The Pipeline ensemble is an Italian, modular collective band, the brainchild of clarinettist, soundpainter, writer, and one of the founders of the We Insist! Label, Giancarlo Nino Locatelli, that has been operating in the last decade as a trio, quintet, and octet, and now as a septet. Locatelli juxtaposes the term pipeline with the Japanese idiom Ishin-denshin (以心伝心) – What the mind thinks, the heart transmits – thus to silent understanding to non-verbal communication. For years, Pipleine has been pursuing a musical quest strongly marked and inspired by the figure of Steve Lacy.
Locatelli was invited to perform with Trio Pipeline in the We Insist! Live event in May 2024 in Cernusco sul Naviglio, and present the album Kakuan Suite (We Insist!, 2020). Shortly before the performance, Locatelli changed his mind and wanted to take advantage of the presence of all the Pipeline musicians in the event to prepare for the future residency in the coming July at the Cicaleto Recording Studio in Arezzo, to record A Decent Run a work on the poetic texts of English-Irish poet Tom Raworth, yet to be released.
But then Locatelli decided to challenge the septet – piccolo trumpeter Gabriele Mitelli, trombonist Sebi Tramontana, pianist Alberto Braida, cellist Luca Tilli, double bass player Andrea Grossi, drummer-percussionist Cristiano Calcagnile, and himself on Bb and bass clarinets. These musicians are usually accustomed to working from written material, but now they were faced with the void of a blank page. Ahead of July is a forty-minute, orchestral, collective, at times even choral, free improvised piece, captured live in Cernusco sul Naviglio Casa delle Arti, with no set patterns or reference points.
The collective aesthetics of Pipeline’s different incarnations and outfits charged this risk-taking musical experiment with an organic, cohesive dynamics and a passionate, deeply poetic spirit. Ahead of July stresses Locatelli’s social and political views on such collective ensembles, where each musician brings into play their desire for collectivity and understanding of the ‘other.’
Eyal Hareuveni
Giancarlo Nino Locatelli (Bb and bass clarinet), Gabriele Mitelli (piccolo trumpet), Sebi Tramontana (trombone), Alberto Braida (piano), Luca Tilli (cello), Andrea Grossi (double bass), Cristiano Calcagnile (drums, percussion)
