In the twenty years since the fall of the Wall (1989-2009), Riccardo Brazzale’s Lydian Sound Orchestra and photographs by Pino Ninfa devote a tribute to the city of Berlin, with all its beauty, its history and its contradictions.
Along the path of a multimedia project, music will talking with the images, according to the typical brand of Lydian, with its own way of conceiving the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity, thanks to a work in progress, in which all the musicians of the group take part following the spirit of the great contrabassist and composer Charles Mingus.
As written by Tim Wise Stenhouse on Jazz Wise: “Riccardo Brazzale and Lydian Sound Orchestra recall perfectly controlled anarchy of the Mingus Big Band.”

Riccardo Brazzale formed the Lydian Sound Orchestra in 1989. His initial inspiration was Miles Davis, but he changed the musical equation by bringing in his own touch, which he calls a contemporary aesthetical approach.
The Orchestra’s first recording, Melodious Thunk (1993), was a blend of original compositions with selections from Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. Two years later they followed up with Timon of Athens, a suite of Ellington’s music, in the midst of which they played Frederick Chopin’s Funeral March.
Though the Orchestra underwent personnel changes in its early years, the line-up has been stable since 2002. Brazzale documents his skills as arranger and director right through. He finds a comfort zone in both ballads and highflying tunes, getting the Orchestra to strike the right mood and approach and placing the soloists in spots that give the composition a full-bodied, three-dimensional presence.
Among their most important releases: “Bukowski Blues” (1999), “The Art of Arranging”, “Monk at Town Hall & More” (2002), “Azurka” (2003), “Back to Da Capo” (2006) and “Live in Appleby” (2008).

Lydian Sound Orchestra directed by Riccardo Brazzale
multimedia project with photographs by Pino Ninfa
Pietro Tonolo, Nicola Fazzini, Rossano Emili: saxophones
Kyle Gregory: trumpet, Roberto Rossi: trombone
Dario Duso: tuba
Paolo Birro: piano
Marc Abrams: double bass
Mauro Beggio: drums
Riccardo Brazzale: direction, arrangements

in collaboration with Music Pool / Network Sonoro