Winner as a soloist of the “Palco Aperto JAZZMI 2018” competition for emerging talents, Raffaele Fiengo also took part in the 2021 National Arts Award – 15th edition, winning first prize with his quartet: Thomas Umbaca on piano, Enrico Palmieri on double bass, and Antonio Marmora on drums.
Active on the Milanese scene and performing from a very young age at some of the most important Italian jazz festivals (Gaia Jazz 2022, JazzMI 2022, La Grande Notte del Jazz 2023, Bergamo Jazz 2024, Gezziamoci 2024), the quartet gained wider attention by opening the trio concert of American pianist Ethan Iverson within the PRODJGI 2024 series. This marked the beginning of an intense artistic journey through which the group consolidated its sound and refined the leader’s original compositions.
The music of Recall arises from the stable collaboration among the four musicians and from the leader’s desire to reconcile worlds that are only seemingly distant. To achieve this goal, Raffaele Fiengo composed music that blends elements of contemporary New York jazz with European twentieth-century influences, drawing inspiration from composers such as Bartók, Honegger, and Rautavaara, as well as from minimalist music.
The result is a dynamic and nuanced sonic journey, where tradition and innovation, structure and freedom meet in an original project marked by strong cohesion, energy, and interplay.