When I met Federico Frassi at the Pisa Jazz concerts, I was really impressed.

I don’t know if you know what it’s like when certain wheels start turning in your head, but after that awesome, super emotional performance, I was lucky enough to have a nice chat with double bass player Christian McBride, who was about to play with his supergroup.

I remember well that when I asked him what he thought of those young guys in their early twenties, he replied with a big smile of satisfaction.

Time passed, and then, as chance would have it, we became friends. It took a while to make a record, and undoubtedly my fussiness combined with Federico’s meticulousness led to delays.

However, one fine day, we finally got around to recording an album, something unconventional, unusual, almost unheard of today, so much so that it could easily be described as a “one shot.

To do this, all you need are a few carefully positioned microphones, reels of tape spinning here and there, but above all, all the musicians playing in one large space, making the most of the acoustics. For this reason, the Sala del Frantoio at Giuseppe Marini’s farm, nestled in the Pistoia countryside, is the ideal place to achieve this.

The farm immediately made the entire family and all the workers available, because, as you can imagine, recording in a lively, real production environment, completely immersed in the vineyards and the silence of the olive groves, is a great source of inspiration for the musicians, especially Frassi, who, with a style rich in expressive freshness, yet at the same time endowed with disarming naturalness, manages to transport listeners on a journey of tributes to his mentor, the unforgettable Don Grolnick, as well as to the deepest intimacy of his own compositions. Therefore, all that remains is for me to wish you, in the comfort of your own intimacy,…

Happy listening!

Lorenzo Vivarelli – SUONO Magazine

The idea of recording the jazz quintet came about after discovering an acoustically ideal environment, the Marini Farm oil mill, characterized by balanced reverberation and uniform sound decay. This natural condition was the starting point for a project conceived with the aim of achieving uncompromising sound quality.

Each stage of the recording was approached with rigorous technical attention and a spirit of experimentation: from choosing the most suitable microphones for each instrument to seeking the maximum tonal detail and the most faithful sound reproduction. Specific AKG, Crown, Sennheiser, and JTS models were used after numerous tests, always prioritizing accuracy and optimal acoustic isolation. Particular care was taken to capture the ambient acoustics using a sophisticated ORTF configuration with PZM microphones to preserve spatiality and naturalness.

The recording chain was completed with high-quality cabling, selected tube preamplifiers, modified interfaces for superior performance, and high-resolution digital conversion. Monitoring was based on specially designed speakers and cross-checking with professional headphones, ensuring rigorous control at every stage

Editing, mixing, and mastering were carried out over a long period of time and with repeated listening, in search of the perfect balance between instruments, maximum tonal clarity, and dynamics consistent with the musical character of the ensemble.

The final result is the fruit of a meticulous process, where every technical choice was geared toward a single goal: to achieve sound quality of the highest level, faithful, natural, and technically unparalleled.