Jazz Oddity is a reworking project of some pieces of David Robert Jones, best known as David Bowie, in a jazz/rock key, released in March 2011 for the label “La Frontiera” (CNI)
``David Bowie’s Music holds a very special place in my heart since I was very young, and this old love brought me to conceive a radical contamination between Rock and Jazz, a borderland upon which all my souls join together.
A real “Jazz Oddity”
Federica Zammarchi
The album, whose songs are written entirely in the Sicilian language, blend styles, sounds and atmospheres of varying musical backgrounds, creating in perfect continuity with the past, the musical syncretism so dear to us and that has characterized the Agricantus productions over time. Compared to past productions, in which technology and electronics contributed, through sampling, to give a panorama of sound coming from other cultures, Turnari is entirely played by the musicians involved. In this way, each musician was given the opportunity to fully express their knowledge of techniques and musical forms of many world music learned in all travel they have done in all these years around the world. The texts speak of an inner dimension of awareness of the importance of joining forces to overcome the difficulties, the natural wonder of love, the courage to face the sacrifice, and the rebirth of the time as an opportunity.
ANTICHORDS innovate the soundscapes and create new frontiers for listeners. In this case, the word ``anti`` doesn't mean ``against``. It actually means linking opposite sounds and worlds that usually don't mix and making them one. Using sound design heavily during pre and post production, every analog or digital sound sheds its original identity and transforms into something else.
String quartets can be conducted by electronic grooves of noises and glitches, saxes and clarinets of a cool New Orlean's Jazz Club can ``jam`` with distorted guitars of a muddy european Rock Festival.
Songs that are very diverse and otherwise processed are brought together not only by their lyrics, making it ``conceptual album`` but also by the way in which they are expressed to the listeners. This arouses the ``emotional world`` of the listeners and brings back thousands of memories that could include ``the joy of discovery, disappointment, love, anger, loneliness and nostalgia``.
ANTICHORDS , a reverse engineering of music styles, and a journey in life and music contradictions
The meeting between the singer/composer Federica Zammarchi and the young, gifted pianist Gianluca Massetti gave life to this crazy duo, whose purpose is total interplay, using pop/rock material (King Crimson, Nirvana, Metallica, Tom Yorke, Acqua, Coldplay, some italian 80’s names as Rettore, Nada and many others, as well as original tunes) in a “jazzy” way, with the fundamental contribution of rhythmic ideas, odd times, irony and a terrific “midi-linked” connection.
The hard-core native team is always enhanced by the presence of a soloist (sax, clarinet, flute, bass, drums etc.) giving his peculiarity to the sound of the project. On some track here the precious participation of Davide Alivernini on Clarinet.
“As usual, all that I love writing and interpreting is transversal and contaminated, without a specific genre. It draws inspiration from a personal path of mine which goes through different styles and periods and that, in this work, un-casually met Jimi Hendrix’s music.
It was him, among the first ones, who broke all schemes, outside all canons, creating something unheard before, inspiring generations of musicians with his way of singing and playing, both alienated and marvellous, desperate in a way, sweeter than sweet in some other way.
On November 27th 2012 Jimi would have turned 70.
That’s the reason why I wanted to pay him this tribute, in my own way, with the collaboration of four excellent musicians who re-invented and personalized with me a repertoire made of “stepping stones”, loved and known by everybody.”
The first album, five original compositions and two jazz standards, in a “european jazz” execution with a top quality band
