40 – Face of the Bass Clef
40 Face of the Bass Clef
Ornetrio Tangheri e i Lestofanti della 19F
Released by nusica.org, this album offers a reinterpretation of Ornette Coleman’s repertoire for bass, cello, and tenor sax trio, poised between chamber-style composition and improvisation.
The album will be available on all digital platforms from February 18, 2026, preceded by the single Una Muy Bonita, to be released on February 13.
Ornetrio Tangheri and the Lestofanti della 19F
Paolo Jus – bass
Mariano Bulligan – cello
Giorgio Giacobbi – tenor saxophone
Reinterpreting Ornette Coleman between Composition and Improvisation
The project Ornetrio Tangheri and the Lestofanti della 19F originates from a musical research path initiated by Paolo Jus around the repertoire of Ornette Coleman, approached not as a simple tribute but as material to be reactivated through composition and improvisation. Initially developed in an academic context during Jus’s studies at the Trieste Conservatory, the work later evolved into an independent project with a clearly defined identity. Published by nusica.org, Face of the Bass Clef is the Treviso-based label’s 40th release.
The album title refers to Coleman’s The Face of the Bass, clearly stating the project’s perspective, conceived from the bass clef. The starting point is the idea of an unusual “chamber” trio, built around a timbral center of gravity in the low register. This choice directly affects both the writing and the ensemble balance, leading the three instruments to share the same sonic space and contribute equally to the construction of harmony. In the project’s initial conception, the instrument that later became the saxophone was a trombone, but even after this evolution the overall framework remains compact, focused, and coherent.
Paolo Jus, a versatile musician born in 1992, moves effortlessly across different sonic contexts. A composer for theatre and a highly regarded bassist from Friuli, he has developed an original project by surrounding himself with local talents who share his passion for experimentation and the blending of musical languages. This vision also informs the choice of instrumentation and writing: the arrangements, all by Jus, are conceived for a highly distinctive and essential ensemble—bass, cello, and tenor saxophone. Mariano Bulligan, well known and respected in the world of free improvisation, and Giorgio Giacobbi, a multifaceted saxophonist able to fully exploit the timbral and technical possibilities of his instrument, shape the project’s identity through a constant dialogue between improvisation, composition, and a strong focus on sound as expressive matter.
“My encounter with Ornette Coleman was disorienting,” says Paolo Jus. “I was expecting an ‘extreme’ kind of free jazz, but instead I found precise, rhythmic music, where every gesture has weight and direction. From there came a question that still accompanies me: how does one move from construction to deconstruction, and how can freedom and form coexist without turning into indistinct noise for the listener? I’m interested in the point where composition opens up and becomes improvisation without losing coherence—not freedom as arbitrariness, but freedom as choice, within a shared language. Face of the Bass Clef comes from this idea, from the attempt to connect chamber rigor with free improvisation, letting context and the relationships between musicians hold the form together.”
The album revolves around a constant tension between two poles: on one side, rigorous chamber-style writing; on the other, the freedom of improvisation rooted in free jazz practice. This dialectic unfolds directly within the music, exploring different degrees of interaction between structure and freedom and opening up multiple ways of understanding improvised music.
Within the repertoire, the pieces take on different forms and functions, following a trajectory that experiments with diverse relationships between composition and improvisation. The journey begins with Lonely Woman, reinterpreted with a framework reminiscent of a string quartet and a structure that, aside from solo spaces, is essentially fully written. The Sphinx immediately juxtaposes a highly rigid chamber-style theme with an improvisation that, precisely because it is prepared by such strict writing, can become radical.
The moment of maximum openness is W.R.U., where the theme acts as a kind of “cover” and the piece is constructed in real time, guided by the bass within a logic of listening and response. Within this arc, two further episodes sharpen the project’s character: Una Muy Bonita foregrounds an almost theatrical idea, in which a “little story” becomes musical structure and the arrangement also thrives on what is not written on the score; Human Being—the only composition not by Coleman—is a piece by Charlie Haden, chosen by Jus as a key figure and natural reference point for this musical world, in which improvisation remains tied to the development of rhythmic-melodic cells from the theme.
From here, the album moves back toward a new synthesis: Chanting recovers a more chamber-oriented vocabulary and effectively closes the album as a project. Congeniality, the final track, is a bass solo that serves as a “reordering of ideas,” a farewell that reaffirms improvisation as storytelling and construction over time.
The result is an album that approaches improvisation as a conscious and shared practice, far removed from any notion of randomness, where every choice finds meaning within a collective structure.
Ornetrio Tangheri and the Lestofanti della 19F
Face of the Bass Clef
Tracklist
Lonely Woman
The Sphinx
W.R.U.
Una Muy Bonita
Human Being
Chanting
Congeniality
Production
Released by nusica.org, 2026
Information
www.nusica.org – info@nusica.org
Press Office and Communication
Giuseppe Bettiol – comunicati@giuseppebettiol.it – +39 349 1734262
Profiles
Paolo Jus
Paolo Jus (born January 22, 1992) is a musician and composer. He holds diplomas in jazz guitar and electric bass from the “Giuseppe Tartini” Conservatory in Trieste and has been teaching bass, guitar, and ensemble music in various schools in Friuli since 2012. Since 2024, he has been coordinator of the modern music and ensemble courses at Sinota Cultura e Musica.
