CD review: Luca Poletti with special Guest Paolo Fresu – Colors 2021: Video, CD cover

In a moment in which contamination prevails, Luca Poletti (piano) engages in an exercise that will appeal to those who love more classic jazz, the one with improvised themes and digressions, offered by first-level instrumentalists who together with the original trio (Stefano Senni on double bass and Matteo Giordani on drums) surrounds himself with first-rate guests with a saxophone (Matteo Cuzzolin), a trumpet (Christian Stanchina), an electric bass (Michele Bazzanella) plus a vocal intervention entrusted to the uvula of Annika Borsetto (This is For You) and an exceptional special guest like Paolo Fresu who enriches some pieces with trumpet and flugelhorn.

The references are all recognizable (From Leonard Bernstein to Burt Bacharach, passing through Michel Petrucciani and Bill Evans) but always left to nod aside, without their presence being somehow intrusive. And one in particular, Herbie Hancock, is even stated in the liner notes.

As it is easy to understand from the title (Colors), the album revolves around a concept based on colors but without the slavish attitude that was Ken Nordine in the 60s, but rather with the pretext of making homogeneous a project that manages to many directions, between pop moments and almost experimental inserts on which a polychromatic musicality rests, suitable to satisfy even the less available listeners towards a music unjustly feared as jazz.

The color that mainly emerges, in the seventeen tracks of the CD, is certainly white, seen as a contrast to the black of the skin to which this genre is historically associated. And Poletti is good at not falling into the trap of want-but-can’t, offering a very elegant vision of this world, without overdoing it and mainly having fun.

A chic album, perfect for staying in the background to an evening spent chatting with friends but that will give you satisfaction even if you decide to give it the attention it deserves.

01. Prologo
02. Strollin’ Around
03. Preludio #1
04. Raining Grey
05. Preludio #2
06. Sirene
07. Preludio #3
08. Bastian Oirartnoc
09. This Is for You
10. Preludio #4 (Leo)
11. Leo
12. Preludio #5
13. Preludio e fuga (dalla realtà)
14. Preludio #6
15. Sold 20%
16. Epilogo
17. Colors (La Lirica Dei Colori)

Luca Poletti piano
Stefano Senni double bass
Matteo Giordani drums
Matteo Cuzzolin saxophone
Christian Stanchina trumpet
Michele Bazzanella electric bass
Annika Borsetto vocal (This is For You)

special guest
Paolo Fresu trumpet and flugelhorn