Since I Compani's inception in 1985 as an ensemble dedicated to interpreting the compositions of Nino Rota (there are enough to keep any band busy for a lifetime), they have added their own flourishes -- namely, the compositions of their founder, Bo van de Graaf, and turned the world of "serious" film music on its ear while holding Rota's personage and influence high above the bombast of the new. Sogni d'Oro is a moving and raucous tribute to Federico Fellini, the late Italian director for whom Rota scored the majority of his films. The record begins with Rota's Zampano from 1954, which sets the pace for pretty much the entire disc. This is festival music, pure and simple: high wire acts at the circus, maypole dancing, clowns chasing each other through the opening parade, and the house band in the orchestra pit entertaining the audience before the performers walk onto an outdoor stage. There's enough drama in the piece for it to be serious and enough comedy for I Compani to take it seriously. What's beautiful about I Compani, a septet -- with three guests here making it almost a big band -- is the way they intersperse van de Graaf's compositions with Rota's. Van de Graaf's tunes, as evidenced by De Flapstand, Tiramisu, or Dirty Minutes 5 5 a are all bridges in themselves -- structures with the goal of collective and individual improvisation at the core. By tagging them onto Rota's structural works, they become bridges between cultural sites as well as musical ones. If Rota writes a dramatic theme, as he does Un Eroe dei Nostri Tempi, van de Graaf answers with an extrapolation into something more surreal, like a New Orleans jazz theme backed with a 1930s jazz vamp, as in Mach Schnell. In all, I Compani has come a long way from being the band that merely worshipped Rota; they have transformed themselves into a jazz septet with as much vision as they have ambition while remaining to true to the font of their considerable inspiration. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

1		Zampan
2		De Flapstand [Tango]
3		Sogni d'Oro
4		Tiramisu
5		Rotatie
6		La Focaraccia
7		Lo Sceicco Bianco
8		Dirty Minutes 5 & 5a
9		Lontana, Terra
10		Un Eroe Dei Nostri Tempi
11		Mach Schnell!!! 11