Pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella, key figures in what some are hailing as a “golden age” of Italian jazz, found their strong improvisational rapport inside Enrico Rava’s band (see for instance the 2010 ECM album Tribe) and, keen to play more, formed a duo, giving many concerts in which they are intermittently joined by guests. For this studio recording, producer Manfred Eicher brought the duo together with US drummer Gerald Cleaver and French clarinetist Louis Sclavis, for an outgoing set of music which includes lyrical free improvising and tunes composed by Giovanni and Gianluca. The piece called “Gato!” tips the hat to Mr Barbieri, and title track “Ida Lupino” serves double duty as a salute to composer Carla Bley in her 80th year (Petrella once played in a big band under Carla’s direction) and as a tribute to Paul Bley, who popularized the tune and influenced so many improvisers (not least Giovanni Guidi). ECM Records

Ida Lupino feels fresh and creative, an album clearly made by musicians who know how to listen. This is no surprise, as pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella have honed their relationship over years of touring as a duo. But in this context, they have expanded into a quartet, with the addition Gerald Cleaver and Louis Sclavis, musicians Petrella describes as "two masters of contemporary jazz whose approach feels close to our own."

Guidi and Petrella had already recorded with Cleaver in Guidi's record "We Don't Live Here Anymore," but this is their first collaboration with Sclavis, recorded at the Auditorium Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano, Switzerland.
"This is a precious kind of musical relationship," says Sclavis. "On the one hand, it is very delicate, fragile perhaps, but at the same time, there is a very strong connection between all of us. We don't know where we are going, but we have a certain degree of control over the journey towards the music."
"In this record, we are searching for many different things," says Guidi. "Improvised music must necessarily be very democratic. The stronger your musical concept is, the clearer it becomes that you must not seek to impose it on the others."
Gerald Cleaver: "I liked the very open way that Giovanni and Gianluca had of approaching me and this project: they never told me what the wanted from me, but they had a basic plan, and all I had to do was surrender to the music. It could have been difficult, but in the end it felt really natural."