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Steven Cerra
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“His lines are reeled off with unassuming strength: this is a baritone man who understands the weight and gravitas of the instrument without having to insist on it. Smulyan plays the instrument with great chutzpah.”
- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed.
"Smulyan handles the baritone's breathy demands like he has learned to harness the gust of a hurricane.'
— The Huffington Post
"Smulyan owns a contemporary melodic vocabulary enhanced by a flawless technique... and a glowing tone that embraces the listener in its warmth."
—
London
Jazz News
“After you listen to the music on this CD, you can’t help but nod your head in appreciation as Bella Napoli is a fine expression of what Jazz has always been – a vehicle for blending seemingly disparate musical styles.”
- the editorial staff at JazzProfiles
Listening to recorded Jazz is always a nostalgic experience for me.
The sounds usually evokes images of seeing the musicians in performance at some club or festival, or conjure up reminders of long hours wood-shedding [practicing] to master drum licks, fills or solos, or bring to mind solos that I had memorized note-for-note through repeated playing of some now, iconic Jazz recording such as Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing or Bill Evans’ My Foolish Heart or Miles’ So What.
But recordings rarely induce childhood memories mainly because the music I was surrounded by during these early years was not Jazz, but rather, the music of my family’s lineage –the Napolitano love songs, folk songs and melodic ditties associated with my extended family’s ancestry.
Many in my family were from
Naples
,
Italy
or
Caserta
an area close-by and this was the music they had grown-up with in the “old country.”
Nearly all of the men in the family could play a mandolin or guitar, some could play accordion and fewer still the clarinet [with more than a few squeaks from dried-out and/or split reeds and weak embouchures], and they used every celebratory occasion to trot these out and play the romantic ballads, stodgy waltzes and spirited tarantellas that they had learned from memory as children growing up in an around Napoli.
Some were stonemasons, woodworkers or tool and die cutters and it was quite something to see their gnarled and calloused hands moving delicately over the strings, keys and pads while belting out a heartfelt version of O Sole Mio, or Santa Lucia or Dicitencello Vuie.
The latter was a particular favorite of my Mother’s and I can still remember her singing it’s famous refrain - 'A voglio bene, 'a voglio bene assaje - which was translated into English as the popular song title Just Say I Love Her/Him and recorded by every Italian-American crooner from Vic Damone to Al Martino to Dean Martin.
Sadly, many of the “Papa’s,” “Noni’s,” “Pisano’s” and “Cumpa’s” are gone and their cherished music is infrequently heard these days as tastes in popular music continually change.
As is the case with everyone, you turn the page and go on to the next chapter in life, thankful for these fun and fond remembrances of a time gone by.
And then one day, all the lovely memories associated with
Naples
and with the music of the “old timers” come flooding back thanks to the arrival of a CD entitled Bella Napoli.
The disc was co-produced by Tom Burns and his staff at Capri Records and by baritone saxophonist, Gary Smulyan, who is featured on it along with vocals sung in a Napolinese dialect by Dominic Chianese.
I’m use to Gary’s musical idiosyncrasies, I mean, he did do a series of Jazz adaptations of the music associated with Frankie Laine who was not exactly a Jazz immortal [remember his Raw Hide with the sound of the snapping bull whip in the background?].
But Bella Napoli, this from a guy with a last name like “Smulyan?!”
Yet, when you read the accompanying materials, the rationale for the recording becomes compellingly apparent.
And after you listen to the music on, you can’t help but nod your head in appreciation as Bella Napoli is a fine expression of what Jazz has always been – a vehicle for blending seemingly disparate musical styles.
The more precise term for this blending of opposites is “syncretism” and how it all came together on Bella Napoli is a story that’s explained by Ann Braithwaite, Natty Goehring and Jon Muchin in the followng Braithwaite and Katz News Release.
Poll-Winning Baritone Saxophonist Gary Smulyan Unites with Famed Actor and Singer Dominic Chianese ("Uncle Junior" on The Sopranos) for Bella Napoli, a Stylish Collection of Italian Favorites, Out October 15 on
Capri
Records
Smulyan's ensemble of fellow virtuosos for Bella Napoli also includes arranger Jeff Lederer, pianist-accordionist Gary Versace, bassist Martin Wind, drummer Matt Wilson and Joseph Brent on mandolin and violin.
