Sonata Islands Kommandoh ‎– Zeuhl Jazz (2018, LP, Italy)

Side A
A1. Offering Vander (7:55)
A2. Love And Rage......Supreme (12:28)
A3. Terza Lamentazione (3:33)
Side B
B1. Sohia (9:23)
B2. Prima Lamentazione (10:43)
B3. No More Zombies (4:33)
Riconoscimenti

Musicians
Bass – William Nicastro
Drums – Sergio Quagliarella
Flute, Electronics – Emilio Galante
Guitar – Alberto N. A. Turra
Keyboards, Voice – Giovanni Venosta

Limited edition of 250 copies

The chamber ensemble Sonata Islands was founded especially to play new Italian music, both classically orientated or jazz-based. In January 1999 the ensemble recorded Sciare di Fuoco, a CD by Emilio Galante in the BMG-Ricordi cd series "Ai Confini ed oltre" (“To the boundary and beyond”), first performed at the Piccolo Teatro Studio in June 1999. In the autumn of 1998 the group recorded the music of Cesare Picco for the ballet “La Lupa” on a CD for Sonzogno. In 2001 the multi-media performance, Campioni (Champions), a Velut Luna CD) modelled around selected short films of great sports champions with music written by Emilio Galante, Marco Tutino, Armando Franceschini and Nicola Campogrande was taken on tour to Milan (Piccolo Teatro), Bologna, Trento, Bellinzona, Reggio Emilia, Asolo (Asolo Musica), and Turin (Teatro Regio). In 2003 the ensemble produced Muti Musicati, a show based on silent movies from the beginning of the last century, recut and re-worked, with music by Emilio Galante, Lorenzo Ferrero, Filippo Del Corno and Fabrizio de Rossi Re.

Sonata Islands has organised its own festival in Milan since 2002 and in Trento since 2006. In the jazz field, the ensemble has welcomed prestigious soloists such as Franco D’Andrea, Gianluigi Trovesi, Markus Stockhausen, Salvatore Bonafede, Pietro Tonolo, Tino Tracanna, Rita Marcotulli, Sandro Cerino, Roberto Cipelli, Bebo Ferra and Andrea Dulbecco.

Our project is dedicated to the spirit of Magma’s music.This mythical French band, under the direction of its founder Christian Vander, starting from 1970 offered the listener a “celestial” (“zeuhl” in Kobaïan language) music, even though those skies might have been crystal clear or ominously dark. Each of our pieces tries to reflect this approach in composing and playing, with references to progressive avant ­rock, modal jazz, R and B and eastern folk music.