Ludovica Burtone - Migration Tales (2025)

Italian-born violinist and singer Ludovica Burtone has performed with Sigur Rós and Jon Batiste, and was also part of an orchestra tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. at Lincoln Center. On Migration Tales, she leads a diverse N.Y.C.-based sextet in a tribute to the city's immigrant women. The success of the energetic and mostly melodic album hinges on Burtone's considerable ability to write music that's fresh, emotionally engaging, and clearly inspiring to the ensemble. "The Name" builds on Burtone's singing and violin playing. Tenor saxophonist Julieta Eugenio, a native of Argentina, enters with a warm tone and natural sense of melody, while South Korean Jongkuk Kim joins in with tasteful and supportive drumming. Burton eventually draws out a single note, closing out a masterful performance. Recorded at Big Orange Sheep in Brooklyn by Michael Perez-Cisneros, Migration Tales's sonics are well-defined and wonderfully vibrant. The inviting mood continues in "In The Last Sun" as Spanish flugelhorn player Milena Casado steps forward followed by her fellow Spaniard, the always fluid and inventive pianist Marta Sánchez. "Is This Rage" opens with a steady rhythm from Sánchez before Burtone forcefully joins as cacophony erupts from both horns and bass from D.C.-native Tyrone Allen II. Casado soars while Burtone cries and moans before Sánchez restarts the rhythm. Kim adds percussive textures before a final exclamation by all completes another superb realization of Burtone's writing. Burtone demonstrates the strength of her singing voice as she takes a slow, sensitive path through her arrangement of Egberto Gismonti's "Água e Vinho"—a rendition that also allows Sánchez to display the tender, consoling sides of her playing. "Our Voices"—an adventurous collaboration with sound designer Cleo Reed featuring a thumping drum, sampled female voices, and a spinning violin—is a crafty conclusion to a rewarding second album by a rising star.

TRACKLIST

1 Sono Parole
2 The Name
3 In the Last Sun
4 Is This Rage
5 Água e Vinho
6 Outside My Window
7 Our Voices