2003 release ** "“The human voice must not be limited only to a conventional language, but is an inexhaustible source of natural musical instruments. If it is coupled with jazz it becomes a double musical instrument”: Mimmo Rotella dixit, and here is a combative group of Italian jazz musicians, stimulated by the maestro in his eighties, puts the theory into practice. The Rotella Variations therefore materialize in nineteen episodes of mostly short duration, often introduced or concluded, contaminated and glossed, displaced and seasoned, stained and mocked by the artist’s voice. The lineup is remarkable, because to the two main promoters of the initiative, Tiziana Ghiglioni (who frolics with gusto everywhere) and Emanuele Parrini (whose violin is often the protagonist), are added, variously assembled, exponents of a vast generational arc, including the veterans Enrico Rava (trumpet) and Claudio Fasoli (soprano sax) and the much younger Jacopo Martini (acoustic and electric guitar) and Dimitri Grechi Espinosa (alto sax). Also in the mix are Giancarlo Schiaffini (baritone flugelhorn), Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets), Franco Nesti (double bass) and Tiziano Tononi (drums and percussion). The sound material tends (naturally!) to be constructed as collage and decollage (listen in particular to the evocative Marilyn, which “illustrates” in some way the famous work by Rotella reproduced on the CD cover), with results of bittersweet dizziness."