Miuraand Mimmooffer a different and distinct duo conception on Zanshou Glance at the Tide, another live concert. That’s because the pianist and saxophonist play solo on the first two tracks, only uniting for Further Towards the Light, the extended finale. The first track is a threnody for the Finnish bassist Teppo Hauta-aho, one of the many Occidental musicians with whom Miura has played. Yet melancholy is mixed with muscle as her light touch is overtaken by pressurized energy and key slaps at near player-piano speed. Continuing up the scale with chiming notes and plucks; melodica puffs also echo sparingly. With detours into suggestions of Charles Mingus and Jimmy Rowles themes on the second track, the saxophonist is both lyrical and literal, building a mellow exposition from tune variations mixed with double tonguing, tonal slides and the odd screech. As a duo the two also scramble expectations by introducing a lengthy meditation on ‘Round Midnight as a secondary motif. At first Miura adds energy with bell tree shakes and melodica trills that underline Mimmo’s more emotional pitch undulations and near circular breaths. With each taking turns interpreting the Thelonious Monk ballad, she not only comps aggressively but uses the mouth-blown keyboard to double and strengthen the saxophonist’s ascending and descending single line expositions. The entire piano keyboard is brought into play in the final sequence, uniting textures from all three instruments for a broadened referential conclusion.

Overall, using add-ons or playing acoustically each duo distinctively defines its territory and the combination.

Questo CD accoglie un live all’Auditorium Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano della pianista Yoko Miura e il sassofonista soprano Gianni Mimmo, nel novembre del 2022. I due musicisti si sono già incontrati altre volte per sessioni improvvisative, mostrando un’intesa che sa di sfida se pensiamo agli stili, ossia l’imperturbabilità della pianista giapponese e l’effervescenza del sassofonista di Pavia; tuttavia il terreno di confronto è qualcosa su cui i due possono contare, un terreno spesso idealmente e preventivamente articolato in linea di principio, come è successo in questa esibizione che si sviluppa su direttive che sono decifrabili con semplicità. Si tratta di tre brani lunghi (tutti e tre di 17 minuti circa – una durata che sembra profetica e senz’altro non voluta), il primo suonato solo al piano e melodica da Miura, il secondo una sorta di lungo medley deferito a Mimmo e il terzo che costituisce un finale comune:
1) Afterglow, il solo di Miura, é uno strano omaggio a Teppo Hauta-aho, accordi e note stantie, fuori dagli schemi logici, che invitano ad un ripensamento sull’ironia che il contrabbassista finlandese espresse con Kadenza, il suo pezzo più famoso; quel brano invitava a dimenticare le normali regole dell’armonia e delle cadenze per concentrarsi su un tono scuro, lirico e piuttosto marcato in drammaticità, lo stesso che Miura cerca di distribuire nei minuti della sua esibizione.
2) Turning Page Medley, solo di Mimmo che si impegna in uno spazio ben congegnato di riorganizzazione di stimoli e impulsi nati nella storia del jazz: senza difficoltà estreme, l’appassionato troverà dei rimandi chiarissimi al The Peacocks di Rawles (grazie al riconoscimento delle “smorzature” della melodia del pezzo), alle Reflections di Monk (espansioni di soprano che Lacy portò a compimento nel suo repertorio) e tracce del The black saint and the sinner lady di Mingus.
3) Further Towards the Light è il connubio tra i due musicisti che li vede partire dal Round Midnight di Monk per altri lidi: mentre Miura si conferma minimale nelle sue sortite pianistiche, Mimmo aumenta le intensità e le elasticità, apre squarci di luminosità; nella parte finale, poi, Miura tira inaspettatamente fuori un tris di accordi che mi ricorda una sequenza accordale di Free Man in Paris di Mitchell, mentre Mimmo lavora in grazia sul soprano dopo aver ‘ampliato’ gli spazi acustici con gli armonici.
Non è sbagliato dire che Mimmo e Miura sono opposti stilistici di un sistema binario, ma ciò che è necessario dire è che il loro contatto apre ad un insieme musicale particolare ed accattivante, dei sentieri di cui valutiamo in qualsiasi momento una positività incondizionata.

