Fabio Zeppetella - Chansons! [e Canzoni] - Via Veneto Jazz and Jando Music

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

The editorial offices of JazzProfiles has recently received a number of new and forthcoming recordings and we’d like to share some information with you about certain of these that we have found particularly appealing.

The Italian word for songs is “Canzoni” and it seems fitting that it so closely resembles that of the French word for songs - “Chansons!” because of the geographical proximity of Italy and France and because the two countries share a quest for beauty in all aspects of Arts and Letters in the broadest sense of those terms.

This French-Italian cultural and artistic affinity is on display in Chansons! Guitarist Fabio Zeppetella’s latest CD for Via Veneto Jazz and Jando music [VVJ 113] on which he is joined by his countryman Roberto Gatto on drums and two, excellent French Jazz musicians: Emmanuel Bex on organ and voice and Géraldine Laurent alto sax.

There is a further meshing of en Francais and Italiano in the eleven song selections that make up this album as six are by Italian composers while the remaining five feature tunes penned by French songwriters.

The press release that accompanied Chansons! It as “a musical conception similar to a diplomatic treaty or melodious embrace between cousins. Essentially, it’s an innovative exchange between two neighboring worlds that have always eyed and inspired one other with reciprocal curiosity. Italy and France unite as allies on the musical front, gathering on the field four extraordinary talents: Fabio Zeppetella, Roberto Gatto, Géraldine Laurent and Emmanuel Bex.

The group employs a variety of musical devices to keep the music based on these familiar melodies interesting. For example:

This original quartet uniquely interprets eleven songs that best reflect the musical tradition of singer-songwriters belonging to these two countries. Starting from the highly popular jazz composer Bruno Martino, passing through the ever-present De André and De Gregori and arriving to Pino Daniele, another milestone; on the French scene are idols such as Jacques Brel, Leo Ferré, Yves Montand and Joe Dassin.”

The quartet’s interpretation is extraordinary and the songs in “Chansons!” enchant from beginning to end. While the harmonious complicity of Gatto, Bex and Zeppetella is a well-known fact, the musical fluency added by the involvement of Laurent is unexpected, further enriching this innovative project.”

The music on Chansons! [VVJ 113] is Jazz but played in a manner that compliments a basic facet of the music historically: its receptiveness to a variety of influences. In this case, Zeppetella and company infuse Jazz with a variety of French and Italian popular tunes which they alter melodically, harmonically and rhythmically.

For example, on Track one - E la chiamano estate - opens as a slow tempo rhumba with a rock ‘n roll backbeat which is understated because of Roberto Gatto’s uses of brushes to establish this pulse.

Bocca di rosa Gatto plays a 6/8 triplet figure behind Géraldine Laurent’s improvised introduction before she states the melody in unison with Zeppetella which launches a magnificent Bex organ solo.

Fabio switches to acoustic guitar to frame the chords for Buonanotte fiorellino over which Géraldine plays a beautiful one chorus statement of the melody to create the ultimate lullaby.

With its Jazz-Rock fusion beat A me me piace o’ blues hits the ultimate groove that really locks the musicians into some inspired soloing.

This is followed by the startling contrast created by a church-like choir introduction to Napule è which is formed by a Bex voice-over organ effect that creates a sonority underpinning improvised statements by Laurent and Zeppetella.

My favorite is a Latin Jazz version of Luna Rossa which you can check out on the video that closes this review along with an audiofile only version of Bocca di rosa.

Chansons!

(VVJ 113– barcode 8013358201137)

Fabio Zeppetella | guitar

Emmanuel Bex | organ and voice

Géraldine Laurent | sax alto

Roberto Gatto | drums

The full track list is as follows:

01 -  E la chiamano estate (Bruno Martino)

02 -  Bocca di rosa (Fabrizio De André)

03 -  Buonanotte fiorellino (Francesco De Gregori)

04 -  A me me piace o’ blues (Pino Daniele)

05 -  Napule è (Pino Daniele)

06 -  Luna Rossa (V. De Crescenzo-A. Vian)

07 -  Avec le temp (Leo Ferré)

08 -  C’est si bon (Henri Betti-André Hornez)

09 -  L’été indien (Joe Dassin)

10 -  Les temps des cerises (J.B. Clément-A. Renard)

11 -  Le bon dieu (Jacques Brel)

Chansons! (VVJ 113) is available through www.viavenetojazz.it, Amazon.com or www.forcedexpsoure.com

Fabio Zeppetella - "Hand Made" - Via Veneto Jazz/Jando Music

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Fabio Zeppetella hails from Puglia [Apulia in English], a region of southern Italy that borders the Adriatic Sea in the East, the Ionian Sea to the Southeast and the Strait of Otranto and the Gulf of Taranto to the south. This southernmost portion of Italy known as the Salento Peninsula forms the heel of the Italian “boot” on a map of Italy. Its major city is Bari.

