Nicola Conte & Rosalia De Souza - Garota Moderna

Styles: Bossa Nova
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:38
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:16) 1. Maria Moita
(5:45) 2. Bossa 31
(2:32) 3. Adriana
(4:38) 4. Tempo Futuro
(4:23) 5. Saudosismo
(5:26) 6. Canto De Ossanha
(3:44) 7. Fica Mal Com Deus
(4:43) 8. Mais
(3:41) 9. As Gotas
(3:31) 10. Mar Azul
(3:49) 11. Ipanema
(7:15) 12. Zona Sul
(6:49) 13. Samba Novo

Italian producer Nicola Conte was responsible for one of the biggest underground dance hits of 2000, the wonderfully catchy and light "Bossa Per Due." That song and the album it was on, also titled Bossa Per Due, were a refreshing blast of laid-back Brazilian jazz meeting Stereolab at cocktail hour and made Conte one of the most sought-after producers in the world.

In 2003 he hooked up with Rosalia de Souza, and on her debut record, Garota Moderna, Conte has done perhaps his best work yet. Over 13 tracks he and de Souza create a light, swinging, and hip mood that never flags and is a complete joy from beginning to end.

Most of the songs are cut from the same cloth as Bossa Per Due: bossa nova-influenced rhythms spiced with loungy jazz touches and liberally borrowing elements from electronic dance music and easy listening. The frothy tropical cocktail is topped off with de Souza's sensual and sweet (and mostly sung in Portuguese) vocals.

She never oversings or does anything remotely dramatic, often forgoing words altogether and crooning wonderful la-de-das. She is the perfect foil for Conte's winking and swinging sonic constructs. Tracks like "Maria Moita," "Tempo Futuro," "Mais," and "Ipanema" are sly groovers that sound like they should be playing in a James Bond movie set in Brazil.

In fact the whole record is a retro-futuristic treat. It should appeal to dance music mavens, jazz fans, Brazilian music lovers, and just about anyone who likes easygoing, sunny dance music. It will also further cement Conte's position as a top-notch producer.By Tim Sendra
https://www.allmusic.com/album/garota-moderna-mw0000024730

Personnel: Vocals – Rosalia De Souza; Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax], Flute – Gaetano Partipilo; Double Bass – Pietro Ciancaglini; Bass [Fender] – Davide Penta (track 4); Drums – Lorenzo Tucci; Guitar – Enrico Bracco (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 10, 12), Alberto Parmegiani (tracks 1,6),Guido Di Leone (track 11); Keyboards [Electronic] – Gianluca Petrella (track 7); Piano, Organ – Pietro Lussu; Organ – Sam Paglia (track 6); Vibraphone – Pasquale Bardaro; Percussion – Tarek Abou Chanab (track 7); Trumpet – Fabrizio Bosso (track 9); Producer, Arranged By – Nicola Conte; Written-By – Nicola Conte (tracks: 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13), Rosalia De Souza (tracks: 4, 8, 9, 13)

Garota Moderna

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Nicola Conte - Umoja

Styles: Contemporary Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:17
Size: 141,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:25) 1. Arise
(3:57) 2. Dance Of Love And Peace (Part 1)
(5:54) 3. Life Forces
(5:42) 4. Flying Circles
(8:12) 5. Freedom & Progress
(5:10) 6. Soul Of The People
(5:09) 7. Heritage
(4:13) 8. Into The Light Of Love
(6:55) 9. Umoja Unity
(2:56) 10. Dance Of Love & Peace (Part. 2)
(4:25) 11. Arise (Instrumental)
(4:14) 12. Into The Light Of Love (Instrumental)

Nicola Conte continues on his journey from acid-jazz bohemian to spiritual-jazz sophisticate with this immaculately hip album, fronted on half of its tracks by London-based soul-jazz divas Zara McFarlane and Bridgette Amofah.

Conte began his trajectory with the acid-jazz template Jet Sounds (Schema, 2000), boosted it with Jet Sounds Revisited (Schema, 2002) and, after a brief post-hard-bop detour with Other Directions (Blue Note, 2004), began the spiritual-jazz ascent which has in 2023 reached its new, lofty apogee with Umoja. At all stages, Conte's role has been less that of an instrumentalist and more concerned with composing, arranging, selecting the musicians and producing the sessions.

