• In Italy, jazz is experiencing a new dawn of success, and “The Beginning of a Love Affair” is a very nice record, highly recommended for lovers of instrumental jazz.

Iponcontrio – the production

In fact, “The Beginning of a Love Affair” is a record of love and about love. The record comes across as fresh and persuasive, enveloping and sparkling, demonstrating the brilliant artistic fellowship of this trio,.

Adding spice to the situation is the guest appearance of Dutch trumpeter Jean-Paul Estievenart, a past collaborator of Paolo Fresu and Furio Di Castri.

Melancholic instead is “Imperfect Dream,” with a mood that is relaxed yet distant, warm yet detached, sentimental yet so disillusioned, as in a Julian Cannonball Adderley piece. Even more melancholy is the incipit of “Illusions,” lying on dulcet brushes, then opening to limpid, disenchanted piano horizons in a mad quest close to soul.

The verve of the Iponcontrio trio is evident in such pieces as “Back home” and “Spak,” instrumented as if in a Charlie Parker swing. “Without Her” and “Lonnie’s Lament” also come across as very carefully written, with harmonious piano flourishes and a superlative double bass finishing the sonic texture with elegiac thoughtfulness.

Finally, there is “Leo,” perhaps the best episode on the entire record, in a maelstrom of bitter, disappointed feelings, in which Estievenart’s trumpet woos the listener until he falls into its sorrowful notes, just as happened to Chet Baker of “Bevan beeps.”