This CD hosts a live performance at the Auditorium Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano by pianist Yoko Miura and soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo in November 2022. The two musicians have already met on other occasions for improvisational sessions, displaying an understanding that smacks of defiance if we think of the styles, namely the imperturbability of the Japanese pianist and the effervescence of the saxophonist from Pavia; however, the terrain of confrontation is something the two can rely on, a terrain that is often ideally and previously articulated in principle, as happened in this performance that develops along directives that are decipherable with simplicity. There are three long pieces (all three about 17 minutes long - a duration that seems prophetic and certainly not intentional), the first played solo on piano and melodica by Miura, the second a sort of long medley deferred to Mimmo, and the third constituting a joint finale:
1) Afterglow, Miura's solo, is a strange homage to Teppo Hauta-aho, stale chords and notes, out of logical patterns, inviting a rethink on the irony that the Finnish double bassist expressed with Kadenza, his most famous piece; that piece invited to forget the normal rules of harmony and cadences to concentrate on a dark, lyrical tone rather marked in drama, the same that Miura tries to distribute in the minutes of his performance.
2) Turning Page Medley, a solo by Mimmo that engages in a well-conceived space of reorganization of stimuli and impulses born in the history of jazz: without extreme difficulty, the enthusiast will find very clear references to Rawles' The Peacocks (thanks to the recognition of the "dampening" of the piece's melody), Monk's Reflections (soprano expansions that Lacy brought to fruition in his repertoire) and traces of Mingus' The black saint and the sinner lady.
3) Further Towards the Light is the union between the two musicians, which sees them departing from Monk's Round Midnight for other shores: while Miura confirms his minimalist piano sorties, Mimmo increases the intensity and elasticity, opening up glimpses of luminosity; in the final part, then, Miura unexpectedly pulls out a trio of chords that reminds me of a chord sequence from Mitchell's Free Man in Paris, while Mimmo works in grace on the soprano after 'widening' the acoustic spaces with harmonics.
It is not wrong to say that Mimmo and Miura are stylistic opposites of a binary system, but what needs to be said is that their contact opens up a particular and captivating musical whole, paths whose unconditional positivity we value at any time.

