A soul divided in half, between jazz - first and immense love - and pop. Between the passion for a genre considered niche in Italy and the need to be heard by many. Raphael Gualazzi, after four years from the last album (Love Life Peace of 2016), returns to propose his experiments, his piano evolutions, overcoming boundaries and horizons. And he does it starting from the Sanremo festival, for his fourth time at Ariston, with Carioca, a song far from the image one has of him, between urban and Cuban atmospheres, which promises rhythm and fun on stage and is contained in the new project "I have a plan", coming out on February 7 for Sugar.
"The piece was chosen by Amadeus himself, to whom I made the whole project heard", reveals Gualazzi. "Abroad I am perceived more as a jazz musician (and for this I will have to make a second release of the album), but in Italy jazz, outside of the live dimension, is not supported, it does not have enough space, neither on the radio, nor on TV, neither in the media in general. And so I live this dualism, without regrets or remorse. An eternal crossover that favors my never satisfied curiosity and leads me to experiment. Because what can be seen as a limit, eventually becomes a opportunity. And it's amazing to see which roads music can take, "says Gualazzi. Four years of record absence, which in the meantime have taken him around the world. In Japan, in particular, "where a Best of was released, the Unika song entered the Top40 and I played at Tokyo's Blue Note," he says without hiding his pride. "Before putting anything into music - adds the 38-year-old artist from the Marches - I believe in the need to live experiences, elaborate them, become aware of them". His - he explains - "is a multifaceted approach to music, because I don't give up on the color palette I have available. But without ever betraying jazz".
Colors and shades that ended up on his disc: 11 songs that tell the present in a single common thread, between social themes (immigration in Italy, cult of the image in Nah Nah, superficiality of modern society in La Parodie) and environmental (in For us), without forgetting love (for life in Carioca, for music in Immobile Aurora), traveling through the fusion of urban, pop, electronic, soul, African and vintage music (like his new Seventies look) . "When I sat in the studio I said to my producers: I have a piano. And thinking about the piano - my distinctive style - they replied that they already knew it. But I wanted this to be the title. Because my piano was to open up to new mixes. I don't like 'stencil' albums, with songs that are all the same: I'd be the first to get bored. " They range from author's chanson to theater-song marches, passing through Rossini-style atmospheres and tributes to Demetrio Stratos, George Gershwin, Serge Gainsbourg and Mina. "Mina, with E se tomorrow, is also the artist I chose to pay homage to on the cover evening. One of the greatest we have had. And Simona Molinari, who I called as a guest, is perfect for interpreting her together with me". In April Gualazzi will bring the new sounds live, in Italian theaters. The start on April 26 from Senigallia.