Ernesto Cervini - Joy
Listeners don’t need familiarity with mystery writer Louise Penny to enjoying Canadian jazz drummer-bandleader Ernesto Cervini’s album inspired by Penny’s stories. Named for the feeling Cervini gets from taking in Penny’s unusually sunny stories of criminal intrigue, he has named Joy’s tracks for characters, catchphrases and scenarios in Gamache's chronicles, even recording it for the label named for the fictional Quebec village where the books’ adventures are set.
And though all that context isn’t necessary to enjoy it, Joy could work as a soundtrack for a movie made from one of Penny’s tales. With four singers and 11 musicians balanced among brass, woodwind and piano, Cervini’s large ensemble compositions harken to the dark, sly melodies accompanying classic film noir, but with enough textural brightness to relate to Penny’s literary aesthetic. Cervini leaves room for soloing—utilizing members of smaller groups of which he's a part such as Tune Town, Tetrahedron and Turboprop—evidence his standing as a disciplined post-bop firebrand.
