Marcello Melis
The New Village on the Left…
Black Saint (Italy) 1977
BSR 0012 (LP)
sleeve : EX-(TEOC, light dirt)
media : EX/EX(some light surface noise)
A 1977 leader album by Italian jazz bassist Marcello Melis, who has been active in the free jazz scene, collaborating with artists such as Steve Lacy, Enrico Rava, and Mario Schiano. The album features a quartet with Enrico Rava (tp), Roswell Rudd (tb), and Don Moye (ds), joined by the vocal quartet Gruppo Rubanu. While the entire album is superb, especially the jungle jazz tracks A1/B1, which echo Don Cherry and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the highlights are definitely the songs featuring Gruppo Rubanu's chorus. This avant-garde ethno-jazz, with its primitive performance and unique chorus sublimating the traditional music of Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean, is captivating.
B2: Annex B
B4: Fifth House