39 – The Art of Leaving Blankness
The debut album by the Giacomo Ganzerli Trio is released on nusica.org: a musical landscape suspended between acoustic interplay and live electronics, where silence becomes an integral part of the narrative.
The album will be available on all digital platforms from January 18, preceded by the single The Comet, out on January 9.
In traditional Chinese painting it is called liúbái: “leaving blank.” It is the unpainted white space that suggests a landscape, a distance, something that remains off-frame and that the eye is invited to complete—an authentic “art of leaving space.” Translating this concept into music gives rise to The Art of Leaving Blankness, the debut recording by the Giacomo Ganzerli Trio for the label nusica.org: a contemporary jazz work that prefers subtraction to addition, entrusting silences, pauses, and details with the task of expressing what is left unsaid.
The trio brings together Giacomo Ganzerli on drums and electronics, Daniele Nasi on tenor saxophone, and Michele Bonifati on guitar. After a path divided between jazz studies, silent film soundtracks, rock, and electronic music, Ganzerli presents with this album his first compositions under his own name, choosing a bass-less lineup and a strong focus on sound design as defining aesthetic traits. Nasi and Bonifati, both long active on the contemporary jazz scene with original projects and international tours, share the same attention to composition and timbral research, contributing to an interplay in which the roles of melody, rhythm, and texture are constantly exchanged.
On the album, emptiness and silence are not absences, but active zones in which the trio deliberately refrains from intervening, leaving space for the listener—invited to mentally complete what remains off-frame, filling those sonic margins with their own images and memories. The cover artwork, depicting a figure walking through an almost entirely white snowy landscape, visually extends this imaginary world.
“The Art of Leaving Blankness grew out of the first pieces I wrote while thinking about people and places I miss: a long-distance relationship, the streets of Lisbon, family memories,” explains Giacomo Ganzerli. “I was struck by the idea, taken from Chinese painting, of leaving parts of the picture undefined: you don’t describe everything, you suggest. In music, for me, this means choosing not to play all the time, letting phrases breathe, giving weight to silence. Even the choice of a trio without bass and the use of drum machines, sequencers, and the sounds and effects of the electric guitar move in this direction: lightening the sound, removing some of the ground beneath your feet, and letting what lies in between emerge.”
The pieces follow this principle through different approaches. Bairro Alto opens the album with a melody that rises and falls like the streets of the Lisbon neighborhood it is named after, between gentle slopes and sudden openings, reflecting the slow yet intense rhythm of a city Ganzerli holds close to his heart. The Comet, the first piece composed and chosen as the single, translates a long-distance relationship into music: born from the feeling of being far from a loved one, it became the trajectory of a presence that appears and disappears, always just beyond the horizon. Crescendo, the last piece written, does not stem from a specific story but from the desire to maintain a connection with a previous project, through a form that opens wide and dynamic before tightening into an almost Balkan-like section. Nasten’ka dialogues with Dostoevsky’s White Nights, oscillating between suspension and emotional urgency, like the novel’s two young protagonists.
The two pieces A Quiet Place and Under the Influence function as a small internal counterpoint within the album: the former is almost free-form, built on electronic textures and a theme that slowly emerges from a rarefied soundscape; the latter is entirely acoustic, with a compact structure that looks toward the jazz tradition and a strong collective drive from the ensemble. Ein Lautes Mantra, written in Nuremberg, is based on an eleven-eighth clave developed over an eleven-bar cycle, while Marzo stems from the desire to use the drum machine as accompaniment, featuring a theme that moves from twelve-eighth to three-four time and opens into a dense dialogue between guitar and saxophone, with electronics becoming a fully integrated part of the interplay.
From a sonic perspective, the absence of electric bass makes the ground less solid and more mobile, in keeping with the themes of distance and suspension that run throughout the album. Alongside the acoustic dimension, a kind of fourth element emerges: Ganzerli combines drum machine and sequencer with the drum kit, while Bonifati shapes the guitar through extensive use of distortion and effects, transforming sound into a weave of colors and textures that interacts with the saxophone. This work on sound is not mere timbral enrichment, but becomes part of the composition itself: many passages include sections dedicated to programmed patterns and soundscapes, drawing on Ganzerli’s experience in silent film scoring and sound design research. In the background of the project, several listening trajectories can be traced: Mark Guiliana is a declared reference for the approach to the drums and to project-building; on the compositional side, Ganzerli looks to the expansive melodic landscapes of Jakob Bro and the harmonic depth of Shai Maestro, both of whom accompanied the writing of the pieces. For the more atmospheric and experimental dimension, the trio moves toward a sonic spectrum reminiscent of the work of Arve Henriksen and composers/sound designers such as Ben Frost, blending melodies and harmonies with electronic textures to shape a contemporary sound that is layered yet essential.
