PIANO SOLO - STEFANO BOLLANI
Outside the States, Italy reigns as the world’s hotbed of jazz, with a full cast of imaginative artists, including veteran trumpeter Enrico Rava, whose bands serve as the spawning ground for new leaders. One of his proteges, pianist Stefano Bollani, makes his ECM debut with this 16-track jewel that displays his prowess at shifting stylistic gears sans contrivance. Bollani plays with a sublime classical solemnity, dances with soft-shoe lyricism, tumbles into chord-fracturing avant territory and buoys with witty frolic. He pays homage to Prokofiev, applies a contemporary twist to Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” gracefully sinks into standards like “On the Street Where You Live” and emotively muses on the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Talk.” Sprinkled throughout are mini improvisations as well as Bollani originals like the caffeinated “Buzzillare” and the whimsical “Sarcasmi.”
