Lucia Filaci
A Tu Per Tu

FACE TO FACE – LUCIA FILACI

WOW RECORDS 2022

Effortlessly transitioning from classical singing to jazz singing is the prerogative of only a few voices, due to a certain indulgence in a form of technique from which the attempt to emancipate is not always successful. However, this doesn’t seem to be a big problem for Lucia Filaci, a Roman singer of Neapolitan origin, in her recent “Face to Face,” debut album in which her original compositions coexist peacefully with interesting reinterpretations of standards.

The first part of the album favors the swinging creativity of the singer, who deftly masters the best styles of scat and vocalese, which occasionally peek through well-conceived harmonies, enhanced by the skillful and experienced hands of Andrea Beneventano on piano, Dario Rosciglione on double bass, and Gegè Munari on drums. The alto sax of a wonderful Vittorio Cuculo embellishes My Swing Mood, a tight beat clarifying, right from the start, the space-time context we are immersed in. “Senti qui che posso far…” sings Filaci, and she doesn’t seem like one to brag. Certainly, irony is not lacking in the Roman singer, as testified by Seems Like a Samba, a song in which scat osmotically embraces the verde-amarelo syllabic style. Beneventano's piano accompanies the singer in her daily planning, made of slow breakfasts, umbrellas, downpours, and camel shoes being brutalized. A sort of clumsy and resigned Bridget Jones who abandons herself to that jeito brasileiro de ser, when the mood brightens as quickly as a tropical storm. We Are Jazz is an easily recognizable homage to those elegant atmospheres characterizing certain Italian music around the time of the world conflict. Echoes of Quartetto Cetra and Buscaglione catapult the listener into a world of polka dot skirts and neck scarves. Here, Dario Rosciglione steals the scene with a brilliant intervention on the double bass that launches the very interesting solo by Cuculo. Filaci doses high and low registers with great balance, delivering a fine execution. Indecision Blues reinforces Filaci’s command over notes and time, on a once again ironic text, a compositional attitude that significantly characterizes the stylistic hallmark of the singer. The double bass of Rosciglione announces Bye Bye Blackbird (the first among the covers included in the album), but even Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon’s classic presents no worry for Filaci, who handles it excellently, without wanting to compete with the queens of the past who have ennobled the splendid standard. The interplay with the trio is obvious, driven by the always skillful drumming of Gegè Munari and by a Beneventano who, here and there, scatters strongly evocative passages of a musically never-too-much-missed era. A Latino moment comes with Summer Is Mine, a track arranged by Fabrizio Aiello, whose percussion marks the progress of a caribeño rhythm. Monica Tenev dresses up as Johnny Pacheco, while the voice and violin of Juan Carlos Albelo lead us to other and distant latitudes, where time is elusive. Because in Varadero or Boca Chica, summer lasts many months. The second foray into the slippery world of covers concerns Duke Ellington's Serenade to Sweden, a piece which – according to Filaci – provides an answer to the question about the compatibility of jazz with classical singing, a domain from which the artist hails. A courageous challenge indeed, facing an insurmountable obstacle that jazz singers haven’t particularly liked to confront, except for that Alice Babs who, thanks to her prodigious vocal range – beyond (probably) its geographical implications – had honored the Duke’s bet. No one better than Emanuele Urso could color Friariello Swing with ‘40s accents, with Filaci generously revealing to the listener the recipe of the delicious food, modulating her voice between the technically impeccable phrasing of the guest on clarinet and the delightful vocal arrangements of Antonello Paliotti. Fletcher Henderson meets Orchestra Italiana. Or, rather, Gorni Kramer meets Trio Lescano. The most intimate and romantic moment of the album is reserved for Che Mi Importa Del Mondo, a renowned masterpiece by Luis Bacalov and Franco Migliacci, which Filaci interprets with retro vein and vocality, contributing to the piece's success, also made effective by the trio’s arrangements and the fine intervention of an always excellent Stefano Di Battista on alto sax. The expansive atmospheres give way to a pyrotechnic Donna Lee, the last cover and final track of the album. Filaci tackles the Parker standard, plunging without a parachute into a whirlwind vocalese from which she emerges triumphant. A rhythm section with ultra-tight beats supports now Cuculo’s sax, now Beneventano’s nervous pianism, until the moment of final goodbyes, rightfully reserved for the lady of the house.

An album that requires more than one listen to fully appreciate its real compositional scope, besides the technical aspect, more easily understood at first glance. If for Lucia Filaci the gamble was “to look within and - accepting oneself as artists and individuals - give oneself the opportunity to be what one desires,” then the target can be said to be hit. And if this challenge consisted in the element of risk “to transform my path and my vocality from a lyrical singer to a jazz singer” through a “unique, clear, and effective language, to create images for the stories I wanted to tell,” the result is evidently achieved.