Sergio Caputo
Swing&Soda

Normally, the general comments in response to the question "Do you remember Sergio Caputo?" are more or less:
- Sergio who?
- Dunno
- That name sounds familiar.
- Bah
- You mean the one from Naples, the piano bar guy who sang Sabato Italiano?
- Buh
- Oh yeah, I remember, we listened to Sabato Italiano all the time at the beach. A girl with crooked teeth always played it on the jukebox, such a drag.
- Well
- But then he disappeared
- Eh, yes, never seen again…
- Bih

In the collective imagination, Sergio Caputo is the scruffy guy with the crooked smile who topped the charts with two summer hits in the bleak '80s, a time from which, according to many, you don't escape alive or, at least, you crawl out bleeding and on your knees, and then he vanished. To the entire world, for some reason, Sergio Caputo is the piano bar guy from Naples, even though he was born in Rome and has never set foot in a piano bar. To almost everyone, Sergio Caputo artistically died (and maybe not only that, for what it concerns them) twenty years ago. But that’s not true. Sergio is undoubtedly alive.

Defying those who thought he was a fleeting jukebox summer hit, with that somewhat sad, somewhat cheeky air, he started at the Folk Studio, sailed through the '80s, the '90s, and reached the 2000s, he released records, performed concerts, founded his label, collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Enrico Rava, Danilo Rea, just to name a few— all fleeting summer hits like him, evidently. Well, I want to remember good old Sergio (much loved by yours truly, if it wasn’t clear yet) by reviewing Swing&Soda, a CD of hits released way back in 1991. WHAAAT? I'm reviewing a lousy COMPILATION??? Yes.

And the choice is not random: Swing&Soda encloses, as only good collections can do, tracks that, together, manage to comprehensively outline the various souls of Caputo's music, and it has the merit of being a good way to introduce people to this musician, those who are unfortunate enough not to know him (because, if it wasn’t clear yet, I consider those who don’t know him very unfortunate). Swing&Soda is also a fairly complete collection even though, for some reason, Scubidù is missing from the titles, which I find an unforgivable omission.

In his songs, Caputo hops here and there between genres; the pop of Dammi Un Po’ Di Più, the swing of Bimba Se Sapessi, intersect with the Latin rhythms of Italiani Mambo or Hemingway Caffè Latino or Non Bevo Più Tequila and the jazz of Spicchio Di Luna, creating an amusing and interesting mix of styles.
Caputo skillfully plays with his nature as a versatile artist, and in exactly the same way he plays with words, crafting cultured, enjoyable, and never banal lyrics. With charm, he winks at nonsense, invents rhymes and linguistic divertissements, tackling the magnificent human destinies and progressions with irony and wit, bringing lightness to situations and circumstances often anything but light; thus, despairing over being depressed and prone to drinking becomes “I live here because you don't come up/ I have a collection of medicines/ And two glasses, leftovers from yesterday's lunch”, and acquiring partners who are light years away from one's sensitivity transforms into “Little dreams in blue dress/ discreetly wink/ from a club sign while you/ suggest unsettling discos/ and naïve friends.../ I was hoping for a romantic encounter/ cheek to cheek”, and the difficulties of daily life become “Like flies from last summer/ that are still here in winter/ rehashing old trash/ dissatisfied with life but immune to DDT/ Like umbrellas lost at the station/ that pine with nostalgia/ robbed of rainy day utopias/ of stormy nights spent in a pub”. In this way, every drama, every ugliness becomes lighter and you can laugh about it.

This is Sergio Caputo, an enticing mix of talent and fun. Try it to believe it.