•
Rating: 1. First of all, I wanted to thank you for agreeing to talk about the "Chat Noir" project and to start this brief interview by asking you to tell us how the group was formed, what its characteristics are, and what kind of music it proposes.
The Chat Noir trio was formed in 2002. Luca Fogagnolo - double bass and electric bass, Giuliano Ferrari - drums, Michele Cavallari - piano. We are three friends, before being colleagues, and we insist on defining ourselves as a group. Coming from different musical backgrounds, at a certain point in our lives, almost simultaneously, we approached jazz. Initially, we studied standards together, but sought personal arrangements that sometimes deviated from the classic jazz canons. We currently offer exclusively original pieces, giving much importance to themes and arrangements, sometimes at the expense of improvisation; this is because instead of wanting to demonstrate particular technical skills, we prefer to convince the audience with the coherence of the compositions. Our sound is essentially acoustic, with small electronic adjustments.
2. Besides your official website (), I've seen that you are also present on myspace, where I was very intrigued to read your musical references, which appear to be very varied. They range from some famous artists of the German ECM label to jazz classics, to contemporary rock groups like Radiohead and Sigur Ros, and even Italian songwriting. So, not just jazz. In what way does this colorful musical universe influence your way of making music?
The basic reference for our music is jazz, especially the rarefied Nordic European sounds, but our compositions are heavily influenced by our musical past and the music we habitually listen to: besides jazz, we like rock, especially from the '60s and '70s, post-rock, and singer-songwriting. All this inevitably finds its way into the content and also the form of our pieces. In fact, we prefer the song form over the structure of standards, we (sparingly) use electronic effects and samples, and we use swing as one among many possible rhythmic solutions.
3. Your latest studio work, Decoupage (Universal 2007), is characterized by the predominant presence of original pieces, while space for interpretations of non-original music is reserved for "Via del campo" by Fabrizio De André, not exactly a standard, at least so far. In either case, the impression is that you do not wish to channel yourselves into classic jazz schemas, looking for new paths. Is that so, or is it an illusion?
No, it's absolutely not an illusion. The choice to propose almost exclusively original pieces seemed to us the most natural and spontaneous way to coherently reconcile diverse sounds, apparently distant from each other, funneling them into a single sound ensemble.
4. Your music is predominantly acoustic, yet in "Decoupage" there are some small and discreet electronic touches, absent in your first album "Adoration". Do you think this path - now just sketched - could be emphasized in the future?
The blend of electronic sounds with acoustic sounds interests us as a possibility. For now, we have used electronic sounds quite sparingly. Those who see us live can observe how sampled elements are actually even less present than they might appear from listening to the record; we prefer to modify the sound of acoustic instruments with the help of effects and electronics. Projecting myself into the future, I can imagine that there will be a more dominant presence of electronics in our music, still with a predominance of acoustic or electro-acoustic sounds.
5. Always in Decoupage, the inspirational motive of Trilogy, namely Paul Auster's famous New York Trilogy, is very striking. How did the idea of bringing together two such different worlds as music and literature come about?
The idea of setting a book dear to all three of us to music served as a stimulus. We try to find sources of inspiration in everything that happens around us, with particular attention to contemporary culture. However, I don't find music and literature to be such distant worlds: the written page, like music, immerses the audience in moods and images subject to entirely personal and free interpretations. In this sense, we chose to "set to music" the New York Trilogy, starting from the suggestions that the pages of the book communicated to us. The same could be done with cinematic images and works of figurative art...and vice versa: music can serve as an inspiring element for literary, theatrical, cinematic works, paintings...
6. Another peculiarity of the album is the successful reinterpretation of "Via del campo" in the medley with "Cam Camin" from the Mary Poppins film, and moreover, I seemed to catch a hint of "Summertime", but maybe I'm crazy :). Why this seemingly distant encounter?
"Via del campo" by De André is one of the first pieces in our repertoire. The citations of the Mary Poppins theme and Summertime were inserted almost by chance during a rehearsal and then proposed as an integral part of the piece. At the same time, they constitute a formula that allows us to reiterate the possibility of coexisting seemingly contrasting and distant elements. Just like the song's text, which is played on contrasts "flowers grow from manure, nothing grows from diamonds."
7. In closing this brief chat, I would like to ask you for titles of some albums that you consider essential, the classic desert island discs.
Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, the jazz album par excellence and the most forward-looking album in history. Electra by Arild Andersen and Thimar by Anouar Brahem, two pearls of ECM production and exemplary works of boundary and contamination jazz. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles and The Wall by Pink Floyd. For the latter two, I don't think further explanations are needed.
Loading comments slowly
