ENDLESS SEASON

"Paths And Crossroads" is the second album by Endless Season and was self-released in 2022 with a renewed line up featuring original members Lorenzo Di Prima (bass) and Paolo Busatto (guitar) along with Andrea Cecchetto (drums), Luca Ardini (sax) and Francesco Pollon (keyboards). According to the band, the title of the album refers to its particular brew of different genres and musical influences and "reflects the idea behind the album's music, which follows defined paths but at the same time crosses different instances and genres, with sudden and unexpected changes of direction". The colourful art work by Alcide Sartori tries to give an idea of the musical content... 

The opener "No Excuses" starts by an elaborated drum pattern, then the other instruments come in and the rhythm takes off. The music goes through many changes in atmosphere, there are some delicate, dreamy passages and there are frenzied rides across exotic territories but the wide and varied range of influences the band mixed together perfectly flow without weak moments in a coherent way...

"Paradox" is another good piece where you can find fiery funky rhythms and calmer parts with a soaring electric guitar that could recall Santana... The following "47" begins with a jazzy piano solo, then evolves into something different that every now and again reminds me of Area while a further calmer part with a beautiful acoustic guitar solo reminds me of Al Di Meola...

On "Moonlight Promenade" the delicate acoustic guitar arpeggio intro takes you through nocturnal landscapes of intense beauty where dreaming piano passages and soaring sax melodies fill the air... Then it's the turn of "Do You Wanna Play With Me?" where the musicians seem to invite you to join them for a carefree and joyful jam session mixing jazz and blues...

For the lively "Squaring The Circle" the band shot a curious video where, with lightness and self-irony, they showcase all their musicianship and the fun they have playing together... 

Next comes "Exhalations" that opens with a disquieting, dark electric guitar arpeggio. Here the pace is slow and the atmosphere is that of a gathering storm. This piece is linked to "Deep Surface" that follows in the same vein and where the sax notes draw melancholic, jazzy melodic lines... After a pause, the short coda "Outro: Remembering" ends the album in an unexpected way with its poppish suggestions...

On the whole, a good album that deserves a try.

Endless Season came to life as a trio in 2014 in Bassano del Grappa, a town in the province of Vicenza, with a first line up featuring Lorenzo Di Prima (bass), Marco Busatto (drums) and Paolo Busatto (guitar). Later they were joined by Alessandro Brunetta (sax) and Marcello Sambataro (keyboards) who contributed to enrich the sound bringing new colours to the musical palette of the band. In 2016 the quintet self-released an interesting eponymous debut album with their original compositions full of freshness and energy. According to their website, Endless Season's influences range from jazz/rock and fusion/funk artists such as Scott Henderson, Mike Stern, Dave Weckl Band, Oz Noy, Alain Caron and others to jazz musicians like Avishai Cohen and more progressive sounds. The final result, in my opinion, is really good: ten instrumental tracks with different atmospheres and moods that should be able to stir your curiosity...

The effervescent opener 'Scott Noy' starts with a lively rhythm pattern, then frenzied passages alternate with calmer sections' Next comes the dreamy, relaxed 'Misty Morning' that leads to the bursts of energy of the following 'Mark Funk'. The mysterious 'Sherazade' brings Oriental flavours and hypnotic atmospheres while on the following 'Doctor Jelinek' the rhythm takes off again for a musical journey across the Ocean, towards American starry skies. Then it's the time of the dark 'Treasures For Teatime'. For this beautiful piece the band shot a video where you can discover the dangerous effects of the treasures of the title...

The slow 'You Talk So Loud' could evoke a dance of big reptiles coming out like ghosts from the pages of an old book by Charles Darwin about evolution... Well, as you can guess, this piece vaguely reminds me of BMS and is one of my favourite tracks on this work. It leads to the frenzied, nervous 'Elastic'. Then, the oblique funky of 'The Big Crunch' and the long, complex 'Zenith' close an album that in my opinion is really worth listening to.

Anyway, have a try! You can listen to complete album on bandcamp. At the moment the band are working on a new album with a renewed line up and I'm looking forward to listen to it...