Trumpeter and composer Enrico Rava is considered the grand master of Italian jazz, crisscrossing avant-garde and jazz-funk with hard bop and modal with a trademark lyricism. Emerging in the early '60s, Rava played with Cecil Taylor, Carla Bley, Roswell Rudd, and Charlie Haden. He came into his own with 1975's classic The Pilgrim and the Stars for ECM, but has continually expanded his approach. 1995's Carmen offered a jazz interpretation of arias from the opera, 1999's Rava Plays Rava was the first of several duo offerings with pianist Stefano Bollani, 2004's Easy Living hit the Top Ten on the jazz charts, and 2012's live On the Dance Floor was Rava's maverick tribute to Michael Jackson. In 2019, he issued Roma with Joe Lovano. He also teamed with Andrew Cyrille and William Parker on the 2022 tribute 2 Blues for Cecil, before joining pianist Fred Hersch for The Song Is You.