An Italian of Slovenian ancestry who grew up in Trieste, pianist Roberto Magris frequently tours in Europe with colleagues from a variety of European nations. He also works in in the United States, where he operates the record label called JMood. Here, we see and hear Magris a few weeks ago in the Birdland Jazz Club in Neuburg a.d. Donau, Germany. With him are the formidable bassist Frantisek Uhlir and drummer Jaromir Helesic, mainstays of modern jazz in the Czech Republic. They play Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation.”
The latest Magris release on his JMood label, Sun Stone, features his frequent Miami colleague Ira Sullivan, on flute, alto saxophone and soprano saxophone, and a supporting cast that includes trumpeter Shareff Clayton, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, basssist Jamie Ousley and Costa Rican drummer Rodolfo Zuniga, who is beginning to attract widespread notice in New York and Miami. Zuniga’s playing with wire brushes is notable on several Magris original compositions and the leader’s Brazilian-flavored “Maliblues.”