PERIGEO: Azimut OG Italian prog jazz rock fusion LP RCA 1972 EX

$

26

Artist: PERIGEO

Title: AZIMUT

Label: RCA (PSL 10555)

Released: 1972

Cover: VG(+) (rw/cw/sw/bc)

Record: EX

Description: Excellent debut lp by Italian progressive jazz rock unit Perigeo; cover has light wear, vinyl is NM except for some light hairlines in the runout groove.

"First album from the best Italian jazz-rock band, and the first of a few masterpieces in a row, all of them being distinctive from one another, something that's not always evident in the JR/F style. Perigeo has their sound somewhere between Mwandishi, MD's BB, Soft Machine, Nucleus and Iceberg. I have rarely seen such a bizarre/ugly artwork illustrating so well the music on the disc: if you can easily picture your head/brains after listen of this album through the headphone, chances are that it wouldn't look too far away from this, maybe with added smoke coming out of the ears.

Perigeo holds one particularity that no other bands in memory (mine anyways) has: its leader is a bassist, which in jazz circles is quite uncommon. Indeed Giovanni Tomasso is not only the bassist and contrabassist (with and without the bow), but he plays synths and percussion as well as singing (quite well too) whatever few vocals there are on their albums. He's also on this album, the sole songwriter as well. The other musicians are also quite fine at their respective crafts, especially Franco D'Andrea on keyboards and Claudio Fasoli on saxes. Another particularity of theirs was to have an American on the guitars Tony Sidney, who will record a few albums on his own a bit later. Rounding up Perigeo is drummer Biriaco, whom hogs the stool quite well.

Rising on spacey noises, the sublime Posto Di Non Dove starts to grab you with a quiet electric piano over a Floyd-like organ and Tommasso's superb scatting vocals. Halfway through, the song changes abruptly with a strong repetitive descending riff on bass and guitar, while D'Andrea's piano is reminiscent of Keith Tippet, while Tommasso's singing takes on another lovely direction. The lengthy Grandangolo is a track filled with dissonant bits accompanying a pedestrian bass, before the track settles into a groove with Fasoli's doubled or tripled sax gives a bit of a brass rock chorus. Around the half of the track, the need to go higher is felt and the group increased the tempo a bit. The short and tense Aspettando was with is a relatively common track.

The lengthy title track opening the flipside starting on a bowed contrabass and Tippett-like piano are leading the tune to unsuspected peak somewhere not too far from Alice Coltrane, while Sidney's guitar finally gets a few lines, but the track returns to Tommasso's superb bass and D'Andrea's awesome piano, until it fades out. The aptly-titled short Un Respiro is Tommasso's vocals over quiet sax fills. 36th Parallel closes out by giving some exposition to Fasoli's sax lines and Biriaco's drums first, then Tommasso's bass, going dissonant again,

Quite an outstanding debut album, Azimut failed to attract much attention to itself, something the group's second album "Abbiamo.." would, as well as its Genealogia successor. It must be noted that in Azimut, the band might have well had been a quartet for young Tony Sidney's guitar is more than discreet and apart a few loud moments, iot's almost inexistent. But in either case, this will not stop Azimut to be a highly recommended debut album that all fans of Nucleus and Tippett must own." - progarchives

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ALL ALBUMS ARE ORIGINAL PRESSINGS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

GRADING:

All records are play graded conservatively - I have never had a record returned due to bad grading (and I'd like to keep it that way). If you are unhappy with the condition of a record I've sold you, please get in touch before leaving negative feedback!

NEAR MINT (NM): Like new.

EXCELLENT (EX): Otherwise NM but has slight cosmetic flaws that don't affect play. Close to perfect, with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident. The cover might have light wear or a dented corner, but should look close to new.

VERY GOOD PLUS (VG+): The record has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully - there may be light marks that don't affect play, or some of the original luster may be lost. The cover will have light wear, but will still look & feel solid.

VERY GOOD (VG): Record displays visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl luster, light surface scratches, groove wear and spindle trails. Some audible surface noise. Cover may have moderate to heavy ring wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss, stains. A VG grade doesn't mean the album is trashed; it will still play well enough to be enjoyable.

VERY GOOD MINUS (VG-): The record may have numerous scratches including heavy scratches that will tick, moderate to heavy surface noise. The cover might have large seam splits, tears, or writing on the cover that obscures the artwork. I usually don't list records in this condition unless it is an extremely rare title.

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GRADING ABBREVIATIONS:

auto: autographed / bc: bent corner / cc: cut corner / coh: cut out hole / cw: cover wear / H20: water damage / nap: not affecting play / obc: on back cover / ofc: on front cover / ol: on label / re: reissue / rw: ring wear / saw: sawmark / soc: sticker on cover / sol: sticker on label / sps: split seam / ss: still sealed / sw: seam wear (not split) / toc: tear on cover / tol: tear on label / ts: taped seam / wlp: white label promo / woc: writing on cover / wobc: writing on back cover / wol: writing on label

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SHIPPING:

* PLEASE WAIT FOR AN INVOICE BEFORE SENDING PAYMENT! *

All records are removed from the outer sleeve before shipping, and packed in a corrugated record mailer with cardboard spacers on either side to prevent damage. I don't use flattened Priority Mail boxes, padded envelopes, pizza boxes, etc. I collect records & know how I would want them shipped to me. For ALL locations double LPs & multi record sets count as 2 or more LPs.

I combine shipping for multiple items, see below for prices.

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~ UNITED STATES ~

Media Mail: $4.00 (w/delivery confirmation)

Estimated delivery time: 1-3 weeks. I've never had any problems with Media Mail when mailing records (or buying them myself), but please don't ask me when the lp is going to arrive, ok?

Priority Mail: $8.00 for the first lp & $1.00 for each additional LP.

Priority Mail is insured for up to $100.00 & will get to you in 2-4 days. It will also provide a tracking number when the lp is shipped. REQUIRED for albums over $100.00 in value.

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~ CANADA ~

First Class International: $9.00 for the first lp & $1.00 for each additional lp.

Express Mail International: $35.00 for the first lp & $1.00 each additional lp. REQUIRED for albums over $100.00 in value.

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~ MEXICO ~

First Class International: $12.00 for the first lp & $2.00 for each additional lp.

Express Mail International: $40.00 for the first lp & $2.00 for each additional lp. REQUIRED for albums over $100.00 in value.

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~ THE REST OF THE WORLD ~

First Class International: $15.00 for the first lp & $2.00 for each additional lp.

First Class mail can be slow, expect to wait anywhere from 2-5 weeks. If you want to be able to track your package, you'll have to upgrade to Express Mail (see below).

Express Mail International: $45.00 for the first lp & $2.00 for each additional lp.

Much faster, provides a tracking number & insurance up to $100. REQUIRED for albums over $100.00 in value.

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