Parco della Musica Records presents “Lights and Shades,” Maurizio Giammarco‘s album made in the company of three great American jazz musicians. Vic Juris, Jay Anderson and Adam Nussbaum have very similar artistic paths to that of the Italian saxophonist, in terms of cultural background and elective affinities.

As Maurizio Giammarco (who boasts past collaborations with such diverse but highly representative jazz musicians as Chet Baker, Lester Bowie, Dave Liebman): “We all belong to the same generation, we grew up playing jazz of all kinds but we matured in years of great passion and utopian projection, in which we absorbed and experimented with everything: from rock to the cultured avant-garde. All this makes us the musicians and composers we are today. Our compositions seek the right balance between tradition and innovation. Although they take their cue from a narrative suggestion, they always leave room for invention of the moment, as is the norm in the music we love.”

It is precisely this vast reservoir of musical references that provides the stylistic key to the project and reveals the high level of understanding that the four musicians, quite naturally, deploy from the very first notes of the record. The three Americans, also residents of New York’s 55 Bar as the Vic Juris Trio, boast collaborations with so many artists that to list them would be tedious. Vic Juris in particular, among the most highly regarded contemporary guitarists, author of cult methods and esteemed teacher, has contributed consistently to the repertoire, signing as many as five of the ten tracks on the disc.