Casa del Jazz

My last weekend in Rome I found myself at the Casa del Jazz, which I had been talking about going to with my roommates for some months now. I have no idea why we waited so long.

A little hard to reach, about a 15 minute walk from the Piramide metro station, this villa houses one of Rome's better Jazz establishments. They run year round, outdoors in the summer and in the small auditorium in the other months. In the summer, concerts start at 9, just after sunset.

As you walk in before reaching the ticket office you pass the restaurant, pictured below. Where you can eat on the terrace and enjoy the sounds of the concert in the background, I didn't look but I imagine they're prices are pretty steep, might be worth checking out though.



The stage, set in the field next to the main villa, sits in front of a row of umbrella pines which give a theatrical backdrop to the musical performances.




I went on Saturday night and heard a quintet that was co-lead by Joe Locke (an American) on the vibraphone and Rosario Giuliani, one of the top Italian sax players. I had never heard a jazz vibraphone and was skeptical at first when they started playing and the vibraphone was drowned out by the other instruments on stage. However, my fears were quickly set aside as he slowly started playing louder and louder throughout the course of the first piece which came to a climax with a solo. Once he got going you could hardly see his hands moving, the tips of the batons looked like something out of the Matrix, just a blur of motion producing an amazing sound.



The Casa del Jazz doesn't offer much in the way of food, but they do have a kebab stand (5 euros, pay at the bar first) which are considerably better then the ones you typically get in Rome and a lot less greasier. And the bar offers 3.50 euro pints of beer on tap.

www.casajazz.it