MOSS/electric unfolds from the image of electric moss: a quiet, resilient presence, spreading across surfaces, weaving unseen connections between what is above and what lies beneath.

It suggests a descent into a domain where life persists beyond notice— dense, ancestral, and quietly abundant. A diffuse vitality moves through it —growing, adapting, interlinking. The electric introduces another layer: currents, impulses, vibrations crossing space and matter, binding distant points into relation.

Within this field, piano, acoustic bass, drums, synthesizers, and modular systems interact as a single ecosystem. Sound circulates, branches, transforms—shifting between abstraction and fleeting recognisable forms. What emerges is a trace: the audible surface of hidden exchanges, where distance and proximity blur, and listening moves between worlds.

Reviews

• “Italian pianist Tonino Miano pushes ahead with a forward-looking adaption of jazz that combines parts of established tradition with its exciting, esoteric outskirts. Retaining Miano’s rhythm section of Riccardo Grosso on double bass and Andrea Melani on drums, the Tonino Miano Trio is poised to issue another set of intrepid works. MOSS/Electric (July 22 2026, Aut Records) comes less than two years after the same trio put forth Luminary(2024) and is a further exploration of ideas presented on that earlier album. […] The incursion of electronic sounds into the tried-and-true piano trio concept. ‘Electro-acoustic’ jazz isn’t really a new idea at all at this point, but the freshness of this music comes from how they approach it. Miano & Co. liberally mixes shapes — or the broad outline of shapes — with free-forms and abstractions, inserting electronic/synthesized sounds into an otherwise acoustic, modern and avant-garde combo. The computer-age sonorities act as an intrusion into the acoustic space and the three’s reactions to it is often where all the interesting and novel activity takes place. […] The Tonino Miano Trio’s MOSS/Electric goes to show that mixing circuited technology into unplugged jazz by itself doesn’t make the music interesting, they rely on old-fashioned attributes of intuitive skills and technical abilities to make it that way.” - V. Aaron, Something else! 07/26 https://somethingelsereviews.com/2026/07/13/tonino-miano-trio-moss-electric-2026/#google_vignette

• “[…]. We get three highly creative musicians making jazz in a free-flowing and modern landscape that I have never previously heard from musicians from the “boot-shaped country.” […] To my ears, this has become an extremely exciting album from three playful Italians who bring the free improvisation of the 1960s into 2026 and, with the traditions firmly in mind, deliver a perfect release for “our time.” Seriously cool stuff from three musicians I didn’t know all that well beforehand!”- Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts  08/22/26 https://salt-peanuts.eu/record/tonino-miano-trio/

• “At the beginning of Intro / Light Under the Tongue, the opening track of MOSS/electric, you would hardly think you were listening to a piano trio. We hear Miano on synthesizer, joined later by Melani's drumming. It is only when the double bass enters, at around the four-minute mark, that the piano trio makes its jazz-inflected entrance, by which time Miano has already switched to piano. Later, in the seventh minute, the synthesizer returns, subtly supporting Grosso's solo. Moon Droplets on My Sleeve is an understated jazz ballad in every respect, featuring colourful piano playing and masterful accompaniment from Melani and Grosso. Mycellium also begins in a restrained mood, but gradually builds in intensity, with an infectious rhythmic drive. This trio, however, seems to favour more subdued pieces, in which melodic passages are skilfully interwoven with more abstract interludes. The first half of After Current is a fine example. The musicians' equal standing is also striking. Although this is the pianist's trio, he makes no attempt to dominate the proceedings. The title track, Moss Electric, features some wonderful abstract sonic experimentation and is undoubtedly one of the album's most interesting pieces. The synthesizer plays a prominent role in Filament Drift, an equally unconventional and suspenseful piece that also gathers considerable momentum as it unfolds. Chlorophilia and Eight Minutes in the Sun — pay particular attention to the beautiful piano solo in the latter — are somewhat more traditional jazz pieces, although abstraction remains dominant here too. These musicians are clearly not particularly concerned with melody. The album closes on a rhythmic note with Outro, a finale that makes you want to play the CD all over again.” - Ben Taffijn, Niuwe Noten 11/07/26 https://www.nieuwenoten.nl/tonino-miano-trio-moss-electric-danilo-gallo-ede-lexperience-est-une-forme-de-paralysis-giovanni-nardiello-perspectives-cd-recensie/