A selection of reviews featured on international Jazz magazines
... The bassist Gianluca Renzi, in particular, is an uncompromising interlocutor. He brings a lot, especially with his long notes that sound incredibly like in the tune "Summer's Gone".
...“A Dirty Job” mines a gentle backbeat and a light-footed melody that brings hummingbirds to mind. While Mirabassi lends a sweet touch to his inner Corea, Renzi plucks a mile a minute during his solo, recalling John Patitucci’s energetic forays.
"...The pianist's touch and subtle arrangements of bassist Gianluca Renzi clearly inspired the Evans’s classic-jazz. And talents of arranger Renzi appear here very clearly. The very rhythmic 3/4 "A Song For Sabrina" on the second track gives a perfect demonstration. "Somewhere in Seoul" which is shaped like a sad waltz at the Sibelius, too. Finally, the seventh title of the album "Bebe" seems to have been written by Michel Legrand from the point of view of the orchestration and melodic arrangement. So much so that if the team leader is Mirabassi and conductor Lorenzo Pagliei the real instigator of this album is the arranger bassist Gianluca. (Philippe Descamps - JazzMan France)
...Gianluca Renzi belongs to those young musicians who merit particular attention for his pronounced personality, his overall education and the resoluteness shown in his selections. At his joung age, he's already had an extensive history of formative experience. Renzi’s main influences are the greats of modern jazz who made the biggest innovations to the language of hard bop in the early '70s’artists like Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock and Jackie McLean. It’s no accident, then, that the bassist’s music, which affirms his gifts as composer and arranger, is profoundly marked by African-American aesthetics. Gianluca Renzi is fo sure one of the most interesting figures of the up-and-coming generation...
One is a stimulating, thought-provoking recording from The 4, a quartet of talented Italian jazz artists. It presents a variety of hip, original selections offered at tempos from slower and serene to red-line light-speed. Combined with diverse melodic and harmonic textures, One certainly offers an engaging listen... The heartbeat of The 4, guest Gianluca Renzi's gorgeous arco bass gets the lead and spotlight on "Thank you Chick"—a highlight of the date—and the quintuple-feel "Sunset Colors."
How close you can get to the fire without burning? The answer is not unique, according to the last work released by Renzi. Challenging with the compositions of Mingus and Henderson is a risk that has made important victims in music, yesterday as today: not in this case. Renzi besides being a talented bass player, shows qualities of skilled arranger and conductor. In "Charles and Joe" he rearrange the compositions that have made famous two of the most important musicians of the last century. There is the respect for tradition -of which Renzi is an expert- but the desire to make his own a work started by others is an added value.
...The sudden crossover to the more staccato tempo of the second song allows Renzi to show the very high level he has reached: his solo is indeed an example of technique, purity of sound, accuracy of fingering and inventiveness...
Gianluca has put together a truly fresh collection of Jazz Classics by two of the greatest of all time: Joe Henderson and Charles Mingus, which are thoughfully arranged and skillfully played by all the musicians that he has chosen for this project. I find the Mingus arrangements to be a real departure from the expected treatment; The Henderson charts are a wonderful illumnation on some of his most famous and most often played compositions. Anyone who is a fan of either Mingus or Henderson will be inspired and pleasantly surprised to hear this new perspective on some “well worn” classics. In fact, after hearing the treatment that Gianluca gave yo the Joe Henderson charts, I immediately contacted him and asked him to send me some charts for my ensamble at UMKC (Conservatory of Music of Kansas City) where I teach...