The single The Comet will be released on January 9, while the album will be available on all digital platforms on January 18. The realization of this record was partially funded by Pathways To Jazz in collaboration with Music For Love.
Giacomo Ganzerli Trio
Giacomo Ganzerli – drums
Daniele Nasi – tenor saxophone
Michele Bonifati – guitar
The Art of Leaving Blankness
Tracklist
Bairro Alto
The Comet
Crescendo
Nasten’ka
A Quiet Place
Under the Influence
Ein Lautes Mantra
Marzo
Production
Recorded at Fieno Recording Studio by Matteo Pontegavelli and Michele Bonifati
Mixed and mastered by Michele Bonifati
Released by nusica.org, 2026
Info
www.nusica.org – info@nusica.org
Press & Communication
Giuseppe Bettiol – comunicati@giuseppebettiol.it – +39 349 1734262
Giacomo Ganzerli
Born in Modena in 1997, he lives in Milan. He graduated with honors in Jazz Drums from the Mantua Conservatory and furthered his studies with, among others, John Riley, Horacio Hernandez, Steve Gadd, and Kendrick Scott, also attending a course in music production and promotion at Scuola Santeria in Milan. Active across jazz, contemporary music, and the indie/rock scene, he also works as a visual artist on soundtracking projects for silent films and documentaries. In 2024 he founded the Giacomo Ganzerli Trio, integrating drums, drum machine, and sequencer with tenor saxophone and guitar.
Michele Bonifati
Born in 1989, he graduated with honors in Jazz Guitar from the Parma and Ferrara Conservatories. He has performed at festivals and venues such as the EFG London Jazz Festival, Getxo Jazz, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), and Opus Jazz Club (Budapest), collaborating with musicians including Dave Douglas, Frank London, Stefano Battaglia, Javier Girotto, and Pasquale Mirra. In 2023 he released his debut album as a bandleader, Three Knots, with Michele Bonifati Emong on nusica.org, selected for Nuova Generazione Jazz 2023; the same year he was voted Best New Talent in Musica Jazz magazine’s Top Jazz poll.
Daniele Nasi
Saxophonist and composer, originally from Reggio Emilia, raised in Chicago, and now based in Bologna. After studying piano and saxophone, he graduated in Jazz Saxophone from the “A. Boito” Conservatory of Parma (2017) and attended the NY Jazz Master at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen, including a semester in New York studying with, among others, David Binney and Melissa Aldana. Winner of the Premio Zelioli 2019 (Albinea Jazz) with the project BSDE 4tet, with which he recorded Elevating Jazz Music Vol. 1 for GleAM Records, in 2023 he received the Giorgio Gaslini International Award and is currently active on the European jazz scene.
The Art of Leaving Blankness
“Bairro Alto” is inspired by the Lisbon neighborhood of the same name—a city close to my heart, made of constant ups and downs, with a slow yet intense rhythm.
“The Comet” is the first piece I wrote, probably in 2022 or 2023—I don’t remember exactly. It went through several transformations before reaching its current form. It originated from a feeling of distance from a loved one who remained far away for a long time.
“Crescendo” is the last piece I composed, shortly before the trio’s presentation tour in March 2025. It doesn’t have a specific story, but I felt the need to include something that reminded me of a previous project of mine. I therefore introduced this “even height” form, with an open, wide, and dynamic A section that tightens in the B section, creating an almost Balkan-like passage.
“Nasten’ka” is inspired by Dostoevsky’s novel White Nights. It tells the story of the meeting between two young people: he is contemplative and distracted, she pragmatic and rational. I have never fully understood which of the two I identify with more.
“A Quiet Place” and “Under the Influence” do not have a specific narrative origin but arise from a deliberate contrast. They are two pieces at opposite ends of the spectrum, both in form and sound. The first is almost entirely free, built on electronic atmospheres and without a real solo: the saxophone introduction opens into a long theme that gradually takes shape. The second is completely acoustic, with a structure that recalls more traditional jazz.
“Ein Lautes Mantra” was written in Nuremberg in 2023. It is based on a clave in eleven-eight time, developed over an eleven-bar cycle.
“Marzo” originated from the desire to use the drum machine as accompaniment. The theme begins in twelve-eight time and then shifts into three-four. After the first statement of the theme, the guitar solo develops into a dialogue with the saxophone.
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