Reverie by Stefan Sirbu, Julieta Eugenio, Clovis Nicolas and Anthony Pinciotti

This album is dedicated to the memory of Anthony Pinciotti

Reviews:
“Sirbu and the band tell beautiful stories, expressing the imagery of dreams, of contentment of endless horizons, of a shared intimacy born of magical nothing-to-prove collaboration” ~All About Jazz (USA)

“an album that lingers long after its final notes, offering a fleeting yet unforgettable glimpse into the art of daydreaming”
~Jazz Views (UK)

“a delicate, genre-bending album of reflective and creative virtuosity”
~Esensja (PL)

“a beautiful album, very lyrical, and perfect for listening in an intimate atmosphere”
~Era Jazzu (PL)

“tranquility and relaxation complement each other contemplatively with the noise, din, and roar of the times”
~Verhoeven Jazz (DE)

“an album to quiet the mind and stir the soul”
~Cultural Attache (USA)

“albums like this are a rare joy—a gift to any jazz journalist with keen ears and a sense of history”
~Paris-move (FR)

“Eugenio’s softly rumbling tenor saxophone, Sirbu’s sparkling piano, Clovis’s steadily stepping bass and Pinciotti’s rustling whisks…”
~Valonkuvia (FI)


Liner notes:

The idea to record some of my songs with this particular band came to my mind during the pandemic. I wanted to produce a record that one could listen to during a short commute home, to drift away for the time of a twilight bus ride or a peaceful stroll through a city at dusk. Not too long; just the time to let one's mind wander, like in a daydream, then "wake up" to the silence after the last track. After I watched Julieta Eugenio and Clovis Nicolas livestream songs from Clovis' living room in Harlem - you can still do yourself a favour and find those performances on the social media - I knew I had found the perfect collaborators for this project; even through a screen, I sensed a musical connection between them that was deep and fluid. I vowed to to call them to capture some of that vibe on my next recording. Last May, when I eventually returned to NYC after a 4-year break, it became a reality. Completing the band, master drummer Anthony Pinciotti joined us on this exploration of my music as a quartet.

In Anthony's words, "Drydown" feels like "a standard that had always been there, in the best possible sense". "Drydown" is the term used in perfumery to describe the smell left of a perfume long after it was sprayed. This is a fitting metaphor to describe how I wrote this song. The composition starts with a cadenza I played when ending another song, letting it resonate; I liked the sound of the chord underneath and kept playing that phrase until I heard the next chord and developed it into the composition you hear on the first track of this album. In a way, it was the drydown of one song that inspired another one. The legacy of jazz compositions written in Db is large. One could quote Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and "Body and Soul" - I can hear echoes of both and yet it is so personal.

Some of you may also recognise the following song - "Elsa Au Miroir" - which I have selected from my previous album's book. Released in 2021, it was originally featured as a ballad. For this groovy and more dynamic take, I chose to play Fender Rhodes.

I wrote "No Worries" in 2019 for the Riesling Da Groove project with Basel-based trumpeter Jonathan James ND. The pandemic stopped that project, however I decided to bring it to this session to give it a new life. Its bright, happy-go-lucky, tap-your-foot, swinging quality makes it stand out on this session. Here it is, with a world-class rhythm-section!

The title track, "Reverie" will envelop you with a daydream-like mood. I composed it specifically for this album and with Julieta's sound in mind. I was attempting to give it a chorale-like quality; would you be surprised that, in my opinion, it owes a lot to J.S. Bach? Truth is that for several months I was (and still am) absorbed by the beauty of J.S. Bach's chorales in the Riemenschneider's edition. Inspired by them, I have written a number of chorales that have never made it to a release; this track owes something tothose studies.

"Sweet" is a laid-back groovy composition, an unapologetically sweet pop tune of sorts; hence the use of more conventional chord progressions and the Rhodes piano instead of acoustic piano.

"That Very Vienne" reflects the state of mind of a young man aimlessly wandering through the night streets of Vienne, a small French town hosting a big jazz festival. I attended it when I was a student and it meant a lot to me. Auto-biographic in a way, it is dark in the beginning, reflective, it resolves into a musical silver lining signaling hope and light at dawn.

Finally, closing the album is a little waltz in A minor that I wrote 20 years ago. It is called "V.S.T.", an acronym for Valse Sans Titre (French for Waltz Without a Title). Over the years V.S.T has become my most recognisable, most requested to play song to date.

I am thrilled to let you discover brand new tunes, but also new versions of older compositions from my book, some of which have never been recorded in a studio. Here I would like to extend my gratitude to all of you who have shown your appreciation each time I played these tunes live over the years. Now you can listen to them in the best quality!

I would like to thank Clovis Nicolas for the solid advice he gave me in the process of producing this record, and Julieta Eugenio and Anthony Pinciotti for bringing the best out of the compositions with their unique voices and accomplished musicianship.

Also, many thanks to Tom Tedesco and for the beautiful sound captured at his studio, where so many greats recorded their music.

And last but not least, the artwork. It has been created by Charlotte Morot, a French painter based in southern France. Its ethereal quality, the delicate interplay between transparency and opacity, colour and its absence, have captivated me. Like much of the music I have composed for this album, it signals emotional experience and a state of becoming; an emotion, just before form and thought take full shape.

Enjoy the music!

Pianist, composer. Active on both sides of the Rhine and the Atlantic. Sharing my music with audiences for over twenty years. Shared the stage with Lawrence Clark, Duane Eubanks, Joris Teepe, Darrell Green, George Mel, Perico Sambeat, Daniel Torres, Tobias Meinhart, Christophe Panzani, Sandi Kuhn, Michael Kersting, Jens Loh, Ben Rubens, Ben Zweig, and others.
Second album drops March 7, 2025.

stefansirbu.com
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