|
The
Blue Note Festival gig, how did it feel?
We were
very very very happy, because we had a very enthusiastic
response from the audience. We really enjoyed playing
.. it was totally cool..
It
was incredibly tight, almost like hearing a studio produced
album, the way it all fit together. How long have you
been playing with these musicians?
It was
only the sixth or seventh gig that we did with this
band, but most of the musicians in the band have been
playing together for years. And I‘ve been working
with them in the studio for the last two or three years,
for the remixes and everything else. So we are very
close friends. We did some serious rehearsing and I
pay a lot of attention to how the music works. I think
that it’s a characteristic of this band to be
this tight.
The
audience was completely ecstatic. Normally at jazz concerts,
people are polite and clap, you don’t have them
going absolutely nuts and screaming for encores…
It’s
probably because we have a different attitude and the
people who were in front of us were feeling that. My
purpose with this album and with this band is to play
jazz with a different approach. I’m also a DJ.
I think this music needs to be renewed, not in form
but in attitude. I think that jazz can have people screaming
and be enthusiastic without being funky or electronic,
but just being what it is, just swinging. And you know,
it’s difficult to swing..
Was
that one of the main challenges when you started recording
the album, that you needed to do something that was
fresh and alive?
I’ve
been working a lot to achieve that. Not by the time
we were recording the album, because every tune was
recorded in one, to, three takes and that’s it.
We never had a problem during the recording. But I took
the last two or three years to get to this point. I
think that there is a lot of passion involved. Yesterday,
I think that everybody knew this, not only from what
I was saying to them, but from just seeing us. We were
happy and we really wanted to play, we were passionate
and I think that this is important.
It’s
definitely something that shines through in the music,
but you still keep some of the old elements of inspiration,
some of the brazilian thing, some bossa. Compared to
Jet Sounds, the influences aren’t as
straight-forward, it’s more like and underlying
thing.
Jet
Sounds is a totally different thing, there’s
no connection between the two albums. Jet Sounds was
done over five years ago and I was a different person
five years ago. This is the album that I always wanted
to make. I studied a lot, I took the guitar back, I
took lessons in musical theory, I listened again to
a lot of records, to get deeper. I also wrote the words
for all the songs. It’s different, there’s
nothing that you can compare in the two things. Jet
Sounds was very much a DJ album, this is a composer
album. The electronic elements here are almost non-existant.
They are there, but they’re in the process of
the making of the album, it’s something that I
only use to make this music playable in clubs, to sound
as loud and as strong as the contemporary electronic
productions. But you know, that’s it… There
are some secrets that I’ll keep secret, but this
album is really naked. It’s just human beings
trying to express something and communicate with each
other.
What
was your inspiration for this album, that must have
changed as well over the years?
The inspiration
for this album goes back to my main inspiration which
is jazz. Jazz from the 60s and from the early 50s. That
hasn’t changed, it’s just that to compose
these tunes I had to be ready. There comes a time in
everybody’s life when you start to look backwards
and re-think about what you have done, how you have
lived and how things happened. And that’s like
when you become a man, I guess. I wanted to express
this kind of feeling and I wanted to express it with
these musical forms. That was probably the inspiration
for doing it and I felt it was the time to do it.
It
definetly shines through, it seems like you’ve
found yourself. Before that we had a picture of Nicola
Conte, we had the slighty exotic bossa with a bit of
easy listening and a bit of kitch. And only now are
we getting the impression that we’re seeing the
real you..
It was
me as well doing the other things. But this is definetly
the real me. Because I got lost many times in my life
and you pass periods when it seems that you got involved
in things and.. I don’t know… you got messed
up. It’s difficult nowadays to always keep yourself
aware of what’s happening and everyone has got
some dark times. The problem is that you should be able
to improve on your mistakes. Maybe some of my past productions
focused more on this kind of easy-going, chique kind
of conception of life. This album still does but it’s
more romantic. This album defines me more than my previous
albums.
And
it’s definetly an album that will appeal to a
broad audience, especially because you do have the energy
and passion in your jazz, something that people from
all over the world and of all ages can relate to. There’s
a real expectation that this could be the best thing
ever to come out of Italy and probably be looked back
on as one of the best jazz records ever. Have you felt
the buzz?
Yes,
I can feel it. But the thing is, I’m just floating
with the wind. I try not to be too concerned about it.
As it is based very much on passion, I’m trying
to keep the whole thing going as smoothly as possible.
I have this feeling that we’ve got something,
something big. But that’s because all the musicians
in the band are fantastic. I choose them carefully,
they’re friends of mine and everybody is friends
with each other. That creates a very particular atmosphere.
This is not based on a mercenary kind of attitude. Everybody
plays the music they like and they’re there because
they want to be there and we are very much committed.
I’m the most committed, but I can tell you that
all the other musicians are too. They are happy and
they are surprised that jazz can be so enthusiastic.
But I always knew that it’s like that, because
the kind of jazz that I loved was like that. I remember
reading the liner notes to a Cannonball Adderley Sextet
album that was recorded in Europe, here in Belgium,
at the Comblain-La–Tour festival in front of 20000
people, and the band there was also very surprised.
But you know, that’s how it is. I think that this
is the time that maybe a record like this, music that
is jazz but at the same time is also something else,
can reach a wider audience. Because it’s not a
compromise, it’s not an attempt to be jazzy…
it’s just what it is. If you listen to the songs
and pay attention to the words, they are not the regular
words of a pop record, they’re more like a songwriter’s
words. There are many things that make this quite unusual.
And at the same time I think that people from 80 year-olds
to 28-year-olds can find something in it, which is great.
The
album will be out on Blue Note. Do you ever sit down
and disbelievingly say ‘wow, I’m on Blue
Note!’?
If I
do sit down I probably won’t get back up again.
I still can’t believe it. By the time I get the
vinyl issue with my picture and the Blue Note logo,
that day I will probably start thinking a little about
it.
That
must be something you’ve aspired to for a long
time now, playing music since you were a child. Was
it a dream of yours to record for Blue Note?
Yeah.
It was the dream of my life, a reason for being involved
with music. (he says almost under his breath, with a
wonderfully pure sense of satisfaction).
You
are also an avid record collector with an enormous collection.
What records are you looking for at the moment?
I still
have a lot of records to buy. Right now, I’m getting
some of the original Blue Notes that I still don’t
have. Unfortunately, some of them are really expensive.
I’m getting some of the European jazz things,
I’m always checking on the Brazilian stuff, there
are still some records that I don’t have. I’ve
started buying more and more singles, which is important
because that’s something that I’ve always
paid a lot of attention to, how a singer brings a song,
how to create arrangements and soundscapes around a
voice. Because I think that the voice the instrument
that reaches the most people but at the same time, it’s
very delicate. |