Solo de piano (Yoko Miura), solo de saxophone soprano (Gianni Mimmo) et duo piano saxophone. Un concert réussi à la Fondazione di Piacenza et Vigevano le 5 novembre 2022. La pianiste Yoko Miura vient annuellement en tournée en Europe (France, Belgique, Suisse, Finlande, Italie, Grande-Bretagne) et y rencontre des improvisateurs : Ove Volquarz, Jean Demey, Jacques Foschia, Gianni Mimmo, feu Teppo Hauta-Aho, Janne Tuomi, Charlie Collins, Lawrence Casserley, Jean Bordé, et moi-même et cela depuis plus d’une douzaine d’années. Elle ajoute à son jeu épuré et gracieux, des passages au mélodica. Elle propose ici une dimension mélodique et des dissonances subtiles avec un superbe toucher et une coordination main gauche – main droite originale. Un remarquable dosage des accents, des silences, des résonnances, crescendo de faible amplitude, répétitions d’intervalles polytonaux, réitération de fragments mélodiques qui s’emboîtent ou se déboîtent. Une musique hiératique remarquablement construite avec des structures minimalistes dédiée ici à son ami Teppo Hauta-Aho, une sommité de la contrebasse et un compositeur contemporain important en Finlande auquel Braxton a fait appel pour diriger son orchestre. Un peu de Moussorgsky, peut être. Elle a adopté cette démarche après avoir été victime d’un terrible accident qui l’a laissé inanimée et l’a poussée à reconsidérer son apprentissage du piano, la direction de sa musique et sa propre voix. Gianni Mimmo sort tout droit de l’école Steve Lacy et démontre ici l’intensité lyrique de son souffle admirablement fluide, calibré et structuré, profondément chaleureux et timbré révélant à merveille l’expressivité sonore spécifique de ce saxophone droit, « conique » difficile à maîtriser. Il compte parmi les spécialistes les plus remarquables de l’instrument, lequel sert souvent d’instrument d’appoint pour nombre d’autres saxophonistes. Sa performance solo emprunte à ses thèmes à Monk, Mingus, Jimmy Rowles et de lui-même sans un Turning Page Medley. Ancrée dans le jazz contemporain le plus classe, sa sonorité solaire méditerranéenne et son pendant lunaire illuminent la salle du concert et le public. Il revisite ces compositions avec une belle inspiration et des apartés et de subtils « extempore », aussi puissants que délicats. Évidemment, on songe immédiatement à Steve Lacy duquel il se rapproche irrésistiblement, avec sa magnifique sonorité et cette précision. Mais, une fois le duo rassemblé, c’est une autre facette de sa personnalité qui, bien que basée sur l’expérience lacyenne, le singularise, avec ses notes tenues, ses montées dans l’extrême aigu bien au-dessus du registre normal du soprano au moyen de larges et subtils intervalles, basées sur une complexe superposition d’harmonies dont il sélectionne adroitement chaque note avec une précision et un lyrisme magnifique. Jouer ainsi n’est pas donné à tout un chacun qui possède un sax soprano. Et le duo atterrit dans une version libre de Round about Midnight, signée Thelonious Monk et Cootie Williams, et incluse dans la suite Further towards the Light et dont je peux résister à vous confier les paroles signées Bernard Hanighen : 
It begins to tell 
'Round midnight, midnight 
I do pretty well, till after sundown 
Suppertime I'm feelin' sad 
But it really gets bad 
'Round midnight 
Memories always start 'round midnight 
Haven't got the heart to stand those memories 
When my heart is still with you 
And ol' midnight knows it, too 
When a quarrel we had needs mending 
Does it mean that our love is ending 
Darlin' I need you, lately I find 
You're out of my heart 
And I'm out of my mind 
Let our hearts take wings' 
'Round midnight, midnight 
Let the angels sing 
For your returning 
Till our love is safe and sound 
And old midnight comes around 
Feelin' sad 
Really gets bad 
Round, Round, Round Midnight 
Chapeau bas pour le beau « comping » réalisé par Yoko Miura, le son profond et le balancement de ses notes graves, son détachement un peu hiératique et ses idées sorties tout droit de la « lettre » monkienne et distillée adroitement dans une autre logique. Ce n’est pas « la révolution esthétique », mais c’est un album superbe d’une plénitude significatrice, émotion, sensibilité, recueillement, élan apaisé... Une fois le spectre de Round Midnight évanoui, le lyrisme de Gianni Mimmo fait encore merveille avec une autre structure polymodale face à l’obstination épurée des ostinato cristallins légèrement mouvants de Yoko Miura. Comme Steve Lacy s’en est allé il y a déjà presque vingt ans, n’ayons plus aucun scrupule à ressentir du plaisir, à jouir de la gâterie musicale distillée par cet admirable enregistrement. 
PS Le duo de Yoko Miura et Gianni Mimmo a déjà enregistré Departure (Setola di Maiale) et Live at L’Horloge avec le batteur Thierry Waziniak (Amirani), ainsi qu’un album avec Ove Volquartz , Air Current (Setola di Maiale), une discographie en crescendo couronnée par ce magnifique Zanshou Glance at The Tide. Félicitations à Setola di Maiale et à l'infatigable Stefano Giust. 

Due musicisti così distanti, non solo dal punto di vista geografico, la pianista Yoko Miura e il sassofonista soprano Gianni Mimmo lavorano ed incidono da anni insieme documentando i loro intensi incontri sul supporto digitale
Questa volta è un concerto live in cui i due si esibiscono dapprima in solo e poi nel brano finale, Further Towards the Light, in duo, alla ricerca di momenti magici che provengono dalle tradizioni musicali a cui si riferiscono
Miura si presenta in modo delicato e minimalista al pianoforte ed alla melodica, Mimmo al sax soprano su Turning Page Medley inanella una serie di frammenti melodici che ci richiamano  le musiche di Monk, Mingus, Jimmy Rowles ed ovviamente il suo maestro Steve Lacy, anche lui ossessionato dalle performance in solo.
Nel duo finale insieme trovano una via in comune, il sax così lirico trova il dialogo insieme al pianoforte minimalista rendendo la musica originale e ricca di interesse per chi l’ascolta, un incontro fuori dai soliti schemi.

Η ιαπωνίδα πιανίστρια Yoko Miura και ο ιταλός σοπρανίστας Gianni Mimmo δεν συνεργάζονται για πρώτη φορά. Ως ντούο έχουν ηχογραφήσει το άλμπουμ “Departure” [Setola di Maiale, 2016], ενώ εντός σχημάτων (Yoko Miura / Gianni Mimmo / Thierry Waziniak) τους εντοπίζουμε και στο CD “Live at L'Horloge” [Amirani, 2019]. Υπάρχουν κι άλλες συνεργασίες τους, αλλά εμείς μένουμε σ’ αυτές, για τις οποίες έχουμε γράψει στο δισκορυχείον.
Η πιο νέα ηχογραφική απόπειρα των Miura και Mimmo αποκαλείται “Zanshou Glance at the Tide” [Setola di Maiale, 2023] και αφορά σε μία ζωντανή καταγραφή τους στο Auditorium Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano (στην Piacenza της Ιταλίας).

