North East Ska Jazz Orchestra - Sulla Rotta Dei Venti (Brixton Records)

As the band’s name suggests, North East Ska Jazz Orchestra draws from the same musical well as groups like Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra or Barcelona Gipsy BalKan Orchestra. Trombonist, composer, and arranger Max Ravanello explains: “To achieve a more popular and less ‘jazz-orchestra’ sound than our previous works, this time we created mixed ensembles using instruments such as strings, accordion, flute, clarinet, horn, and tuba, in addition to the standard lineup of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones, with 37 musicians involved in the recording of the album!”.

With the exception of the spoken word intro in Friulian by DJ Tubet in opener ‘Piazza Della Libertà’, and the Swahili lyrics in ‘Nimi Muzima’ (a version of the eponymous song by Italian-Congolese artist Thierry), North East Ska Jazz Orchestra for the first time opted for predominantly Italian vocals.

Among the vocalists, we recognized the name of Michela Grena from Wicked Dub Division, a band North East Ska Jazz Orchestra closely collaborated with in the past.

Following the path of mythical winds like the Spanish levant and ponente, the bora from the Italy-Slovenia-Croatia region, the French mistral, and the North African sirocco, the orchestra takes us on an auditory journey that leads from Northern Italy across the Balkans to North Africa and back through Southern Italy.

The eleven compositions on ‘Sulla Rotta Dei Venti’ merge harmoniously, creating the impression of listening to a live concert recording. That said, we’d still like to highlight the jazzy ska of ‘Un Altro Instante’ featuring Michela Grena on vocals, the cinematic mix of jazz, dub, and reggae in title track ‘Sulla Rotta Dei Venti’, and the instrumental ‘Petrolio’, evoking a soundtrack of a 1960s film set in the Sahara desert.

Just allow yourself to be gently carried away by the wind and enjoy!