Lucio Dalla
Classica & Jazz

Dear beloved Lucio, what if we fired those in marketing? Nothing against the cover designed by Manara (Manara's drawings are all, a priori, beautiful) but there are, in this commercial operation, some things that calling missteps is definitely an understatement.

First of all, putting the same cover on a new, innovative, and very different product as on a Christmas hits collection is silly in itself. Then the title "Classica & Jazz" is worthy of the worst Pino Daniele of the decline years. And, since you know something about decline, and this product, on the other hand, would have reevaluated you in the eyes of many (who probably ignore it and will continue to ignore it), the marketing strategy seems highly improvised, amateurish, and cheap. Let's do this: let's spread the knowledge of the product by talking about the "picture" and forgetting about the "frame".

It's about two DVDs, so we are addressing those who love to see music, as well as hear it. Personally, I remain primarily a listener, but I must admit that the advent of the music DVD has certainly given more than it has taken away. One DVD features a "jazz" group and arrangements, the other "classical". Hence the ill-advised title. Yes, because it's not about classical music or jazz music, but the cantautorale language applied to both, with successful, humble, heartfelt outcomes in this case, very far away from the charting Dalla (or from anyone doing anything desperate to chart) to which we had unfortunately become accustomed in recent years. Let's preface this by saying that both discs are very well played and interpreted, obviously with the typical canonicity of one genre and the freedom typical of the other. Beppe D'Onghia and the Nu-Ork Quintet handle the "classical" disc, recorded at the Greek Theater of Tindari and the Roman Theater of Verona. The repertoire of this disc swings between the most beautiful and true pages of Dallian's career ("Piazza Grande", "Anna e Marco", "Cara", "Futura", "43.43") and others more commercial and sometimes on the edge of kitsch ("Attenti Al Lupo", "Tu Non Mi Basti Mai" or the tragic "Canzone"). Unprecedented is the "songification" of Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor, op. 3 no. 6 rv. 365 ("Il Coraggio Di Volerti Bene"). As I was saying: praiseworthy interpretations, never out of place even if, obviously, limited by the canons and excess of writing. Lucio still proves to have all the charisma and talent we knew intact.

But the real beauty, real beauty, comes with the disc titled "Jazz". Recorded at the Avo Session Basel in Switzerland, in 2004, with the quartet of Stefano Di Battista, it is truly one of the best syntheses of jazz and cantautorato history remembers. Lucio in splendid form. Vocally impeccable and with the lust of the golden years, with a clarinet soaring high, perhaps not the most technical but full of soul, and with Di Battista's group in incredible form. Pure state of accord. The leader, who in the same year releases the excellent "Parker’s Mood", one of the best tributes to Bird ever, is in incredible form, both technically and spiritually. He is truly one of the best saxophonists in circulation today, from every point of view (phrasing, technique, timbre, etc.). An inevitable appearance by wife Nicolai, one of the many Sanremo figures who invoke the name of Jazz in vain (but, you know, with wives, mistakes are countless and, in the end, don't count), yet here she does not suffice to mar the work's perfection. Probably the best product of Lucio Dalla in the last twenty years and certainly his best "live". Here the tracklist offers no room for criticism and the previously unreleased (he added lyrics to "My Song" by Jarrett -!!!- risking excommunication for heresy) is unexpectedly and incredibly beautiful.

In short: it's enjoyable and infuriating, especially considering what Lucio could be, always and not sporadically, and is not. And, trust me (it's not my job but... trust me), had he opted for a dark cover, with a nice stage photo, sober fonts, and small white text "Lucio Dalla live with the Stefano Di Battista Quartet", you would probably know and appreciate him. It will end up in the 3x2 baskets at Iper: buy it.

Lucio, go back to writing and playing as you know. And fire those in marketing.