Home » Music » Song of the Day

Skeletons by Ernesto Cervini

From the album

Album Title: A Canadian Songbook
Label: TBR Records
Released: 2024

Listen

About the Album

Following up his ambitious JUNO Award-nominated 2022 album Joy (“a compositional tour-de-force, with strong melodies scored for diverse instrumentations” — Ted Panken, DownBeat), Toronto drummer and composer Ernesto Cervini is proud to announce the release of A Canadian Songbook, a vivid, fiery, insightful exploration of music composed by Canadians. This outing finds Cervini returning to the helm of his accomplished and long-running sextet Turboprop, with a thick, contrapuntal three-horn sound that’s been developing over the course of three previous albums: Abundance (2018), Rev (2017) and Turboprop (2015). Turboprop’s personnel also played an important role on Joy, along with a cast of singers and members of Cervini’s other projects, notably Tetrahedron and TuneTown. On A Canadian Songbook it’s Turboprop all the way, soaring on a couple of impressive Cervini originals and arrangements of the pop/rock numbers “When I Fall” by The Barenaked Ladies and “Clumsy” by Toronto’s own Our Lady Peace. Brilliant tunes by Cervini’s contemporaries and friends, Allison Au (“Aureole”), James Hill (“Skeletons”) and Turboprop trombonist William Carn (“The Inertia of Complacency”) round out the program. “The two pop songs on the record I’ve been listening to since they were released, when I was a teenager,” Cervini says. “Allison’s and James' songs I fell in love with while working publicity for their albums,” he adds, alluding to his role as founding director of Orange Grove Publicity. With two saxes (Tara Davidson, Joel Frahm) and Carn’s trombone offering harmonic richness, limitless versatility and off-the-charts improvisational prowess, Cervini can tell the story of what these songs inspire in him, aided by the eloquent, formidable rhythm section partners Dan Loomis (bass) and Adrean Farrugia (piano). “I’m happy to present my reflection on the Canadian music scene and the wonderful composers within it,” writes Cervini in the liner notes. “I’ve always been very proud of my Canadian heritage. I love how supportive this country is of artists, and I think that support is reflected in the success Canadian artists have on a global scale.” A Canadian Songbook was released worldwide on Friday, March 8th on TPR Records.

Tracks

Skeletons; When I Fall; If, Then; Stuck Inside; Clumsy; Aureole; The Inertia Of Complacency.

Personnel

Reviews

A Canadian Songbook by Hrayr Attarian
A Canadian Songbook by Dan McClenaghan

Date featured

March 20, 2024

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company.
It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.

< Previous
Blue Minor

Next >
Suddenly Last Tuesday