Bollani

This full-length album from Italian jazz group Stefano Bollani Trio features jazz piano renditions of your favorite American standards.
Italy's Stefano Bollani is a globally renowned jazz, classical, and pop pianist and composer celebrated as much for his entertaining stage demeanor as his dazzling technical prowess. He is also an esteemed broadcaster and writer. Bollani has recorded dozens of albums as a leader in many configurations, from piano solo to big band. Mentored by Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava, he has cyclically collaborated with the elder musician since appearing on 1999's Rava Plays Rava.

Sheik Yer Zappa represents Stefano Bollani’s hommage to an authentic rock icon. Recorded live during a tour, this cd includes songs of Frank Zappa’s, plus three pieces composed by Bollani’s himself and inspired by the rock star. Bollani is a jazz artist, and this means that Zappa’s songs are reworked and elaborated with his personal touch: he is producing a musical cocktail with his personal shaker (from this comes the title, which also plays on Zappa’s own words). So the results can be in some cases different from the original, but the attitude remains: the typical attitude, and the artistry with which Frank Zappa was able to capture and blend music from all over the world.

El Chakracanta, Stefano Bollani’s new dynamic live album with two original works of his for piano and orchestra and two tangos by Ástor Piazzolla and Horacio Salgán.

Stefano Bollani’s solo album ‘Piano Variations on Jesus Christ Superstar’ will be released on 3rd April 2020, 50 years after Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s original concept album. Bollani wanted his version of “JCS” to be completely different from whatever Broadway or London production: “I’ll choose the piano solo formula, because it’s a love affair between myself and this music.” He only sings one song, “Superstar”; the rest of the album is instrumental. Bollani, grateful for the exceptional permission granted to him to re-interpret the cult opera, has freely but respectfully approached the original songs by following his own playful wit, informed by the musical traditions, genres, styles and encounters that have shaped what is considered his very own idiom. For his version of Jesus Christ Superstar Bollani wanted a warm, mellow, profound, dense and clear piano sound. Hence the piano tuned at 432 Hz, which has allowed him to express the warmth and profundity of Lloyd Webber & Rice’s strong round film characters.