Guida TV 02 Gennaio 2018

“Better be good,” Gregory Porter quips, just before opening his mouth to sing for a crowd of thousands in one of London’s most historic venues. And it is good. One Night Only, a program venerating Nat “King” Cole (along the lines of Porter’s 2017 studio album of his songs), finds the authoritative baritone in a lush setting with a 70-piece orchestra led by famed arranger Vince Mendoza. But despite a prevalent focus on ballads—including the murderous, Cole Porter-penned “Miss Otis Regrets,” subject to intriguingly knotty reharmonization—Porter preserves the core of swing and soul that’s so central to his small-combo identity. Chip Crawford’s piano solo on “Pick Yourself Up,” Tivon Pennicott’s bebop tenor sax turns on “L-O-V-E” and “Sweet Lorraine,” bassist Jahmal Nichols’ bluesy aside on “When Love Was King,” the creative funk abandon of the quintet on the finale encore, “Don’t Lose Your Steam”: This is Porter in his element, formal setting or otherwise.

About ten years from the now distant 2007, when the first foundations of this project were laid, one of the current Italian progressive rock scene most important bands, La Coscienza di Zeno, signs for AMS Records; while waiting to give life to their 4th record, they celebrate this event with the release of "Il giro del cappio", a live album recorded on 26 February 2016 in The Netherlands. "Il giro del cappio" consists of seven long and complex tracks for over seventy minutes of music in which, from classical to hard rock, various genres overlap and intertwine with impressive and apparent simplicity. Almost one third of the album is occupied by the suite "Giovane figlia", what could be called the 'Side A' of the band's third album "La notte anche di giorno"; four are the tracks taken from the eponymous 2011 debut, while the concert is opened and closed with two songs from "Sensitività" (2013).