Enrico Rava, Fearless Five with Joe Lovano Release CORNERS Album
The all-original recording marks the first album for the ensemble, formed during an impromptu concert outside Rome.
Italian trumpeter and longtime ECM artist Enrico Rava has released a new album, Corners, recorded with a group of musicians he calls Fearless Five and joined by guest saxophonist Joe Lovano. The all-original recording is out October 16, 2026 via ECM.
For his new recording, Rava has surrounded himself with a new generation of Italian players eager to defy the paradigm. As a collective they call themselves the Fearless Five – a quintet joined here by guest saxophonist Joe Lovano for an album of all-original music, fashioned with a sense of adventure and panache as the Italo-American connection draws from a common pool of imagination.
The Fearless Five, who take their name from the Rava-composition first heard on his 1978 Enrico Rava Quartet album (ECM 1122), were formed at an impromptu concert outside Rome, in 2022: 'We had so much fun on the bandstand that night, even without a proper rehearsal, that I decided more or less on the spot that this should be my new band,' he remembers.
Corners, the group's first record for the label, is abound with evocative melodies, representative of Rava's signature lyrical style but also new facets, brought to the table by his younger conspirators as well as Lovano's unique sensibilities to adapt to any player, idiom and room. Rava and Lovano are old acquaintances whose collaborative 2019 date Roma (ECM 2654) led French paper Le Monde to call the pair 'two of jazz's greatest – musicians of intense expressiveness.' Guitarist Francesco Diodati is the only member of the core-group who has played with Rava in other constellations. 'He understands exactly what I need or like, and somehow that transpires into the band. I can let them be very free in what they do, I don't really need to give them instructions,' says the leader.
The programme consists of originals from Rava, Lovano and all members of the Fearless Five. Rava explains: 'As they all have their own bands, where they are leaders and composers, I thought it makes sense to let each one of us contribute tunes to that new album – this makes Corners pretty different from my other albums.'
Proceedings open with 'Certo Angeli Segreti,' a Rava-original that emanates a spirit of cool and discovery that sets the tone for a varied album: The horns alternate with spacious interaction throughout, Rava providing melodic clarity, trombonist Matteo Paggi a bolstering lower register, while Lovano occasionally takes flight with the entire history of American bop seemingly at his fingertips.
Free-form abstraction and deeply melodic passages are in a tight embrace across the entire album, with the band's interplay on high alert. Diodati and Ponticello contribute ballads, as well as drummer Evita Polidoro, who makes an evocative appearance as a vocalist on her self-penned 'Le Mie Gamb.' 'Sun Rava,' written by Lovano, starts as an abstract blues and leads the group into uncharted territory where momentum fluctuates repeatedly. Enrico Rava's 'Hitchcock at the Beach,' tinged with nostalgia, brings more extensive soloing by Lovano.
'Tone, Shape and Colours,' a free improvisation triggered by a motif from Lovano gives all three horn players space to engage in lively musical conversation, whereas Rava's 'Bowery Dance' with its earthy groove 'is a rather old composition of mine that recalls the atmosphere I experienced back in my New York years.' Matteo Paggi's 'Mamma' concludes the album on a tender note.
Corners was recorded in July 21-23, 2025 at Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Album Details
Enrico Rava, Fearless Five with Joe Lovano · Corners
ECM · Release Date: October 16, 2026
For more information, visit ECMRecords.com
