La BOMBA is the debut album as a bandleader by Berlin/Copenhagen based bassist, composer,and producer Luca Curcio — a bold, rhythm-driven statement that blurs the line between improvisation, production, and composition. It merges a gritty, physical approach tocontemporary jazz with the pulse and post-production aesthetics of sample-based music.
The album begins in the studio with a powerhouse Copenhagen-based ensemble — ErikKimestad (trumpet), Sölvi Kolbeinsson (alto saxophone), Francesco Bigoni (tenor saxophone), and Simon Olderskog Albertsen (drums) — capturing composed pieces alongside spontaneous exchanges. Once tracked, these recordings become raw material to be sampled, reworked, and transformed in Curcio’s Berlin studio. In the process, horn lines dissolve intolooping fragments, rhythmic layers splinter and recombine, and acoustic textures mutate intonew sonic forms. The result is music in which original performances and their post-produced counterparts flow seamlessly into one another.
At the heart ofLa BOMBA is rhythm as a driving, physical force. Deep, percussive bass lines collide with fractured drum patterns, while grooves stretch and contract with elastic momentum, its propulsion shaped as much by fluid-time beat-making as by jazz rhythmic language. With this project, Curcio digs into the physicality of ensemble interaction, groove complexity, and the tension between live spontaneity and studio manipulation — treating the digital environment as a space as vital as the bandstand in forging a distinct band sound.
Line-up
Luca Curcio
upright bass, electric bass, additional percussion, additional vocals, sampler
Erik Kimestad
trumpet
Sölvi Kolbeinsson
alto saxophone
Francesco Bigoni
tenor saxophone
Simon Olderskog Albertsen
drums
Credits
Mariana Zwarg – flutes (guest, track 07 )
Mette Nadja Hansen – vocals (guest, track 07)
Composed and produced by Luca Curcio
Recorded by Boe Larsen and Andrea Alunni at MillFactory, Copenhagen Additional recordings by Luca Curcio in Berlin
Mixed and mastered by José Diogo Neves
Cover photo by Tania Caruso
Design By Lukas Kurtz
Supported by KODA Kultur