HIIT is a piano trio of contemporary improvised music, with compositional frames that feed focused real-time composition. You hear aesthetics reminiscent of the
improvised and composed music of the 20th and 21st century. You hear hot blooded energy which is not afraid of lyric melody, abstract contemplation, and structured formal
matrixes.
Connecting the new Portugal and Italy music scenes, it is composed by the pianist Simone Quatrana, double bassist Andrea Grossi and drummer Pedro Melo Alves.
“…three distinct characters developing layers and plateaus of an inspiring soundscape/energy field. The music is courageous in its commitment to colorful abstraction, and virtuosic in the expression of the content. (…) this is a wonderful record that will energize the listener.” Hank Roberts
Recorded by Simone Coen at Cicaleto Recording Studio, Arezzo, Italy, on the 11th and 12th of June 2022 | Mixed
and mastered by Simone Coen
Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Photography by Bruno Pulici | Design by Travassos |
Supported by Fundação GDA
“...we have been taken on an exciting journey into the southern European avant-garde, where the interplay is perfect, the music extremely varied, and where three experienced gentlemen "play" with the music in the very best way.”
Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts
“HIIT, an innovative avant-garde jazz trio that stems from the Italian and Portuguese jazz scenes, has unveiled an interesting debut album that traverses an array of inspirations and atmospheres, ranging from frayed tension to thoughtful musing. (...) Formidable mosaics of improvised music get specificities in textures while paying tribute to various personalities. (...) Imbued with a spirit of sophisticated discovery, this recording is more than mere speculation. It’s a solid musical statement from an explorative trio that operates efficiently.”
Filipe Freitas, Jazztrail
“HIIT’s integrated soundscape often precludes individual sound identification. (...) It’s a blend of story telling and stop-time asides. Methodical keyboard evolution or swift glissandi are also stacked up against the drummer’s paradiddles, clip-clops, pops and ruffs, leading to a kaleidoscopic program which is often as surprising as it is standard. (...) «For Beauty Is Nothing But The Beginning Of Terror» offers the sonic equivalent of a technicolor project”
Ken Waxman, Jazzword
"The Italian-Portuguese cooperation between pianist Simone Quatrana, Andrea Grossi on double bass and drummer Pedro Melo Alves explores the improvised nature of trio interplay freely, relying, if anything, on the pureness of energy, rather than any preconceived notions. High-powered workouts like "Ecotone"—laced with frantically chromatic key-washes and lightening-like crashing cymbals—are juxtaposed with ambient explorations of touch that move the emphasis on timbre and shade, with cymbal-scratches matching double bass arco-swells, accompanied by minimal dissonant piano notes.
This pattern continues throughout For Beauty Is Nothing But The Beginning Of Terror, with the avant-garde firmly scanning both extremes: the uneasily quiet, and the aggressively disorganized. The two poles require one another, each temperament making room for the other to enter the picture, and the trio is well-versed in conjuring exactly what is needed and precisely the right time."
Pat Youngspiel, All About Jazz
“An urgent and nervous dictation of piano and drums on which Grossi fits perfectly with the bow, widening the meshes of the writing; highly calibrated abstractions dedicated to Lucio Fontana, an elegy for the late photographer Roberto Masotti and various interludes to add grams of storm to a panorama already dripping with ideas. (...) The italian response to Punkt.Vrt.Plastik?”
Nazim Comunale, BlowUp
“HIIT‘s «For Beauty Is Nothing But The Beginning Of Terror» embodies the contradictions inherent to improvisation within both of these idioms [- free jazz and “post-classical” music]. The record is a standoff between musical freedom and aesthetic intellectualism, between raw energy and esoteric reserve, between drawing from the past and making the future. It attempts to walk a compelling line between the pointillism and machine-like insistence of mid-twentieth-century serialism and the angular fire of mid-career Coltrane, with mixed results.”
Peter Tracy, A Closer Listen
"Something tells me that democratic rules apply here. This means that all three have an equal impact on how the music should sound and which way it should take. The 14 "songs" are freely improvised stretches with lots of dynamics, energy, lyricism and free frames, but also lots of melody in them...
We are dealing with three very skilled instrumentalists who have the entire European free jazz tradition within them. It both looks backwards and at the same time is very aware of where this tradition has moved today.
Great and heartfelt conversations are held here, where listening skills are absolutely crucial. It is simply very rewarding to be invited into these landscapes and let your thoughts flow freely."
Tor Hammero, Nettavisen
