JAY D'AMICO TRIO, Ginevra: A Portrait

Before we immerse in the fascinating mercurial splendors of the Jay D’Amico Trio’s richly expressive, infectiously lyrical album Ginevra: a portrait of little girl blue – a classically-tinged collection inspired by Da Vinci’s late 1470’s painting Ginevra de Benci - it makes sense to mention the lavish musical outpouring given over the years to the painter’s most famous work.

Everyone knows Nat King Cole’s 1950 classic “Mona Lisa,” but in the current millennium, she’s inspired cross-genre exploration by everyone from Brad Paisley (“The Mona Lisa”), Panic! at the Disco (“The Ballad of Mona Lisa”) and Lil Wayne ft. Kendrick Lamar (‘Mona Lisa”). Yet prior to D’Amico’s alternately tender-hearted/contemplative, whimsically swinging and charmingly infectious spin with his bassist brother Greg D’Amico and drummer Michael Fox, the only contemporary artist giving serious thought to Ginevra has been classical composer Caroline Shaw, who included it in her 2013 Pulitizer Prize winning project Partita for 8 Voices; a new version of the piece was recorded for the soundtrack of Ken Burns’ Leonardo da Vinci documentary in 2024.

A little history is in order to understand why Ginevra is so compelling as a muse centuries later. Da Vinci’s Ginevra de’ Benci is a portrait painting by Da Vinci of the 15th Century Florentine aristocrat of that name. The speculation is that it was created to commemorate her marriage to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini at the age of 16 – but it’s equally possible that it was to celebrate her engagement. The juniper around her is regarded as a symbol of female virtue. Significantly, since its acquisition by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 1967, it’s the only Da Vinci painting on public view in the Americas.

Certainly, the Jay D’Amico Trio’s multi-faceted, thoughtful and adventurous Ginevra project can be viewed by longtime followers of D’Amico’s recording career as an extension of the pianist’s heritage-based exploration of Italian music, starting with Ponte Novello, a 1999 piano trio/string quartet set performing Puccini, Bellini and Verdi and later including the 2008 trio album Tuscan Prelude. The focus on Ginevra, however, is a long in the making extension of a more focused fascination with all things Da Vinci.

“My brother Greg and I have visited Vinci in Italy,” D’Amico says. “As Sister Wendy Beckett said in her story of art series about Leonardo, ‘"What are we to make of a man who has all these scientific and engineering skills on his resume and then adds as a postscript, that he paints a little?’ A few years ago, when I read Walter Isaacson's bio on DaVinci, I came across Ginevra De' Benci for the first time and was completely blown away! I was inspired to compose the piece ‘Ginevra De’ Benci,’ starting with six notes that outline the syllables Gi-nev-ra-de-Ben-ci in the Dorian mode. It is my hope that the music will convey the emotion I feel for this painting.”

D'mico’s understanding of the painting as a portrait of a sad young woman who was involved in an arranged marriage inspires the slightly dark moods of the two pieces reflecting the many emotions she evokes in him. “Ginevra De’ Benci” features an elegant piano melody that’s mostly haunting – and subtly colored by Greg D’Amico’s stormy bass musings and Fox’s light touch and cymbal flourishes on drums. Yet the piece also includes touches of chordal and improvisational whimsy at times – perhaps lending his subject a joyful few moments in the midst of a difficult circumstance. The other composition thematically related to Ginevra is the project’s lone cover, an exquisite, soulful meditation on Rodgers & Hart’s 1935 classic “Little Girl Blue.” Again, it’s mostly somber and downcast in mood, but with a few sparkles of ivory sunlight.

While the album title and compelling cover artwork will no doubt make Da Vinci and his painting the centerpiece of every discussion about the album, Ginevra is notable for another reason – the birth of a new trio for D’Amico with his brother Greg and Michael Fox, who have decades of mutual professional history but till now have never formally recorded together.

It’s a fresh take on the piano trio format that has marked much of D’Amico’s recording career since he released his 1982 debut Envisage with his beloved mentor Milt Hinton on bass and Bob Rosengarden on drums. His other trio releases include the aforementioned Ponte Novello and Tuscan Prelude and Nocturne, released in 2010. His most recent album Melodia, was a piano/bass duo project with Marlon Martinez. D’Amico’s lone solo piano album From the Top, was an outgrowth of the early days of his 17-year tenure as pianist in residence at Windows of the World on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center’s North

Tower.

“All of my compositions come from a similar inspired germ and I'm very excited about this new trio with Greg and Michael. They are special musicians who contribute to the music and we have history together going back to a very special time in the late 1960's when great strides were happening in all areas of American music. We are attempting to capture that spirit.  I think we are furthering the catalog and that's because at this point, I'm not just assembling musicians to record with.  I do feel very satisfied that the three of us are contributing a fresh new approach to the projects.  I loved the camaraderie and the joy we had recording it. We sincerely hope the listeners feel this too.”

Perhaps the best way to appreciate the totality of the 12-track collection is to understand the title track “Ginevra De’Benci” and “Little Girl Blue” as invitations into an engaging stroll (and when the groove picks up, a romp) through the heritage, history and many (sometimes quirky) passions of Jay D’Amico’s life. It’s musical autobiography at its best, with blend of his lyrical piano and the bustling bass and drums of “Convocation” setting the stage for a cinematic experience that takes the listener to many places in the pianist’s heart.

D'Amico and his brother share a bit of their family background on the easy swaying, then harder swinging and percussively hypnotic “Campobasso,” an homage to the town in Italy (whose name translates to “low field”) where their maternal grandmother was born. The joyous, spritely reggae-rock fired innocence of “Ranine Liberation” finds the pianist reflecting fondly on a pet frog from long ago, whom he set free in a like on the campus of Poly Prep School in Brooklyn. Acknowledging his deep lifelong love for and studies of classical piano (most notably, Chopin), he includes “Passaglia”, a lighthearted ¾ jazz classical piece named his a Baroque musical form characterized by a series of variations over a repeating bass line.

D'Amico then has a genius idea for showcasing the multiple moods and expansive rhythmic palette of the trio by placing the spritely, high energy and big fun jam “Swing Time” – an ode to the surreal happy feet of the great Fred Astaire, who starred in a 1936 film titled Swing Time – between the classically influenced, spiritual minded and adventurous ballad “Psalm in G Minor” and “Celtic Minor,” whose cheerful piano contrasts mightily with Greg D’Amico’s droning bass. The trio wraps the set with the quiet, easy shuffling beauty of “Ballad in E,” a free-flowing, dynamic dance under a “Pink Moon” (inspired by a full moon in April) and a two and the boisterous, vigorous two and a half minute closing improvisation “Ad Lib,” which hopefully hints at more adventurous outings from this transcendent trio in the near future.

As a lifelong aficionado of both classical music and the jazz that has led to his stellar decades-long career, D’Amico brings a unique perspective on both that opens the door for him to imbue jazz trio projects like Ginevra with classical influences.

“Both my teachers and I believe that jazz is the classical ‘serious" music of today,” he says. “I know Charles Mingus did not like using the word jazz. He found it insulting and preferred the term ‘American music.’  I had discussed that with Milt Hinton and although Milt wasn't offended by using the word jazz, we understood what Mingus was saying. Jazz starts from the same European harmonic tradition as opera, combining, as (pianist) Mike Longo once said, jazz combines those harmonies with African rhythms. It’s worth mentioning that in Western musical education, in teaching the basic elements of music, which are, of course, melody, harmony, and rhythm, the primary focus is on harmony and rhythm, because it is much easier to teach them than it is to teach melody.”