Mauro Pallagrosi _ sax soprano
Errico De Fabritiis _ sax alto _ oggetti sonori _ didgeridoo
Alberto Popolla _ clarinetto basso _ basso elettrico

Registrato al Metro Core di Roma da Laura Fonzi il 22 ottobre 2022. Masterizzato da Danilo Silvestri. Dalle liner notes scritte da Eugenio Colombo: "3 suonatori 3 materie: metalli, legni, aria, 3 possibili combinazioni di coppie, 3 teste 30 dita. Acustico ma anche elettrico. Equilibrio e intercambiabilità dei ruoli. Infinite influenze e suggestioni: dagli aborigeni australiani al rock progressive di stampo britannico. Ogni brano ha il senso della forma. Urgenza espressiva."

Per maggiori informazioni:
www.roots-magic.com/errico-de-fabritiis
www.roots-magic.com/alberto-popolla

"(...) Pond Waves, an improvising trio based in Rome, forges its sound from an unusual instrumentation. All three members of the group – Errico De Fabritiis, Mauro Pallagrosi, and Alberto Popolla – play reed instruments. While Pallagrosi limits himself to soprano saxophone, alto saxophonist De Fabritiis also plays sound objects and didgeridoo, while Popolla supplements bass clarinet with electric bass guitar. Given this combination of instruments the group’s sound can be expected to be unique and it is; theirs is a texturally-focused variety of collective contrapuntal improvisation based on constantly mutable field-figure relationships.
One of the structural near-constants over the course of the seven pieces making up the album is the use of drones or ostinati to center the music tonally and to establish baseline textural fields from which the soloists can project. This is apparent from the very first piece, Imaginary Pond. De Fabritiis’ didgeridoo drone right away defines the fulcrum on which the other two voices will pivot. Pallagrosi’s soloing takes on a phrygian color against the drone; the ensemble is completed when Popolla brings in bass clarinet to harmonize with the soprano before ranging further afield with an expressionistic solo. Popolla opens the next track with a melancholy bass clarinet soliloquy based on a four-note motif and variations; it is the soprano saxophone that provides the drone here, pulsing quietly in the background before gradually moving to a more assertive turn at harmony that mutates into a full-on contrapuntal duet with the bass clarinet. On Sheltering and Playing with the Storm the bass clarinet once again is the first voice heard, this time to lay down a field of repeated rhythmic figures, supplement by De Fabritiis on percussion, for Pallagrosi’s soprano to play over. The two pieces that include Popolla’s electric bass – River Rapids and Maelstrom – use the instrument in structurally and sonically different ways. On River Rapids the bass, played with a bright- toned, flanging effect, supplies a backbone of riffs and chords for soprano and alto saxophones to harmonize over. On Maelstrom De Fabritiis, presumably on an uncredited baritone saxophone, provides the ostinato over which the bass, with a darker, more subdued sound, maps a basic harmonic field. The album’s final piece, the deliberately paced, finely harmonized The Return of the Fishermen, has all three musicians on reeds. There, Pallagrosi’s soprano is featured as soloist against parallel slow, four-note themes voiced on bass clarinet and alto saxophone." Daniel Barbiero, Percorsi Musicali, 2023.

01 _ Imaginary Pond
02 _ Animals Watering at Dawn
03 _ River Rapids
04 _ Nocturnal Hunting
05 _ Sheltering and Playing with the Storm
06 _ Maelstrom
07 _ The Return of the Fishermen

(C) + (P) 2023

Mauro Pallagrosi _ soprano sax
Errico De Fabritiis _ alto sax _ sound objects _ didgeridoo
Alberto Popolla _ bass clarinet _ electric bass

Recorded at Metro Core (Roma) by Laura Fonzi on October 22nd, 2022. Mastered by Danilo Silvestri.From the liner notes (in Italian language) written by Eugenio Colombo: "3 suonatori 3 materie: metalli, legni, aria, 3 possibili combinazioni di coppie, 3 teste 30 dita. Acustico ma anche elettrico. Equilibrio e intercambiabilità dei ruoli. Infinite influenze e suggestioni: dagli aborigeni australiani al rock progressive di stampo britannico. Ogni brano ha il senso della forma. Urgenza espressiva."

For more info:
www.roots-magic.com/errico-de-fabritiis
www.roots-magic.com/alberto-popolla

"(...) Pond Waves, an improvising trio based in Rome, forges its sound from an unusual instrumentation. All three members of the group – Errico De Fabritiis, Mauro Pallagrosi, and Alberto Popolla – play reed instruments. While Pallagrosi limits himself to soprano saxophone, alto saxophonist De Fabritiis also plays sound objects and didgeridoo, while Popolla supplements bass clarinet with electric bass guitar. Given this combination of instruments the group’s sound can be expected to be unique and it is; theirs is a texturally-focused variety of collective contrapuntal improvisation based on constantly mutable field-figure relationships.
One of the structural near-constants over the course of the seven pieces making up the album is the use of drones or ostinati to center the music tonally and to establish baseline textural fields from which the soloists can project. This is apparent from the very first piece, Imaginary Pond. De Fabritiis’ didgeridoo drone right away defines the fulcrum on which the other two voices will pivot. Pallagrosi’s soloing takes on a phrygian color against the drone; the ensemble is completed when Popolla brings in bass clarinet to harmonize with the soprano before ranging further afield with an expressionistic solo. Popolla opens the next track with a melancholy bass clarinet soliloquy based on a four-note motif and variations; it is the soprano saxophone that provides the drone here, pulsing quietly in the background before gradually moving to a more assertive turn at harmony that mutates into a full-on contrapuntal duet with the bass clarinet. On Sheltering and Playing with the Storm the bass clarinet once again is the first voice heard, this time to lay down a field of repeated rhythmic figures, supplement by De Fabritiis on percussion, for Pallagrosi’s soprano to play over. The two pieces that include Popolla’s electric bass – River Rapids and Maelstrom – use the instrument in structurally and sonically different ways. On River Rapids the bass, played with a bright- toned, flanging effect, supplies a backbone of riffs and chords for soprano and alto saxophones to harmonize over. On Maelstrom De Fabritiis, presumably on an uncredited baritone saxophone, provides the ostinato over which the bass, with a darker, more subdued sound, maps a basic harmonic field. The album’s final piece, the deliberately paced, finely harmonized The Return of the Fishermen, has all three musicians on reeds. There, Pallagrosi’s soprano is featured as soloist against parallel slow, four-note themes voiced on bass clarinet and alto saxophone." Daniel Barbiero, Percorsi Musicali, 2023.

01 _ Imaginary Pond
02 _ Animals Watering at Dawn
03 _ River Rapids
04 _ Nocturnal Hunting
05 _ Sheltering and Playing with the Storm
06 _ Maelstrom
07 _ The Return of the Fishermen

(C) + (P) 2023