous projects dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of jazz culture.
He boasts an impressive discography, with 18 albums as leader or co-leader and 16 as sideman. His albums Nuvole di Carta and 6:35 AM received four stars from the renowned American magazine DownBeat (November 2011 and June 2015).

The album Solo was ranked among the Top 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2020 by the prestigious international award Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, alongside works by Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, the JLCO led by Wynton Marsalis, and Charlie Porter. In May 2023, his book Clemente, una vita per la musica was published by Blonk Editore.

Felice Clemente maintains an intense concert activity both in Italy and abroad, collaborating with some of the most prominent figures on the national and international jazz scene, including Gregory Hutchinson, Xavier Davis, Eliot Zigmund, Danny Grissett, Ugonna Okegwo, Jimmy Greene, Quincy Davis, Asaf Sirkis, Yuri Goloubev, Ken Field, Mike Westbrook, Cyro Baptista, Stjepko Gut, Adam Rudolph, Michel Godard, Paolino Dalla Porta, Marco Tamburini, Karima, Flavio Boltro, Ares Tavolazzi, Massimo Morriconi, Paolo Birro, Tino Tracanna, Massimo Colombo, Massimo Manzi, Sandro Gibellini, Paolo Fresu, Bebo Ferra, Stefano Di Battista, Andrea Dulbecco, Attilio Zanchi, Stefano Bagnoli, Antonio Faraò, Ferdinando Faraò, Tullio De Piscopo, Daniele Di Gregorio, Alberto Mandarini, Carlo Uboldi, Javier Pérez Forte, Giulio Corini, Francesco D’Auria, and many others.

He has performed no fewer than 40 times at Blue Note Milano, one of the world’s most prestigious jazz clubs.
He remains deeply connected to his musical roots, shaped by the early influence of his grandfather, a clarinet master, and inspired by the example of his uncle, Mino Reitano.
www.feliceclemente.com

Giulio Corini is an Italian double bassist, improviser and composer. He graduated with top honours from CPM in Milan in 2001 and continued his studies in double bass and improvisation with musicians including Franco Testa, Paolino Dalla Porta, Furio Di Castri, Scott Colley and Drew Gress.

His work encompasses jazz and projects bringing different musical traditions into dialogue. He is a member of the Fedra ensemble, whose reinterpretations of early music have been performed at venues including the Quirinale in Rome and the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. He also performs and records with the Felice Clemente New Quartet.

Album notes

Le nuvole e il fulmine marks a further stage in the artistic development of Felice Clemente, following the success of 6:35 AM, an album widely praised by both critics and audiences. Rooted in research, stylistic refinement and expressive clarity, this new project explores a language shaped by tension, introspection and creative freedom. Inspired by the tradition of the piano-less quartet associated with figures such as Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson, the ensemble brings together Felice Clemente on soprano and tenor saxophone, Alberto Mandarini on trumpet and flugelhorn, Giulio Corini on…

Read the complete album notesClose full notes

Le nuvole e il fulmine marks a further stage in the artistic development of Felice Clemente, following the success of 6:35 AM, an album widely praised by both critics and audiences. Rooted in research, stylistic refinement and expressive clarity, this new project explores a language shaped by tension, introspection and creative freedom.
Inspired by the tradition of the piano-less quartet associated with figures such as Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson, the ensemble brings together Felice Clemente on soprano and tenor saxophone, Alberto Mandarini on trumpet and flugelhorn, Giulio Corini on double bass, and Massimo Manzi on drums. Without harmonic instruments, the group achieves a distinctive openness of sound, allowing for timbral subtlety, strong individual presence and a particularly dynamic interplay.
Built largely around original compositions, the album moves fluently between lyricism and rhythmic drive, structure and spontaneity, memory and imagination. Each piece unfolds as an atmospheric scene, direct in expression and free of superfluous artifice, inviting the listener into an immediate and deeply communicative musical space.
The title, Le nuvole e il fulmine (The Clouds and the Lightning), evokes the central polarity of the recording. The clouds suggest suspension, silence and melodic breadth; the lightning, by contrast, suggests rupture, energy and sudden illumination. From this tension emerges a jazz language firmly grounded in tradition yet open to a contemporary sensibility, elegant in form, personal in voice, and capable of engaging the listener both emotionally and intellectually.

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Le nuvole e il fulmine
Felice Clemente New Quartet · Complete Track · Da Vinci Jazz
A listening selection from Le nuvole e il fulmine · C01187

Reviews

Selected awards, reviews and interviews. Radio broadcasts and podcasts are listed separately below.

More selected reviews

Tracce di Jazz

Review · andbar · 28 May 2026

A favourable review of the quartet’s melodic invention, collective development and dialogue between saxophone and trumpet, highlighting the range from groove and blues to more open improvisation.

Read the review ↗ - Tracce di Jazz

UK Jazz News

Review · Francesco Spezia · 30 June 2026

A warm recommendation of the quartet’s melodic identity, formal balance and maturity. Spezia places the album among the most interesting Italian jazz releases of 2026.

Read the review ↗ - UK Jazz News

Il Substack di Igor

Review · Igor Ebuli Poletti · 2 July 2026

An enthusiastic discussion of the quartet’s mutual listening, melodic imagination and balance of freedom and form, with particular attention to the distinctive contributions of all four players.

Read the review ↗ - Il Substack di Igor

Off Topic Magazine

Review · Riccardo Talamazzi · 14 July 2026

A strongly positive, detailed review of the album’s writing, timbral variety and interplay. Talamazzi praises a mature and expressive ensemble whose improvisation retains clarity and emotional immediacy.

Read the review ↗ - Off Topic Magazine

All About Jazz

Review · Angelo Leonardi · 4 August 2026

A positive assessment of the quartet’s melodic freshness, rhythmic energy and inventive collective development, highlighting the rapport between the two wind players and the independent voices of bass and drums.

Read the review ↗ - All About Jazz

Radio & Podcasts

Broadcasts, conversations and listening features dedicated to this recording.

Explore radio & podcasts (1)

Adult Music

Podcast · 13 July 2026

Episode 266, Portraits and Postcards, includes a discussion of Le nuvole e il fulmine by the Felice Clemente New Quartet. The editorial team identified the album discussion at 2:12:14.

Listen to the episode ↗ - Adult Music

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Recording details