December 22, 2020
Thomas Giampietro
UMass Amherst jazz lecturer Thomas Giampietro has released his newest CD, entitled “A Thru-Composed Life,” on Ear Up Records. This is Giampietro’s second recording as bandleader following 2013’s A Faith Rewarded.” In addition to Giampietro on drums, the new CD also includes Jonathan Kreisberg (guitar), Gary Versace (organ) and special guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. The new release consists entirely of new instrumental compositions by Giampietro, all of which are all autobiographical in nature. The eight tracks are organized sequentially to reveal the composer’s reflections on a particular period in his life from his vantage point in the present moment. “The album as a whole represents a broad picture timeline of my life as I see it now,” commented Giampietro in the CD’s liner notes. In reflecting on the revelations achieved in the course of creating this “musical autobiography,” Giampietro sounded a cautionary note: “T