Το set αποτελείται από τρία tracks μεγάλης διάρκειας, το 18λεπτο “Afterglow / dedicated to Teppo Hauta_aho” (αφιερωμένο στον φινλανδό κοντραμπασίστα της jazz, που πέθανε τον Νοέμβριο του 2021), το 13λεπτο “Turning page medley” (που αναφέρεται στους Thelonious Monk και Charles Mingus) και το 23λεπτο “Further towards the light” (με αναφορές ξανά στον T.S. Monk).
Χαρακτηριστικό της συγκεκριμένης συνάντησης είναι πως η Miura χειρίζεται επιπλέον και μελόντικα – κάτι που δίνει στο ακρόαμα κάποια επιπλέον γνωρίσματα, ασυνήθιστα, χονδρικώς, σε μια αυτοσχεδιαστική εγγραφή.
Μάλιστα συνηχούν πιάνο και μελόντικα, στο πρώτο σόλο track, πράγμα που σημαίνει πως έχει βρεθεί κάποιος τρόπος ώστε η Miura να τα χειρίζεται μαζί, προσφέροντας μία πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα εισαγωγή στο σετ, μέσω του “Afterglow” – ενός κομματιού, που εξελίσσεται αργά και που σε «κρατάει», με την άνεση που εμφανίζει απέναντι στον χρόνο.
Τώρα, το “Turning page medley” αποτελεί επίσης ένα σόλο track, με τον Gianni Mimmo στο σοπράνο σαξόφωνο να εκμεταλλεύεται τον μεγάλο χρόνο, δημιουργώντας συνεχή μελωδικά patterns, μ’ έναν απέριττο και λιτό «παικτικό» τρόπο.
Στο τρίτο κομμάτι πλέον, που είναι και το μεγαλύτερο σε διάρκεια του δίσκου, οι δύο αυτοσχεδιαστές καταγράφονται ομού, επίσης σε μια «άνετη» και μελωδική συνεργασία, δίχως ιδιαίτερες ακρότητες (ή και καθόλου ακρότητες), καθώς πιάνο, μελόντικα και σοπράνο βρίσκουν τον τρόπο όχι απλώς να επικοινωνήσουν, αλλά και να προτείνουν μία πλήρη σύνθεση, με εξέλιξη απρόβλεπτη και συνεχείς αλλαγές, που διατηρούν το ενδιαφέρον του ακροατή έως το τέλος.
Μοναδικό και γιατί όχι απολαυστικό CD, προϊόν δύο αυτοσχεδιαστών με πολύ μεγάλη εμπειρία και πλήρες «λεξιλόγιο».

Zanshou Glance at the Tides features Mimmo again, this time in the company of pianist Yoko Miura for a performance recorded live in Piacenza in November 2022. Album contains three pieces: unaccompanied solos by Miura and Mimmo, respectively, and a final performance for both together. Miura’s composition Afterglow is structured in two parts with a coda. The first part consists of short, chromatic motifs based on semitones that are repeated and varied; the second is an excursion built on patterns of alternating chords reminiscent of Satie’s Gymnopedies. The coda finishes the piece with a short, free flourish. Mimmo’s Turning Page Medley is a well-paced, lilting fantasia containing allusions to music by Monk, Jimmy Rowles, Steve Lacy, and Mingus. As is typical of his unaccompanied performances, Mimmo forges a seamlessly linked chain of melodies unwinding in a coherent and compelling narrative arc. Although the soprano saxophone is a monophonic instrument, Mimmo builds his lines in a way that implies complex and logically implicated harmonies. It’s a beautiful performance, and the highlight of the album. The closing duet, Further Towards the Light, underscores the contrast between the two players’ styles, with Mimmo’s fluent lyricism playing off of Miura’s textural and melodic economy.

On a somewhat melancholy note, Amirani Records comes to a close with Due Mutabili, 75 releases and eighteen years after Mimmo founded it. The label is notable for the consistently high quality of the music it released, which included contemporary art music as well as improvised music within and without the jazz tradition. It certainly will be missed.