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Outstanding (Live in Tirano) ~ Guido Manusardi Trio | By Eddie Carter
Italian pianist Guido Manusardi has long been one of Europe’s most distinctive jazz musicians. Rooted in hard bop, modal jazz, and European influences, his trio performances and sessions always sparkle with lively, dynamicinterplay. This morning’s column, Outstanding by the Guido Manusardi Trio (Splac(h) Records H-115), is a 1986 live release that captures the trio performing three familiar standards and one original composition at the Mignon Theatre. Manusardi is working with Piero Leveratto on bass and Luigi Bonafede on drums. I own the 1986 Italian stereo release.
The opener, On Green Dolphin Street, by Bronislaw Kaper and Ned Washington, is one of jazz’s most recognizable standards. Piero and Luigi bring the song to life with a two-instrument dialogue that blossoms into Guido’s relaxing melody. Guido leads the solos with a lively presentation, then Piero takes a short, crisp walk before the pianist reprises the theme into a soft finish. Cole Porter’s 1930 classic Love for Sale begins with the trio’s medium theme, which steps aside for Manusardi’s opening statement, rising to a rousing finish. Leveratto moves through formidable territory in the next reading, leading to the trio’s closing chorus and the audience’s approval.
Side Two starts with another 1930 chestnut, But Not For Me by George and Ira Gershwin. The trio tackles the theme with playful buoyancy, then Guido dazzles the audience with a neatly paced opening statement that dances along. Piero follows, showcasing immaculate intonation, melodic warmth, and fluid articulation. Luigi shares his first solo of the set with the pianist ahead of the trio’s spirited theme and climax. Guido Manusardi’s Sorrow opens with a cascading piano introduction of rich modal harmony that leads into the trio’s medium melody. Manusardi’s opening solo swings from start to finish, then Leveratto has another fine solo before Bonafede wraps it up, leading to theclosing chorus.
Guido Manusardi, Achille Silipo, and Peppo Spagnoli produced Outstanding for Splac(h) Records. Vincenzo Martegani and Vittorio Valsecchi engineered the sound. The album’s sound quality is excellent, with a vibrant soundstage that places the listener in the audience as the musicians perform. Outstanding is an excellent live album that shines with a repertoire that’s a pleasure to listen to. Guido Manusardi, Piero Leveratto, and Luigi Bonafede together deliver an engaging live album whose appeal lies in its directness. If you’re a fan of piano jazz or new to Guido Manusardi's music, I invite you to audition Outstanding by the Guido Manusardi Trio at your earliest opportunity. The album captures the pianist at his best, and I’m sure it will become a favorite in your library!
~ But Not For Me, Love For Sale, On Green Dolphin Street – Source: JazzStandards.com
© 2026 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Esperanza Spalding was born October 18, 1984 in Portland, Oregon. Raised in a single parent household she was greatly influenced by her mother who was a singer, though she attributes cellist Yo-Yo Ma as her inspiration to make music her life. By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon, staying with them until fifteen and left as concertmaster.
While homeschooled through elementary years Esperanza gleaned lessons from her mother’s guitar instructor when she was eight and would return home and play what she learned. She played oboe and clarinet before discovering the bass at 14 while attending The Northwest Academy. Bored with the ease of high school when she was 15 or 16 years old, Spalding dropped out and started writing lyrics for music for the local indie rock/pop group Noise for Pretend, touching on any topic that came to mind.
Spalding had begun performing live in Portland with her first gig at 15 in a blues club, when she could play only one line on bass and was soon learning from seasoned professionals during the band’s rehearsals. She went on to get her GED, enroll in Portland State University, then left with full scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music.
Almost immediately after graduation Esperanza was hired by her alma mater at age 20, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution’s history. In 2006 she released her debut album “Junjo” followed by her sophomore project “Esperanza” in which she sings in English, Spanish and Portuguese. These two projects were followed up with “Chamber Music Society” and her fourth album “Radio Music Society”.
She was personally chosen by President Obama to perform at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies and concert, she has won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011, and Jazz Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards. She has collaborated with Tineke Postma, Nicholas Payton and Terri Lyne Carrington among others, performed at the 84th Academy Awards and has donated a portion of her 2012 tour proceeds from merchandise sales to the non-profit organization “Free The Slaves” that combats worldwide human trafficking.
In 2024 she recorded her 10th album Milton + esperanza with Milton Nascimento, been nominated fourteen times, won nine including five Grammy awards, and has received an honorary Doctorate of music from Berklee. Bassists and vocalist Esperanza Spalding continues to compose, record, perform and tour.
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Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He studied weekly with Uruguayan classical guitarist Isaías Sávio from the age of 11, spending five hours traveling to and from the guitarist’s Santa Teresa home. However his extraordinary dedication and talent for the guitar, Sávio excused the youngster’s inability to pay for his lessons.
