On the Brink brings together magnificently Denise Mangiardi’s ability as a song writer and lyricist, the economy of her piano playing and the expansiveness of her orchestrations.
Alice’s Loft Music ALM24
Denise Mangiardi (piano, vocals, orchestration); Tony DaGradi (tenor & soprano saxophones); Chris Severin, Jon Thorne (bass); Michael Pellera (piano); Johnny Vidacovich (drums); Luca Boscagin (guitar); Charley Taylor (rhythm guitar); Cindy Scott (alto flute); Emily Mikesell (flugelhorn); Arthur Brouns (electronic bed)
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jay Weigel
Five years after reviewing Denise Mangiardi’s album Brown Book, I have the pleasure of listening to the long awaiting follow up with On The Brink. As we all are, the vocalist, pianist and composer has been deeply affected and concerned by the troubling times that we live in and felt the desire to record an album of ballads that she says “was both relaxing and inspiring” and succeeds in doing just that.
The multi-talented Mangiardi is difficult to pin down and categorise. Her background is equally steeped in classical music and jazz, and she has successfully found a way to combine both disciplines finding her own voice in the process.
Having written many classical works, her relationship with orchestration and the orchestra are highly developed, and Mangiardi is able to bring the flexibility of an improvising musician to her musical scores for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra that allow the rhythm section and soloists to move freely within the music.
On The Brink features five new compositions from Mangiardi along with two standards that she has arranged for the orchestra and jazz quartet, but as fine as the standards, ‘Every time We Say Goodbye’ and ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning’ sound in their new settings, it the original songs that form the centrepieces of the album.
From the opening number ‘The Walk’, Mangiardi cleverly introduces the guitar, alto flute and strings in the first few bars in a tantalizingly light and airy sound that conjures forth the notion of a gentle ramble along favourite pathways; while in contrast the orchestra convey a darker hue in the title track alongside Mangiardi’s vocal, and it is the soprano saxophone of Tony DaGradi that offers a glimmer of light.
Ahead of the album release, the vocalist and composer released a single on digital platforms in ‘Portrait of a Lady’ and once again features the guitar of Luca Boscagin and DaGradi’s soprano in a song that explores feelings of loneliness. Embracing other sonic possibilities that are open to her, Mangiardi has commissioned an electronic bed from fellow composer Arthur Brouns bringing new textures to work with the acoustic instruments.
Perhaps the most personal and poignant compositions of the set can be found in ‘Les Rues de Paris’ in which Mangiardi sings in French telling the story of two lovers with some beautiful commentary from Emily Mikesell’s delicate flugelhorn, and the tender and fond reminiscences of Mangiardi’s sister in ‘Celeste’, who sadly passed away some years ago. The lyrics tell of the vibrancy and zest for life of Celeste and DaGradi, this time heard on tenor, brings a fine sense of balance to the words sung by Mangiardi.
On the Brink brings together magnificently Denise Mangiardi’s ability as a song writer and lyricist, the economy of her piano playing and the expansiveness of her orchestrations. The way she is able to handle the orchestra allows the strings to envelop the music while paradoxically retaining a feeling of relaxed spaciousness, that marks these songs as something rather special.
