When renowned jazz drummer Charles ‘City’ Gatt died in February 2022, he left behind a profound legacy and remains sorely missed by the country’s music community to this day.
One musician to feel Gatt’s death particularly keenly was pianist Paul Giordimaina, a close friend and musical collaborator of the legendary percussionist for around 40 years.
But like any great artist, rather than dwell on the jazz pioneer’s absence, Giordimaina chose to channel his memories of Gatt into a new album appropriately titled Gatt Groove, which premiered last week at Spazju Kreattiv.
Featuring double bassist Oliver Degabriele and drummer Ġużè Camilleri, with guest appearances from saxophonist Carlo Muscat, vocalist Nadine Axisa and Swedish trombone player Bertil Strandberg, the album is an homage to Gatt and a celebration of his life.
Describing the percussionist as a mentor, Giordimaina explained how many of the 12 tracks on the album – all original compositions by the pianist – were written with Gatt in mind. “It seemed an obvious choice to dedicate our first album to him,” he writes in the album sleeve notes.
And, indeed, Gatt’s presence was strongly felt when Giordimaina, Degabriele and Camilleri – performing as the SFERA trio – took to the stage on Wednesday night, with one piece even including a recording of the percussionist’s voice.
Opening the performance with a couple of short anecdotes about his time spent with Gatt, Giordimaina recalled being with him when the pair waited around after Michel Petrucciani’s performance at legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s to ask the renowned French pianist if he would open the 1991 Malta Jazz Festival.
Giordimaina described seeing Gatt with tears in his eyes as, sure enough, Petrucciani arrived at Malta International Airport the following year to headline the very first edition of the festival – Gatt’s brainchild – that would go on to become one of the country’s flagship annual cultural events.
“I grew up to value this great man. The way he painted, improvised, performed... he lived art all the time. I dedicate this to a great man who lived for music,” he said.
And this appreciation for Gatt’s life and his work came through strongly in Giordimaina’s playing, which exhibited an exuberance no doubt inspired by presenting a performance of works dedicated to his late friend.
An excellent performance of an album crafted with love and respect for one of Malta’s jazz pioneers
He displayed an effortless dexterity and facility at the piano, his improvisation marked by virtuosic flourishes in the right hand that contrasted well with his more harmonically focused contributions in the slower numbers.
Giordimaina matched excellently with Degabriele and Camilleri, who, like the pianist, fed a relentless and determined energy into the performance. And their moments of rhythmic synchronicity were a joy to behold.
Degabriele’s driving basslines complemented his melodic improvised contributions well, all the while finding a deft balance between the instrument’s percussive timbral capabilities and its rich, broad tone.
Meanwhile, Camilleri’s solid timekeeping provided a fertile landscape for the trio while leaving room for spontaneity and invention – space he made use of well – with his improvised contributions displaying an almost melodic logic. And while fellow album contributor Muscat couldn’t join the trio for this week’s performances, Axisa and Strandberg were present and on fine form, augmenting the trio’s colour palette well.
Axisa displayed an effortless versatility, equally at home using her voice as an instrument – without employing lyrics – as when lending her dulcet tones to the performance’s encore piece and reportedly Gatt’s favourite song, Stella by Starlight.
Joining the trio for three numbers, Strandberg – another long-standing friend of Gatt’s – brought a mature and sonorous brass element to the performance, his relaxed improvised contributions idiomatic while remaining creative and relevant.
And while this writer felt that, compositionally, the contrast between melodies and improvised sections could have been more clearly defined, this is not to take away from the success of the programme or its enjoyment.
Overall, it was an excellent performance of an album crafted with love and respect for one of Malta’s jazz pioneers. Don’t hesitate to check it out.