Cieli di Sicilia: Maurizio Giammarco and the Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo

Released on 4 July 2011, Cieli di Sicilia is the result of the collaboration between saxophonist Maurizio Giammarco and the Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo (OJdM), a Sicilian big band that, in those years, was establishing itself as one of the most active large-ensemble jazz writing projects in the country.

A sonic map

Each track refers to a precise location on the island and translates its atmosphere into sound:

1. Il cielo su Segesta feat. Dino Rubino (4:08)
2. Il cielo su Catania (5:39)
3. Il cielo su Ortigia e Ibla (7:30)
4. Il cielo su Capaci (8:34)
5. Il cielo su Bagheria (3:21)
6. Il cielo su Erice feat. Dino Rubino (5:15)
7. Sicilian Blues (2:46)
8. Migration feat. Dino Rubino (5:11)
9. Eroi Qualunque (9:02)

Fifty-one minutes in total. Capaci is not just a place name: it refers to the 1992 attack that killed Italian magistrate Giovanni Falcone. The eight-and-a-half-minute piece sits at the political center of the record.

The lineup

Giammarco plays tenor and soprano sax, Dino Rubino flugelhorn. The horn section includes names that will run through the Anaglyphos catalog over the following years: Rino Cirinnà, Carlo Cattano, Orazio Maugeri; rhythm section with Seby Burgio, Nello Toscano, Peppe Tringali. The album remains a reference in early-2000s Italian Mediterranean jazz and one of the most requested titles in the historic Anaglyphos catalog.

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