Ava Trio - Lunae

The Free Jazz Collective 0

By Sammy Stein

The Ava Trio comprises Giuseppe Doronzo on baritone saxophone, fluxophone, mizmar, and gong, Esat Ekincioglu on double bass, and Pino Basile on Cupaphon (friction drums) and percussion. They have been together for a decade.

Their fifth album Lunae is on Tora Records, and the recording is a wonderful, atmospheric creation, not least because of the acoustic qualities added to the recording by it taking place in an ancient trullo in Apulia, Southern Italy. A trullo is a conical limestone chamber that became the band’s fourth instrument in the recording, with its echoes and reverberations sent back to the musicians.

Recorded in Apulia, southern Italy, inside a centuries-old trullo — a conical limestone chamber that became the band’s fourth instrument. Lunae is a site-specific, archeo-musicological exploration of sound and space. The album evolved from Doronzo’s composition ‘Sabbatical.’

Across six lunar phases, the three musicians trace forgotten moon rituals where sound and silence return in cycles or phases.

The opening phase (Phasis 1) is an extensive exploration of mostly percussive sounds, from the plucked bass to the percussion and sax intonations, the sound circling and returning in a complex pattern, often the phrasing interweaving with the next phrase as it is issued. The effect is intense and deeply evocative. The way the chamber echoes the sound back sounds primal, naturalist, and powerful.

Phasis II is shorter, but no less atmospheric, with more saxophone, adding to the vibrations and intensity of the texturally layered sound depths. The double bass and saxophone inadvertently (or deliberately) cross paths both in notation and tone, creating areas where the tone is incredibly rich and the unrelenting percussive element from both strings and drums is mesmeric.

Phase III is atmospheric, with sustained notes creating suspension and plinky, warping sonic effects, while Phasis IV is a continuation of Phasis III but transcends into a more melodic exploration at times, underpinned with rasping strings, and pithy sax. Phasis V is a slow build, but once it evolves out of the void, it is superb, and Phasis VI continues the exploration of percussion, deep bass, and other-worldly effects.

Full Moon, November AD 283

Beneath the moon’s gaze,

olive-oil workers gather in secret,

within the limestone walls of a trullo.

Their chants and rhythms spiral upward,

a devotion carved in sound,

vanishing into the night yet circling forever

Because of its unique sonic actions and the provision of textures and resonance by the very chamber of the recording, it is difficult to describe exactly the effect this music has. Played by the trio alone, the sound would be intriguing and, as always, an explorative listen, but coupled with the characteristics imparted by the limestone chamber, which feels like it absorbs the sound and then throws it back changed, the listening experience is incredible.