Nicola Dinan

Italian producer, DJ, and musician Nicola Conte continues his exploration of swinging Brazilian sounds with the collection Viagem 4. The Viagem series digs into the Blue Note, Universal, and Schema label vaults – this time selecting 17 tracks spanning 1962 to 1970 – homing in on the bossa nova and samba jazz sounds that made Brazil the ultimate destination for cool, exotic sophistication.

Ho sempre ritenuto la canzone una forma musicale potentissima, come dimostra la storia della musica moderna, da Franz Schubert a Leonard Cohen, da Hugo Wolf a Paolo Conte, da Rossini a Cioffi-Pisano. La canzone è altresì un genere difficilissimo, nel quale mi sono cimentato solo occasionalmente e con molta prudenza, quando lo richiedeva un’esigenza di sceneggiatura per un film, o un copione per il teatro.

Ho sempre ritenuto la canzone una forma musicale potentissima, come dimostra la storia della musica moderna, da Franz Schubert a Leonard Cohen, da Hugo Wolf a Paolo Conte, da Rossini a Cioffi-Pisano. La canzone è altresì un genere difficilissimo, nel quale mi sono cimentato solo occasionalmente e con molta prudenza, quando lo richiedeva un’esigenza di sceneggiatura per un film, o un copione per il teatro.

Bebo Ferra, of Sardinian origins but Milanese by adoption, is considered as one of the most prominent and creative guitarists on the Italian and European jazz scene.

Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690) today does not enjoy the fame he deserves, but he must have been esteemed in his lifetime considering he left his Bergamasque hometown of Clusone and – despite a somewhat tortuous path – managed to culminate his career as capellmeister of the ducal Basilica of St Mark in Venice.

On each of his recordings, jazz auteur Nicola Conte has explored a different side of his multi-faceted personality as a conceptualist, a composer, and a guitarist. While there is some overlap on each of his last three offerings, he combines various styles in new and compelling ways – all with large casts of players. Love & Revolution – gorgeously arranged by Magnus Lindgren with many returning players from 2009's Rituals.

Nicola Ghiuselev had the rich, full timbre and seemingly effortless low notes that characterize the classic Slavic bass voice. It also had a strong enough top that he could perform bass-baritone roles such as the four villains in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, and even Mozart's Don Giovanni. He first studied both painting and music at the State Conservatory in Sofia, but after deciding he had better career prospects as a singer, he concentrated on that. He made his opera debut at the Bulgarian National Opera in 1960 as Timur in Puccini's Turandot, and soon rose to starring roles with that company. In 1965, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Ramfis in Verdi's Aida during a company tour, followed two years later by his Covent Garden debut as Pagano in Verdi's I Lombardi.

Nicola Conte continues on his journey from acid-jazz bohemian to spiritual-jazz sophisticate with this immaculately hip album, fronted on half of its tracks by London-based soul-jazz divas Zara McFarlane and Bridgette Amofah.