Puglia is a southern crossroads reflecting Mediterranean, Hellenic, Slavic, Turkish and North African influences.

And so it is with the guitar stylings on Fabio Zeppetella as they are made up of elements of all these cultures as well as an admixture of Jazz, Rock, Folk and Classical influences.

You can hear all of these components at work on the nine tracks that make up Fabio Zeppetella American Quartet Hand Made, Fabio’s latest CD on Via Veneto Jazz [Jando Music/VVJ 084].

Aaron Goldberg| piano

Greg Hutchinson| batteria [drums]

Matt Penman| contrabbasso [bass]

Fabio Zeppetella | chitarra [guitar]

More information about Via Veneto Jazz can be found on its website - http://www.viavenetojazz.it/index.html. Via Veneto Jazz’s latest releases can be acquired through www.forcedexposure.com. You can also find its music at Amazon.com both as CD’s and Mp3 downloads and through Marco Valente’s online retail source - www.jazzos.com.  As has been noted previously, with the Euro falling back to Earth in relation to the US dollar, buying CD’s from European detailers is not the pricey proposition it once was.

Fabio Zeppetella is a groove merchant, although not in the way this term has been used in past associations with Jazz [think of the Count Basie Orchestra’s simplified blues riffs or of the funky blues sound of a tenor sax-guitar-Hammond B-3 organ- drums quartet].

Fabio sets his grooves through repetitive phrasing, some of which is extremely complicated from a technical standpoint, set over song structures that can be very open and linear or tight and closed like a Bach fugue.

He pushes the music forward almost in a percussive way, but using single-note phrasing instead of chordal strumming. His lines are immaculate - very clean, logical and always rhythmic.

You have to pay attention because there is always so much going on in Zeppetella’s music.  Listening to it brings to mind allusions of the dance, almost as if it is choreographed instead of based on melody and harmony.

As the principal composer of the music on Hand Made, Fabio keeps things interesting and flowing by varying the CD’s nine [9] tracks in terms of mood, motif, and movement.

Even with the familiar theme to John Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice, Zeppetella finds a way to refresh it and to make it different by playing it as a street Samba [Kudos to drummer Gregory Hutchinson who lays down such an authentic samba beat that you’d think you were at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro] .

Fabio’s original composition Reunion uses well-placed accents to create the illusion of an odd time signature thereby cleverly disguising its straight-ahead format.

Across the City opens with Aaron Goldberg on piano playing a two chord vamp over which the melody is played in unison in bass clef by Fabio on guitar and Matt Penman on bass. It’s 16-bar repeated structure is bridged by an interlude that suspends the time above the opening two chord vamp. It’s like listening to a closing tag in the middle of of a tune.

Via Manzoni 7 has to be one of the loveliest ballads I heard in years and Fabio really shows off his acoustic guitar chops on it.

Matt Penman on bass is a rock throughout framing the bottom of the chords while working closely with drummer Gregory Hutchinson to form a pulsating rhythm section.

And what more can be said about pianist Aaron Goldberg who continues to impress with his brilliant technique which he constantly employs to take chances, some of which he barely resolves before they result in improvisational train wrecks! Because of his bravery,he has become one of the most exciting soloists on today’s Jazz scene.

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles has written earlier pieces about Aaron’s superb work and you can find these features here and here.

Jando Music and Via Veneto Jazz, the co-producers of Hand Made  [Via Veneto Jazz/Jando Music/VVJ 084] sent along the following annotation as part of its media distribution package which have included for your review below followed by a video that features the Choro Pra Gianlu track from the CD.

“With heart and soul instilled into each of the 9 “handmade” songs (excluding track 8, composed by the legendary John Coltrane) Zeppetella presents his latest project, together with a quartet of world-renowned jazz musicians: Aaron Goldberg on piano, Greg Hutchinson on drums and Matt Penman on bass.

Zeppetella, a musician with impeccable technique and great musical sensitivity, utilises a unique and personal language: the result of his constant efforts to generate new combinations capable of expressing an innovative musical identity.

The Apulian guitarist elaborated a completely original sound, with influences ranging from traditional legends such as Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery to bebop and hard-bop styles of the Sixties.

Full of unexpected phrases, Fabio’s touch on the strings is cleanly enunciated, alternating between gentle and persuasive. His main attribute lies in his original approach to interpreting music, where each sound finds its place and meaning, as in poetry.”

If you are looking for some new and exciting Jazz that will move your ears in some new directions, you need look no further than Fabio Zeppetella’s American Quartet’s performance on Hand Made [Via Veneto Jazz/Jando Music VVJ 084]

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