An Italian Affair
1995 · Unit Records (2) (UTR 4086 2CD) · CD Album · Switzerland
Michael Gassmann, Stefano Battaglia, Wolfgang Zwiauer, Roberto Gatto
Tracklist
- La Fille Qui Sommeille16:29
- 25 [Roman Style]10:54
- Sheni15:51
- Campo14:56
- Another Day Without U13:32
- Musk10:20
- To Be With You10:01
- Trip14:24
- Rachel10:07
Personnel & credits
- Madeleine PrevotArtwork [Cover Artwork]
- Michael GassmannComposed By [All Compositions By]
- Roberto GattoDrums [Giannini Drumkit], Cymbal [Own Cymbalset], Performer [Moods In-House Ashtray]
- Wolfgang ZwiauerElectric Bass [5-String Fodera Bass]
- Martin PearsonEngineer [Live-Recording Enginee], Mixed By [Mixed Live By]
- Glenn Miller (3)Engineer [Mastering Engineer]
- Mario CorrodiEngineer [PA-Engineer]
- Stefano BattagliaGrand Piano [Boston Grand Piano]
- Markus VögeliLayout [Cover Layout]
- Pius KnüselProducer [Concert Production]
- Peter BürliProducer [Recording Production]
- Michael GassmannTrumpet [Martin™ Trumpet]
About this record
Reception
No critical reviews, ratings, or press write-ups for "An Italian Affair" could be located through open web search. The album is verifiable only as a catalog/discography entry. Several gatekeeper sites that might hold review or credit data were inaccessible to automated fetching: AllMusic (the album has a page at allmusic.com/album/an-italian-affair-mw0000422101 but returned/blocks bots), Discogs (release 2883765, HTTP 403), and the antlitz.com Swiss jazz bio page for Gassmann (HTTP 403). All About Jazz / All About Jazz Italia, JazzTimes, Down Beat, Musica Jazz, Concerto, jazz'n'more, JazzConvention and Europe Jazz Network surfaced no item for this title. This is the expected outcome for a mid-1990s small-Swiss-label (Unit Records) quartet date: existence is documented, reception is not. Honest assessment: effectively no findable critical reception, only discographic confirmation.
Background
"An Italian Affair" is a quartet co-led date pairing Swiss trumpeter Michael Gassmann (b. 1964, resident in Zurich; per his bio largely self-taught) with three Italian/Swiss players: pianist Stefano Battaglia, bassist Wolfgang Zwiauer, and drummer Roberto Gatto. Issued on the Swiss independent Unit Records (cat. UTR 4086, 2CD). Year is given as 1994 on the musicians' own discographies and 1995 on the Discogs/AllMusic listings (likely a late-1994 recording with 1995 release). The title frames the project as Gassmann's encounter with the Italian jazz scene; Battaglia and Gatto are both well-established Italian players (Gatto a leading European drummer; Battaglia later an ECM artist). Both leaders list the album on their official sites: Stefano Battaglia's site files it under collaborations ("M. Gassmann, An Italian Affair, Unit"), and Roberto Gatto's site files it "as a co-leader" dated 1994. A web-search summary suggested a live recording at Moods Jazzclub, Zurich (Dec 9, 1994), but this could NOT be confirmed against any primary source and should be treated as unverified.