“There are artistic encounters that we don't see coming and, yet, when the best of these do somehow occur, they seem inevitable. The musical union of Gary Smulyan, the acclaimed jazz baritone saxophonist, and Dominic Chianese, the famed actor and singer, may appear to have arisen out of left field, but the results of their new album, Bella Napoli - a collection of beloved Neapolitan classics - tell a different story.
The love that both men share for these timeless songs, and the obvious respect that each feels for the other's artistry, resonates throughout this heartfelt album, to be released
October 15, 2013
, by Capri Records. This is an all-star, kindred-spirit project at every level, with Smulyan's ensemble including a virtuoso rhythm section: pianist-accordionist Gary Versace, bassist Martin Wind, drummer Matt Wilson, and Joseph Brent on mandolin and violin. The arranger and music director for the album was Jeff Lederer.
Smulyan and Chianese certainly come from different worlds of contemporary show business. Smulyan - named Baritone Saxophone Player of the Year again in 2013 by the Jazz Journalists Association and a consistent topper of both the Critics and Readers Polls in both DownBeat and JazzTimes - is the heir to such acknowledged baritone masters as Gerry Mulligan, Serge Chaloff and Smulyan's personal hero, Pepper Adams.
Chianese, an admired actor and vocalist - now best known for his role as mobster Corrado "Junior" Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, a modern classic - has appeared in such celebrated films as The Godfather Part II and Dog Day Afternoon. Despite their uncommon backgrounds, these two artists found common ground for collaboration with Bella Napoli.
‘I had been wanting to do a jazz project interpreting classic Italian songs for a long time,’ says Smulyan, whose wife, pianist/educator Joan Cornachio, is of Italian descent. ‘For me, these tunes are akin to the gems that jazz musicians have culled from the Great American Songbook - I think of them as Italian standards. I happened to catch Dominic at the Litchfield Jazz Festival performing Italian songs, and I thought he was terrific. Although his approach was more traditional, I knew he'd be perfect for this.’
Collecting original sheet music for traditional Neapolitan songs whose "lyrical and beautiful" forms spoke to him, Smulyan then sent them to a close musical associate, the tenor saxophonist Jeff Lederer, who as musical director for Bella Napoli was given carte blanche in conceiving the arrangements. ‘I picked songs that, for me, reflect the open nature of Italian culture,’ Smulyan explains. ‘This is soulful music - it has a funky quality that we tried to capture.’
Striking a balance between the improvisational nature of jazz and the lyrical character of the song material, Bella Napoli is half instrumental, half vocal. The all-instrumental forays include lusty turns on "Funiculi Funicula," "0 Saracino" and "Tre Veglia e Sonno." Smuyan's deeply expressive mid-tempo playing features on "Fenestra Che Lucive" and "Pegue." Celebrating his 82nd birthday just two weeks after the album was recorded, Chianese turned in vocal performances that are all heart. As Smulyan and his associates quickly understood, here was - as Lederer so aptly puts it – ‘the real deal.’
Chianese had been singing these Italian songs for much of his life - this music was in his blood. His passion and sensitivity are apparent in every breath. You can hear this best in the album's coda, an unaccompanied, heartbreakingly direct Chianese performance of "Santa Lucia Lontana."
Smulyan says: ‘Dominic never played with a band like this before, but he nailed everything in one or two takes. He loves to sing, and when he does, he becomes ageless. Dominic is a true gentleman - the complete opposite of his character on The Sopranos.’
Permeating Bella Napoli is the genuine commitment that everyone involved brought to the project -there's not the slightest hint of gimmickry or kitsch. Coming through clarion clear is nothing but shared love for two musical cultures that somehow blend together like a perfectly aged Parmigiano-Reggiano over fresh pasta and "gravy."
As DownBeat magazine has said, "Gary Smulyan puts the 'tone' back in baritone..." Over the course of his four-decade career, Smulyan has been heard enlivening the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and, currently, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, as well as ensembles under his own leadership and those led by such jazz luminaries as Carla Bley,
Dave
Holland and Joe Lovano. In addition to his appearances on myriad recording projects by others, Smulyan has recorded 11 albums as a leader, including Smul's Paradise from 2012 on Capri Records (featuring Mike LeDonne on Hammond B3 organ, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Kenny Washington). Smulyan is also a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Purchase and
Amherst
College
.
