Enrico Rava Quartet

Enrico Rava Quartet is a jazz LP released on ECM Records in 1979. The quartet features Rava on trumpet, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Jean-François Jenny-Clark on bass and Aldo Romano on drums, recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg in March 1978 and produced by Manfred Eicher. The music balances lyrical, melodic playing with free-jazz energy: the long opener "Lavori Casalinghi" and the fifteen-minute "Tramps" give way to shorter numbers, including a Monk-flavoured "Round About Midnight".

Rava is an Italian trumpeter and long-time ECM artist. This self-titled album sits between The Plot (1976) and Ah (1979) in his ECM chronology, and the pairing with American free-jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd is what makes this date stand out.

Critics have been positive: AllMusic's Brian Olewnick called it a fine introduction to this underappreciated trumpeter's work, DownBeat's Douglas Clark said the open, expressive solos are what make the release worthwhile, and The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings also reviewed it. This copy is the 1979 US pressing, catalogue number ECM-1-1122, distributed by Warner Bros.