Gianluigi Trovesi

Les Hommes Armés is the second Soul Note album by the octet of Gianluigi Trovesi, recorded at Studio 7 in Milan on 29, 30 and 31 May 1996, four years after From G To G. Its weight rests on two suites of about sixteen minutes each, Ambulat Hic Armatus Homo and On Va Marcher, each built from short linked movements. The first draws on the old European song L'Homme Armé and contains a movement titled after the Kyrie of a mass on that tune. That is why Guillaume Dufay appears among the credited composers next to Trovesi and Duke Ellington.

Trovesi plays alto saxophone, E-flat piccolo clarinet, alto and bass clarinet. Around him are Pino Minafra on trumpet, prepared trumpet, flugelhorn, didgeridoo and voice, Rudy Migliardi on trombone and tuba. Marco Remondini on cello and alto saxophone, Vittorio Marinoni on drums and Fulvio Maras on percussion complete the band with two bassists, one of them doubling on electric bass. Flavio Bonandrini produced and Ferdinando Arnò recorded the session. Five miniatures, Tango, Tengo, Tingo, Tongo and T' Ungo, the shortest barely half a minute, punctuate the programme. The notes dedicate Dance For A King to Eric Dolphy and T' Ungo to Frau Blücher, the housekeeper of Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein, while Ellington's Mood Indigo gets a three-minute reading. Reviewing the album for epulse in May 1997, in a piece now archived on Disquiet, Marc Weidenbaum heard Ambulat move between the lushness of a didgeridoo and the shrieks of a piccolo before reaching the old melody. He found On Va Marcher weaker, with too much electric bass, and rated the tango variations highest, calling them "short, cartoonish romps filled with upbeat horn interplay".

This is the original Soul Note CD 121311-2, released in 1996.