He collaborates with numerous artists, including Efrem Scacco, Marco d’Orlando, Mosè Andrich, Francesco Bressan, Armando Battiston, Luca Colussi, Rudy Fantin, U.T. Gandhi, Lorena Favot, Riccardo Chiarion, Francesco Vattovaz, Nicoletta Taricani, Eleonora Lana, Aurora Rays, Barbara Munjas, Giorgio Giacobbi, Camilla Collet, and Tryphon Evarist.
He has performed at several festivals, including Il Jazz per le Terre del Sisma, Gaiajazz, Borghi Swing, Le Voci dell’Inchiesta, International Jazz Day in Palmanova, Vinitaly, Valdobbiadene Jazz, Head Light Fest, Pordenonelegge, More Than Jazz, and Le Nuove Rotte del Jazz.
He also collaborates with Molino Rosenkranz, Saltarello, and L’Arlecchino Errante in the creation of original music for theatrical productions. With L’Arlecchino Errante, he composed the music for a Russian adaptation of Il bugiardo by Carlo Goldoni, staged at the A.A. Bryantsev Theater for Young People in Saint Petersburg.
Giorgio Giacobbi
Giorgio Giacobbi began studying saxophone in 2003. From 2011 to 2017 he studied at the Jazz Department of the “G. Tartini” Conservatory in Trieste with Klaus Gesing, Giovanni Maier, Matteo Alfonso, and Riccardo Chiarion. Between 2019 and 2021 he taught saxophone, jazz ensemble, wind orchestra and percussion, and ensemble music at the Carducci-Dante Music High School in Trieste.
He is currently active in several projects, most of which have resulted in recorded releases, including Filaments of Existence; Ishi no Hoden by Camilla Collet; Sosuu by Pietro Spanghero; IZ by Paolo Ius; and Travelling Notes by Sebastian Piovesan. With the latter project, he won second prize and the audience award in the “groups” category at the Chicco Bettinardi National Competition for New Italian Jazz Talents in 2019. The self-titled album was recorded at the Artesuono studio by Stefano Amerio and released by the Italian label Dodicilune.
Mariano Bulligan
Mariano Bulligan (Udine, 1983) is a cellist, singer, and sound artist. He has performed in Italy and abroad (across Europe, China, Canada, and Rwanda) in concert halls and festivals including the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Ravenna Festival, China Shanghai International Art Festival, and BRDA Contemporary Music Festival, opening for the 100 Cellos project by Giovanni Sollima and Enrico Melozzi. He has collaborated with the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Sándor Végh Institute for Chamber Music Salzburg; in 2013 he was composer in residence at the NOTAM Center in Oslo with the support of PNEK Norway.
In 2023 he released VII Stazione – Hiroshima (The Jellyfish Label) and in 2024 Apple Bits – Holsen/Bulligan/Furlan (Klopotec Records), receiving attention from Italian and international press. He has appeared on broadcasts for RAI Radio 3 (Fahrenheit, Sei Gradi), RAI Radio 1 FVG, Rai5, Mediaset, and Shanghai’s Dragon TV. He composes for theatre and film, including soundtracks for VII Stazione – Hiroshima (in collaboration with the Far East Film Festival) and Il tempo delle lucciole by Alessandro Ruzzier; for the short film Astrid by Anna Antonelli he co-wrote the piece Another Day, which won the Milan Golden Award for Best Original Score for a Short Film.
Active in improvised music, he collaborates with international projects and musicians and records for various labels; with the Brez Meja Orkester he has performed alongside Evan Parker, Saadet Türköz, Johannes Bauer, and Zlatko Kaučič. He holds a diploma in cello from the “J. Tomadini” Conservatory in Udine, studied at the Estonian Music and Theatre Academy, and in 2025 obtained a Master’s Degree in Music Education (cello) from the “G. Tartini” Conservatory in Trieste, where he also studied composition and jazz singing.
Face of the Bass Clef
Lonely Woman
The album opens with Lonely Woman. In this case, the theme has been arranged to resemble the performance of a string quartet. The entire structure of the piece (excluding the saxophone and bass improvisations) is written from beginning to end.
The Sphinx
In The Sphinx, the two extreme souls of the album coexist: a chamber-style written theme that, like an elastic band, prepares and launches the free improvisation.
Una Muy Bonita
In this piece, an important part of the arrangement is not written on the score but is embedded in the short story that is musically represented. The story begins with three rather inelegant individuals trying to impress the “Muy Bonita” by showing off their technical and expressive skills, eventually leading to a final duel between saxophone and cello. Meanwhile, the very object of their confrontation walks away, leaving the three as the sole spectators of their own show.
Human Being
Human Being is a composition by Ornette’s most celebrated collaborator and “spiritual heir,” Charlie Haden. The development of this piece takes place entirely within the written page, since after a unison theme the simultaneous improvisation of the three instruments exclusively exploits rhythmic and melodic cells drawn from the theme, which is continuously mixed and reshaped.
W.R.U.
The theme of W.R.U. is used solely as a “front and back cover” for an entirely improvised piece. The music unfolds through the saxophone and cello responding to the bass’s cues, creating and shaping the atmosphere envisioned by the leader. It functions as a kind of “conduction,” with the bass acting as the guiding force.
Chanting
Chanting partially revisits the initial idea of Lonely Woman, moving back toward a chamber-music language. Here, improvisations also rely on a rhythmic or harmonic foundation to refer to, effectively bringing the album to a close as a coherent project.
Congeniality
The final track is a solo bass piece that serves as a reordering of ideas, allowing the performer to take risks and move as freely as possible within the theme of this last composition by Ornette.
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