Eugenio Finardi
Euphonia suite

Euphonia suite, or a long musical moment divided into parts united by atmosphere, has a pleasant effect in the meeting of sounds and instruments.
The new album by Eugenio Finardi, eight years after Fibrillante, is a "lifetime achievement award" that the author wanted to grant himself to celebrate over 45 years of activity on one hand, and to look to the future on the other.
Accompanying Eugenio are Mirko Signorile on piano and Raffaele Casarano on saxophone, forming a jazz group in a manner similar to what Fabio Concato did in 2017 with Gigi.
The work consists of 17 rearranged repertoire tracks, capturing the listener in a dreamy atmosphere, whether dealing with more demanding classics or more carefree episodes.
In Euphonia, which begins with the author's name and is also the name of a bird represented inside the disc cover, as many as four decades are represented.
From the social songs of the Seventies, to the romantic ones of the Eighties and Nineties (where war songs like "Soweto" and "Mezzaluna" are also present) up to the blues turn of the 2000s.
Eugenio and his two adventure companions create a long non-stop journey of 70 minutes, matching the artist's age.
I won't do a track by track, but I intend to encourage the listener to grasp the overall intentions of the work and to listen to the piano and saxophone parts, in addition to Eugenio's voice, more mature and therefore warmer and more enveloping.
The entire album is well calibrated, without smudges or unnecessary extensions.
"Katia" is longer because it is slowed down and was also the first single released in June, complete with a video inspired by the manga comic; "Diesel," which already has a jazz origin, stops at the right point, without dragging on; "Mezzaluna" too is contained in duration for the sake of essentiality; "Amore diverso" also stops at the right point, without quoting "The lion sleeps tonight" and "Pata Pata," as in the latest versions.
Excellent "Oceano di silenzio" by Franco and "Una notte in Italia" by Ivano, the second single extracted; as well as his classics "Le ragazze di Osaka", "Dolce Italia" and "Un uomo," on which one must literally applaud.
Surprisingly, "Ambaraboogie" from 1985, a semi-unknown track that pairs well with "Vil Coyote" after the blues incursion, pops up in the lineup.
Another surprise: when you expect the album to be finished, Eugenio reappears with a solo voice reprise of "Extraterrestre," surprising us again, granting an encore, and closing a work of great quality!