When this album was recorded in the mid-1980s and in the two decades that followed, in terms of audience perception beyond Italian borders, Pieranunzi and Enrico Rava seemed to carry the mantle of Italian jazz between them – Rava in more experimental endeavours and Pieranunzi as a straightahead, post-Bill Evans virtuoso. Of course, from the 1990s on, the cognoscenti would be able to add members of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, and musicians such as Paolo Fresu, Aldo Romano, Giovanni Miribassi, Stephano Bollani, Stephano di Battista and many more, but by then Pieranuzi and Rava had established secure international reputations with appearances at festivals and clubs across Europe and the US. Pieranunzi, in particular, has been an inspiration to subsequent generations of Italian pianists (and in Italy there's no shortage of exceptionally talented jazz pianists). What is immediately striking about his playing is his ability to swing in the manner of the very best American exponents of the music, an almost flawless technique, a profound understanding of jazz harmony and a seemingly endless fund of melodic ideas. In short, had his family, like thousands of Italians in the late 19th and early 20th century before him, emigrated to the US, he would number among a substantial body of first, second and third generation Italian-American musicians who have made a significant contribution to jazz (and hey, in this 100th anniversary year of the first jazz recording, don't let's forget that two members of the ODJB came from Italian families – well, Sicilian to be precise). And, of course, he would have been far better known. On Deep Down he allows his love of Bill Evans (and Evans' unique approach to jazz harmony) to show through. On hand is bassist Marc Johnson, who played with Evans, and Joey Baron, who didn't, but is a sufficiently sensitive drummer to do justice to a repertoire which includes three songs indelibly associated with Evans, ‘My Romance’, ‘Someday My Price Will Come’ and the Evans original ‘T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)’ plus the Pieranunzi dedication ‘Evans Remembered’. Yes, Evans' influence looms large (as it does over countless contemporary pianists), but the success of this album lies in the way Pieranunzi manages these influences in a way that allows his own musical personality to show through in what is an excellent representation of a genuine jazz talent who even now should be far better known.