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.
Le nuvole e il fulmine
