35 – Lexycon

XYQuartet was born from the shared vision of Nicola Fazzini and Alessandro Fedrigo to create a unique sound world—an environment for improvisation and new forms of musical composition. The quartet’s language is built upon intervallic sequences, pitch-class sets, non-retrogradable rhythms, and polymetric structures—forming a fluid and original compositional tool that is structurally complex yet communicative and engaging.

Founded in 2011, the ensemble has released five albums under nusica.org (Idea F, XY, Orbite, QuartettoQuartetto, and StraborDante) and has become a significant presence in contemporary Italian jazz. Recognized as the second-best Italian jazz group by Musica Jazz magazine in 2014 and 2017, XYQuartet has performed at major jazz festivals across Italy and Europe.

Their repertoire is shaped by diverse influences, ranging from 20th-century musical explorations—serialism, minimalism—to inspirations from non-musical but “sonifiable” disciplines such as science fiction, architecture, literature, and linguistics. Over the years, XYQuartet has developed original live projects, including 5 Astronauts, a multimedia concert in collaboration with video artist Claudio Sichel, and StraborDante, a performance inspired by Dante’s Inferno, featuring the voice of John De Leo and multi-visuals by Francesco Lo Pergolo.

The ensemble has performed at venues and festivals such as:

• Umbria Jazz, Novara Jazz, Centro d’Arte di Padova, Ivrea Jazz Festival, Una Striscia di Terra Feconda (Rome), Nel Gioco del Jazz (Bari), Torino Jazz Festival, Jazz & Wine of Peace (Cormons), Jazz Club Ferrara, Pisa Jazz, Casa del Jazz (Rome), Vicenza Jazz, Lana Meets Jazz (Trentino), Bologna Jazz Festival.

Additionally, the group has toured extensively in Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, and Hungary.

Lexycon

01 Elgotar Bengotar: A series of major and minor third intervals generates three independent melodic lines, each with distinct rhythms. The instruments traverse the sound space at their own pace but ultimately converge in section B, which consists of: Two sets of six notes derived from the series. A tightening rhythm that compresses bar by bar, like a spring.

02 Eresimento: A neologism created by the imaginary character Knom to describe a feeling of nostalgia for something painful. The piece has a tripartite form: The first section is structured as a contrapuntal dialogue between instruments, based on triads without tonal connections. The other two sections are modal in nature and recur as interludes or conclusions to the first section.

03 Improverso: A neologism whose meaning balances between introspection and multidimensional collective improvisation. The piece is built on overlapping rhythmic patterns dividing a 10/4 meter. It consists of two sections: In the first, performers can choose and alternate between different rhythmic subdivisions. In the second, the main theme—constructed through expansion and accumulation—alternates with improvisatory moments for saxophone and vibraphone.

04 Ooni Aanden: Built on a rhythm composed of two cells that multiply through augmentation:
23 2233 222333. The concept of generating new languages inspired an introduction where invented words are spoken in a rarefied, evocative atmosphere. The melody is played only at the end.

05 Knom: A heretical, unconventional creature in a hypothetical future where language has dramatically deteriorated, Knom works as a psycholinguist, creating neologisms with an apotropaic function for its patients. A contrafact of Evidence by Thelonious Monk, this composition serves as a tribute, built on a multi-rhythmic structure based on the accents of the original theme. The melodic structure results from the expansion of the original motif, progressively fragmented until it returns to the original Monkian accents in the coda. The harmonic structure is derived from the original chords, reharmonized in relation to the melodic expansion.

06 Nednaa Inoo: The melodic material is the same as Ooni Aanden, with the title being a reversed version of the latter. Likewise, the melodic sequences mirror one another. The independent lines of the three instruments generate static zones for improvisation—transitional spaces of peace.

07 Antro Altro: A contrafact of Anthropology by Charlie Parker, built on an M7 transformation of the melody and its inversion. While it appears to be in 9/8, the rhythm should be interpreted as 4/4, where one of the binary pulses is sequentially transformed into a ternary one.

08 Oh: Dedicated “to the jOHn heart”, this piece draws inspiration from a synthesis of the harmonic language in John Glenn by Nicola Fazzini, forming a small but colorful musical vocabulary. Rhythmically, it begins with a 3+2+2+2 formula, repeated three times but fragmented into four different sequences: 3+2+2, 2+3+2, 2+2+3, 2+2+2. The combination of bass harmonics, sharp vibraphone chords, and cymbals creates a translucent, secretive sonic space, waiting to be deciphered.

09 Flang Plang: A sequence of close intervals (minor and major seconds) generates three overlapping areas. Each instrument independently navigates these areas, resulting in an indeterminate, ever-changing sonic environment. Musicians are encouraged to interpret the piece with humor and madness.

10 Malcolm: Originally Malcolm Carpenter, this piece was featured in the album Orbite as a true suite with multiple sections and themes. This version reverses the formal structure: rather than playing the composed materials in sequence, the performers freely rearrange and overlap them, creating a layered, dreamlike stream of collective consciousness.

11 Frentin S: This piece is built on a twelve-tone series consisting of minor second and perfect fourth intervals (1 and 5). These interval pairs are highly generative, leading to a decision to use a simple rhythmic division—quarter notes. All instruments play only quarter notes, creating a steady pulse.

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