If there were such a thing as ‘Flow Jazz’ – a genre characterised by harmonious and melodically flowing jazz – the Federico Rondolini Quartet would certainly be a contender for that category. Their debut album Blooming certainly confirms this.

For his quartet, the Italian guitarist Federico Rondolini has sought out three compatriots as fellow musicians: Gianmarco Giannetti on piano and keyboards, Matteo Bassi on bass and Joshua Frau on drums.

What the quartet is attempting is to bring jazz and rock together, with ‘rock’ representing the formal structure and ‘jazz’ the improvisation; however, tonality – with best regards from the Blue Notes – is not addressed in the liner notes and is also scarce across the album’s eight tracks. That need not be a loss.

The opening track Nest sets the tone for everything that follows right from the start with its “Welcome!”. A warm semi-acoustic guitar drips the first melody into your ears, followed by a calm bass, light-handed drums and delicate piano interludes. It’s accessible without being banal, and leaves you wanting more.

That ‘more’ follows in Wave. This, too, is a rather delicate track that enters the listening space at a mid-tempo pace. The title track Blooming is even more delicate, at least as far as the drums are concerned, which, played with brushes, lay a subtle carpet for the musical textures of the other musicians.

What’s surprising across the whole album is the trio’s willingness to embrace melodiousness. This makes their debut immediately accessible. The only outlier – if you like – is Yemen, which breaks the flow here and there with Arabic-inspired harmonies, odd time signatures and, at times, biting rhythms.

The mix on Blooming (the album) is very transparent. The instruments sound natural, are audible in detail and can be clearly identified spatially. Only the drums extend slightly too far across the width of the soundstage. And the bass solo in Blooming (the title track) could well be brought further to the fore.

Incidentally, it’s also surprising that the creators of this sensitive and profound music, who are in their early 30s, aren’t even particularly old. Yet immense maturity is reflected in their pieces. And so the artistry with which the four Italians weave their tracks into a cohesive whole is, without a doubt, precisely this:

Bellissimo! (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Federico Rondolini, guitar
Gianmarco Giannetti, piano, keyboards
Matteo Bassi, bass
Joshua Frau, drums