Bonfá first gained widespread exposure in Brazil in 1947 when he was featured on Rio’s Rádio Nacional. He was a member of the vocal group Quitandinha Serenaders in the late Forties. As a composer his first compositions such as Ranchinho de Palha and O Vento Não Sabe were recorded and performed by Brazilian crooner Dick Farney in the 1950s. His first hit song was De Cigarro em Cigarro, recorded by Nora Ney in 1957.
Farney introduced Luiz to Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, the leading songwriting team behind the worldwide explosion of Brazilian jazz/pop music in the late 1950s and 1960s. He collaborated with them and with other prominent Brazilian musicians and artists in productions of de Moraes’ anthological play Orfeu da Conceição, which several years later gave origin to Marcel Camus’ film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro).
Bonfá wrote some of the original music featured in the film, including the numbers “Samba de Orfeu” and his most famous composition, “Manhã de Carnaval” (of which Carl Sigman later wrote a different set of English lyrics titled “A Day in the Life of a Fool”), which has been among the top ten standards played worldwide.
As a composer and performer, he was at heart an exponent of the bold, lyrical, lushly orchestrated, and emotionally charged samba-canção style that predated the arrival of João Gilberto‘s more refined and subdued bossa nova style. Bonfá became a highly visible ambassador of Brazilian music in the United States beginning with the famous November 1962 Bossa Nova concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Luiz worked with Quincy Jones, George Benson, and Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley sang his composition Almost in Love with lyrics by Randy Starr in the 1968 MGM film Live a Little, Love a Little. His composition The Gentle Rain with lyrics by Matt Dubey, and Sambolero have been recorded by numerous jazz musicians of the decades.
Guitarist and composer Luiz Bonfá, who played in a polyphonic style, harmonizing melody lines in a manner similar to that made famous by Wes Montgomery, passed away at 78 in Rio de Janeiro on January 12, 2001.
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Tim Berne was born on October 16, 1954 in Syracuse, New York. Though a music fan, he had no interest in playing until his matriculation through college, when he bought an alto saxophone. Even then he was more interested in rhythm and blues following Stax Records releases and those of Aretha Franklin until he happened upon Julius Hemphill‘s album “Dogon A.D. recorded in 1972.
Berne moved to New York City in 1974 and took lessons from Hemphill who was integrating soul and funk with free jazz, and then later recorded with him. In 1979, he founded Empire Records, released his own recordings, then recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records, generating discussion and controversy by straying away from the neo-traditionalist hard-boppers of the 80s into the avant-garde.
By the late Nineties Tim founded Screwgun Records, released his own recordings, as well as others musicians. He has played in the sideman seat with guitarists Bill Frisell and David Torn, composer/saxophonist John Zorn, violinist Mat Maneri, and cellist Hank Roberts, trumpeter Herb Robertson, bassist Michael Formanek, trombonist Ray Anderson , saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and has been a member of the group Miniature.
Wearing his composer hat, Berne creates complex, multi-section compositions are often quite lengthy, often twenty to thirty minutes. However, utilizing brilliantly creative and experienced musicians who don’t get lost or make their audiences never grow tired. He has been a part of nine different groups and has recorded forty-one albums. Alto saxophonist and bandleader Tim Berne continues to compose and perform prolifically.
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Bill Charlap was born William Morrison Charlap on October 15, 1966 in New York City. Coming from a musical background and a distant cousin to famed jazz pianist Dick Hyman. His mother, singer Sandy Stewart had the hit “My Coloring Book”, his father, Broadway composer Moose Charlap.
Charlap began playing piano at age three. He later studied classical music but remained most interested in jazz. Over his career he has worked with Gerry Mulligan, Benny Carter, Tony Bennett, Phil Woods, Scott Hamilton, Ron Carter, and others. In the mid-90s, he was the musical director of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Celebration of Johnny Mercer, part of New York’s JVC Jazz Festival. In 1995 he joined the Phil Woods Quintet.
Charlap has recorded seven albums as a leader or co-leader for Blue Note, has had two Grammy nominated CDs: “Somewhere” and “The Bill Charlap Trio, Live At The Village Vanguard”. He has recorded two albums as a leader for Venus Records, as well as eight albums as a member of the New York Trio.
Bill appears at least twice a year for lengthy runs at some of the world’s major jazz clubs with his rhythm section, consisting of double bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. He became the Artistic Director of New York’s 92nd Street Y “Jazz in July” six program series in 2004. In 2008, the pianist became part of The Blue Note 7, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the label, recording Mosaic with promotion tour around the world. He continues to compose, record and tour.
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