Jeff Lederer, who deserves immense credit for the arranging skills that make all of these incongruent pieces fit together, offered the insights and comments in the CD’s insert notes.
“What is it about Italian tunes? Sure, they've got great melodies, beautiful harmonies, and broadly sweeping phrases. They have heart wrenching lyrics that tell the stories of a life well lived and loved, with a sense of pathos that can alternate between inspiration and tragedy in the space of a short melodic line. They've got love and death presented side by side; primi piatti and secondi piatti.
Perhaps the best way to understand what makes Italian tunes great is to understand what makes a great Italian meal. Whether I am at my mother-in-law's house in East Flatbush or with the extended family in Italy, it is all about the heart - the honesty and straight forward spirit in which the food is planned, prepared and presented at the table. A red sauce ("gravy") that perfectly balances salty and sweet, a homemade wine that speaks in a voice that balances confidence and tenderness, a loaf of bread that is not overly fancy, whose crusty exterior reveals a soft, but not completely unyielding flesh.
On this recording, the great baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan reveals how deeply he understands all of these elements (perhaps his own deep relationship to the culinary world plays a part of this), and he delivers performances of traditional repertoire from
Naples
which embody these same elements that make a great Italian meal. Seated across the table is the voice of Dominic Chianese (known to millions for his long list of memorable roles in film and television from "Uncle Junior" on the Sopranos to "Johnny Ola" in Godfather II ) , whose own mellow, yet assertive tenor makes the perfect foil to Gary's instrumental voice. When you hear these gentlemen perform these songs, they join together in a perfect marriage of sweet and savory, tenderness and confidence, love gained and love lost.
The songs on this recording are all drawn from the tradition of Canzone Napoletana from the
Naples
region during the late 19th and early 20th century. The lyrics draw on a dialect particular to
Naples
, and the style of the music also speaks in this regional manner. Some are popular light Operatic-style themes (Yes, Opera in
Naples
is "Popular", not "Classical" music) which were made famous by artists such as Caruso and Lanza, some are folk dances featuring the tammora (tambourine) and mandolin, and others are simply good tunes. All of this rich and uniquely Neapolitan musical tradition was brought over to
New York
by immigrants and have become a part of the American musical landscape as well.
When
Gary
invited me into the project as arranger, he sent me primary source materials to work with in the form of original Neapolitan sheet music for many of the songs you hear on this recording - I had known most of these songs for years, but it was a revelation to work with them in their original published form. To this repertoire I added a few of my own favorites from the Neapolitan tradition; "Tre Veglia e Sonno", which is in a triple meter "Mazurka" style from the region, but which I set in a slightly more intoxicated meter. I also added "Saracino" to the list, a song about a Gigilo which I heard my own wife Mary singing in a catering hall in Bensonhurst,
Brooklyn
; a performance which directly resulted in my marriage to her years later.
The record is capped beautifully with a spontaneous solo performance by Dominic of "Santa Lucia" that floored us all in the studio - it was clear to everyone in the control booth that we were in the presence of the real deal.
Take the time to enjoy this recording while a pot of red sauce cooks on a Sunday afternoon - let the gravy simmer along with the brilliant playing of pianist (and accordionist!) Gary Versace, bassist Martin Wind, mandolin and violin player Joe Brent and drummer Matt Wilson.
Even better, put some extra pasta on and invite some family over to enjoy it with you -When I received the first mixes of this recording, I rushed over to my mother-in-law's house and we listened together in her kitchen in Brooklyn- the same kitchen where I have come over on countless Sundays with my own family for "sauce" - the music matched the sauce perfectly - honest and satisfying; the real deal.”
- Jeff Lederer (
Brooklyn
, July 2013)
Order information can be found at the following websites or via the usual, online retailers.
http://caprirecords.com
www.garvsmulyan.com
And this word from Gary Smulyan before we close this piece:
“I’d like to thank Tom Burns at Capri Records for his openness and willingness to record this music. Wait until he hears what’s next.”
I’ll bet Tom is holding his breath [and his wallet] in anticipation.
The following video offers a taste of what’s in store for you on Bella Napoli with its offering of Dicitencello Vuie as the sound track.