Gazzara presents The Bossa Lounge Sessions, a double album with a total of 30 tracks. The first CD contains fourteen pieces recorded live, while CD 2 includes another sixteen tracks recorded in the studio.

Francesco Gazzara performs Rhodes, Hammond, piano, Korg MS20, melodica and guitar, Massimo Sanna bass, Mauro Mirti drums and percussion. They invited the guest musicians Dario Cecchini (sax, flute), Eduardo Piloto Barreto (flute). Furthermore are featured Gianni Del Popolo (guitar) and Alex Gigli (drums) on the last two tracks of the Live Sessions.

The first CD was recorded live around the world (Italy, Russia, Portugal, Japan, UK) during a period from 1998-2010. The second CD was recorded in the studio The Small Farm from 2013-2020.

Gazzara inhales with Our Man In Rio the vivid spirit of the city always swaying in Samba rhythm in the warm light of the Copacabana. Back to the streets of Havana with Deodato's Havana Strut wonderfully realized across all registers on Gazzara's Hammond.

Josie was originally released on Gazzara's album Grand Central Boogie (1998). A swinging Bossa Nova tune which is in line with the trend of the time. Steely Dan's Do It Again is a pop song that combines so much contemporary jazz that it could become a world hit and still meet the demands of the strict jazz fan. Francesco also can't resist the charms of this song.

Next on the menu are Kenny Burrell's Chitlins Con Carne. Bon appetite. Dario Cecchini achieves great things on the saxophone. Light fare is the easily digestible Bossa Rouge. Point of Departure is taken from the album The Spirit Of Summer (2001) and this also reveals the inner context of the wistful separation after an eventful summer.

The buoyant La Isla Del Amor leaves nothing to be desired, because with it you get to the final destination of your desires. With The Spirit of Summer Francesco the emotional nucleus of the best season of the year. What can better express the feeling as this vibrating Bossa Nova.

Hot Barbeque is an album by organist Jack McDuff, recorded in 1965. What could fit better in this summer happening? The lightness of being manifests itself in O Passarinho especially if you translate the word with birdie.

The onomatopoeic Butterfly unfolds its wings at the beginning until it takes off for its flight from flower to flower. You don't really expect this heavy jazz cooking covered from Herbie Hancock's album Thrust (1974). With Keep On Burning Francesco ignites a funky firework that puts the audience in the right mood. Finally, he goes one better with Latin Breeze.

The second album combines newly in the studio recorded live tracks from the albums The Bossa Lounge Experience and Portrait In Acid Jazz plus bonus songs. Starter is New Frontier, a cover of Donald Fagen's debut album The Nightfly (1982). Gazzara's interpretation adapts the Bossa Nova rhythm to integrate the song into the general concept of the double album.

You're the Best Thing is a song by the English band The Style Council composed by lead singer Paul Weller. Gazzara's Hammond tickles the most beautiful phrases out of this song. By recording all the pieces in the line-up with Dario Cecchini (sax, flute) and Eduardo Piloto Barreto (flute) in Bossa Nova rhythm, Francesco achieves a compact unison of the album.

This has advantages if you are attached to the Bossa Nova style. However, if you compare the Bossa Nova Lounge Sessions with his original pieces from the album Portrait In Acid Jazz, you miss the diversity of the latter.


 





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Album Information

Title: The Bossa Lounge Sessions
Artist: Gazzara
Year: 2021
Genre: Latin Lounge
Label: IRMA Records

Tracks:

CD 1

1) Our Man in Rio (4:26)
2) Havana Strut (5:28)
3) Josie (4:35)
4) Do It Again (5:47)
5) Chitlins Con Carne (4:39)
6) Bossa Rouge (4:40)
7) Point of Departure (6:13)
8) La Isla Del Amor (4:46)
9) The Spirit of Summer (5:39)
10) Hot Barbecue (4:19)
11) O Passarinho (3:53)
12) Butterfly (6:47)
13) Keep on Burning (6:05)
14) Latin Breeze (6:11)

CD 2


1) New Frontier (Studio Live) (4:49)
2) You're the Best Thing (Studio Live)(4:15)
3) Black Jack (Studio Live) (3:31)
4) Berimbau (Studio Live) (2:56)
5) Lady (Hear Me Tonight) (Studio Live) (5:21)
6) Wave (Studio Live) (4:37)
7) Bahia Moon (Studio Live) (4:07)
8) Song for My Father (Studio Live) (5:14)
9) We Had a Ball (Studio Live) (3:59)
10) Jazz Is (Studio Live) (3:50)
11) Portuguese Soul (Studio Live) (5:30)
12) Skipper Bossa (Studio Live) (3:47)
13) Boomerang (Studio Live) (3:29)
14) The Miracle of Your Smile (Instrumental Mix) (5:06)
15) End of the Road (Instrumental Mix) (5:50)
16) Orinoco (8:59)