Mario Massa, Raffaele Matta - blue elephant skin (Insulafactory) [Ambient Jazz]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
Mario Massa is a storied trumpeter and composer from Lugano in Switzerland, with a long list of collaborations and releases to his name. For his latest release, he's teamed up with Italy's Raffaele Matta, a genre-fluid modern guitar player with a penchant for Indian classical music. They're quite the duo, and have just released a meandering ambient electroacoustic album - Feeling You, that was recorded in a small Swedish studio, the snow and forest surrounding their location evidently infusing themselves into the album.
The album is an accomplished work, of that there is no doubt, but not quite my vibe all the way through - my fault, not theirs, BUT "blue elephant skin" leapt out of the recording and immediately grabbed my ambient jazz attention.
It's Massa's tune really - his aching, minimal trumpet the star of the show. It's a bit unclear who was behind the electronic production, but the track starts off simply enough with a somewhat mournful synth pad refrain easing us into their journey, but hold tight, it doesn't take long for Massa to enter this machine-made world and start saying a lot with a little, his worldly-wise, succinct playing gradually getting more verbose as the track ambles through the speakers, and assisted by some astute layering as he unhurriedly gets to his point.
Matta, for his part, does what all good people do when their partner is speaking, sit back and listen, subtly interjecting when necessary with the subtlest of acoustic, horn-elevating notes, some of which are stretched and effected beyond normal guitar comprehension. It's a compelling, affecting duet, and addition to the all-too-small ambient jazz canon, and one that is destined for repeat plays at TSMM HQ long into the future.
Playlist Companion
Find them in the Slow Ambient Playlist.