Earthwise Welcomes Citta Di Vitti

600 EAST MEADOW DRIVE,Palo Alto CA 94304

24 July, 2022

Description

Jazz group Citta Di Vitti features Philip Greenlief saxophone, Lisa Mezzacappa upright bass; Jason Levis, drums. Their music is influenced by Italian cinema. Part of the series of music in the parks by Earthwise Productions. Citta di Vitti is a project initiated by Greenlief to perform music he composed while watching a trilogy of films by Michelangelo Antonioni: L'Avventura - La Notte - L'Eclisse Several years ago (2007, if i am not mistaken), i wrote nearly 40 fragments while watching michelangelo antonioni's trilogy: L'AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE, L'ECLISSE, featuring the great italian actor monica vitti. the music was inspired by the films in a big way, and in particular i was interested in the way antonioni uses setting as a character, or how the environments might reflect or influence the narrative. ​ Once i developed the fragments into compositions, i contacted lisa and jason ... for many years they had worked as DUO B, and so it was irresistible to chose a bass and drum unit that had already established a deep report and a creative approach to composition. ​ A few years went by, and jason moved to berlin. a few more years went by and he returned to the bay area, and now (2022) we have once again set out to make this music come alive. the compositions are as wildly divergent as antonioni's themes, settings, and moods. the connective tissue is vitti herself, and again, the way environment influences action. the trilogy explores the difficulty of maintaining lasting relationships, and - i hope - this ephemeral quality is embedded into the music.( Greenlief) From the New York Times February, 2022: Monica Vitti, whose chilly sensuality and cerebral approach to her roles enlivened a groundbreaking series of 1960s film masterpieces directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, including the much-debated “L’Avventura,” died on Wednesday in Rome. She was 90. Her death was announced by the filmmaker Walter Veltroni, who was formerly the mayor of Rome and the culture minister of Italy. In a news release, Dario Franceschini, Italy’s culture minister, wrote, “Goodbye to the queen of Italian cinema.” A classically trained actress, Ms. Vitti was already an established stage star in Italy in 1957 when she met Antonioni, who subsequently became her companion for a decade, just as she became his muse and alter ego. Ms. Vitti emerged on the international scene as all eyes were turning to Europe, where a new generation of visionary filmmakers was remaking the landscape, particularly in France and Italy. Her sharp, patrician features and icy demeanor provided a visual and stylistic counterpoint to the working-class voluptuousness of the leading Italian actresses of the period, among them Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani. The official screening of “L’Avventura” at the 1960 Cannes International Film Festival became a milestone in film history. It ended with a chorus of boos from the audience, perplexed by a film that began as a mystery about a missing woman named Anna and then morphed into a nearly emotionless sexual interlude between the missing woman’s fiancé and her best friend, played by Ms. Vitti.