There is a distinctive, singular thread running through Conte's twenty-three year recorded output. This is a result, in part, of his longtime residence in Bari, an off-the-beaten-track seaport on the heel of Italy's boot on the country's southern Adriatic coast, its location rendering it well placed to shrug off the passing fads and fashions of Rome and Milan. Conte first came to attention in Bari in the 1990s with his Fez Collective, a loose coalition of progressively minded jazz musicians, DJs and cultural activists clustered around the town's alternative club world. Fez was a sort of latter-day musical equivalent of a mid-twentieth century European literary salon.

Continuity has also been created by Conte's collaborator Tommy Cavalieri, at whose Sorriso Studio in Bari Conte's most characterful releases, from Jet Sounds to Umoja, have been recorded.

The new album kicks off with six tracks on which McFarlane and Amofah alternate as lead singers. Within their broadly humanistic paradigm, the lyrics address particular sociopolitical issues such as ethnic identity, and without resorting to prosaic agitprop. The singers are supported by an achingly funky core lineup comprising tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy, multi-keyboardist Pietro Lussu, guitarist Alberto Parmegiani, alternating bassists Ameen Salim, Marco Bardoscia and Luca Alemanno, percussionist Abdissa Assefa and drummer Teppo Mäkynen. Another eleven guest singers and instrumentalists weave in and out (see below for details).

The tracks featuring McFarlane and Amofah are the peaks of the album, for which an honourable mention goes to Lassy, whose sensuous, Pharoah Sanders-like vocalisations behind the singers are terrific. Assefa's percussion work is also noteworthy. And a shoutout, too, for the instrumental tracks "Heritage," featuring flautist Milena Jancuric, and "Arise (Instrumental)," the sans-vocals version of McFarlane's opening track, which features vibraphonist Simon Moullier.

Only on "Into The Light Of Love," featuring male vocalist Myles Sanko, and its album-closing instrumental version, does Conte take his eye, briefly, off the ball, giving us rather too much lurve and a busy but bland quiet-storm vibe. For the rest, Umoja contains some of Conte's most satisfying work to date.

Londoners may like to know that Conte and his band including McFarlane will be performing Umoja at Ronnie Scott's on Thursday 8 June.

The single "Arise" has been released (check the YouTube below). Umoja is scheduled for 30 June 2023.By Chris May
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/umoja-nicola-conte-far-out-recordings

Personnel: Nicola Conte: multi-instrumentalist; Zara McFarlane: voice / vocals; Bridgette Amofah: voice / vocals; Timo Lassy: saxophone; Teppo Mäkynen: drums; Pietro Lussu: keyboards; iAlberto Parmegian: guitar, electric; Abdissa Assefa: percussion; Ameen Salim: bass; Marco Bardoscia : bass, electric; Luca Alemanno: bass
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Additional Instrumentation: Nicola Conte: composer/arranger/producer; Zara McFarlane: lead vocals (1, 3, 5); Bridgette Amofah: lead vocals (2, 4, 6, 10); Timo Lassy: tenor saxophone; Teppo Makynen: drums; Pietro Lussu: Fender Rhodes, Wurlizter, acoustic piano; Alberto Parmegiani: guitar; Abdissa Assefa: congas, percussions; Ameen Salim: Fender bass and double bass (4, 5, 9); Marco Bardoscia: electric bass (1-3); Luca Alemanno: Fender bass and double bass (6-8); Myles Sanko: lead vocals (8); Simon Moullier: vibraphone (1, 7); Dario Bassolino: Fender Rhodes and Moog (6, 8); Magnus Lindgren: flute (8); Fernando Damon: drums (7); Milena Jancuric: flute (7); Pasquale Calo: tenor saxophone (4); Hermon Mehari: trumpet (5); Paola Gladys: vocals (4, 5); Chantal Lewis: vocals (8); Jaelee Small: vocals (8).

Umoja

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Nicola Conte & Spiritual Galaxy - Let Your Light Shine On

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:40
Size: 146,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:46) 1. Uhuru Na Umoja
(5:27) 2. Ogun
(4:51) 3. Cosmic Peace
(5:11) 4. Universal Rhythm
(6:11) 5. Mystic Revelation of the Gods
(4:57) 6. Let Your Light Shine On
(6:54) 7. Space Dimensions
(2:06) 8. Tribes from the Unknown
(7:20) 9. Me Do Wo
(4:47) 10. Essence of the Sun
(4:44) 11. Love Power
(5:21) 12. Afro Black

One of the best parts of Let Your Light Shine On is how it plucks out musical threads from throughout the galaxy (more on that later) and knits them together into truly groovy, soulful cloth. But music is only one of many real good things this set has going on. Light is the first album by internationally-renown Italian DJ, composer, guitarist, bandleader and producer Nicola Conte for Germany's esteemed jazz label MPS Records. "For me, when it comes to European labels, MPS has always been leading the way," Conte explains. "'Jazz Meets the World on MPS,' that was their motto. It wasn't about exploiting trends, it was about genuine artistic expression."

Recorded in Conte's hometown of Bari (Italy) and in Johannesburg (South Africa), Light orbits around Conte's Spiritual Galaxy, a truly global ensemble comprising musicians from Italy, Sweden, and Finland, joined on this recording by soloists Theo Croker (trumpet) and Logan Richardson (alto sax) from the US, and British singer Zara McFarlane, with several local musicians jumping into the Johannesburg sessions.

This colorfully talented troupe shines their collective Light on American, African, European and intergalactic soul, weaving instrumental and vocal threads into a powerfully peaceful state of music and mind. "You could call it spiritual or cosmic Afro-jazz. I could also agree with calling it Afro-soul," Conte suggests. The opening "Uhuru Na Umoja" and subsequent traditional "Ogun" quickly demonstrates this band's Western dexterity with African culture, as their keyboards, guitars, bass and drums all link up and lock down with the vocals in masterful design. An instrumental "Mystic Revelation of the Gods" percolates Afro-beat like rich, dark, steaming hot coffee: Flute flutters above like a songbird overseeing ensemble horns that keep pinwheeling around the drummer's circular rhythm, which echoes drummer Michael Shrieve's jazz drum sound in Santana's Latin-rock context.
"Space Dimensions" opens up a window into the musical alternative universe of Sun Ra: As the breathless female vocal drifts in and out like floating clouds, the spacey lyrics naturally connect Sade with Sun Ra through the music's structure and lush production and nurture an organic flower of truly global and truly beautiful music. The follow-on two-minute drum jam "Tribes from the Unknown" extend Spiritual Galaxy's connection to Sun Ra's Arkestra. And oh this title track: A limber groove simply but soulfully repeating the refrain, "Let your light shine on...Let us live in peace..." There is something genuinely yet indescribably beautiful about this music the words, the instrumentation, and the vocals. Even the best writing/words couldn't do this one justice. Please just listen.

"We are connected by a higher force," Conte mused upon this set's release. "I don't want to sound like a hippie, but perhaps the light comes out of the universe. At the same time, it also comes out of ourselves."~ Chris M. Slawecki https://www.allaboutjazz.com/let-your-light-shine-on-nicola-conte-mps-review-by-chris-m-slawecki

Personnel: Nicola Conte: guitars; Bridgette Amofah: lead and backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12); Carolina Bussico: lead and backing vocals (1, 3, 7, 12); Zara McFarlane: lead and backing vocals (2); Zoe Modica: lead and backing vocals (6, 10); Gianluca Petrella: trombone, Mini Moog; Logan Richardson: alto saxophone; Magnus Lindgren: tenor saxophone, flutes; Theo Croker: trumpet; Pietro Lussu: piano. Vox organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, Fender Rhodes; Luca Alemanno: double bass, electric bass; Teppo Makynen: drums, percussion; Abdissa Assefa: congas, percussion; Tommaso Cappellato: drums (5); Nduduzo Makhathini: Fred Rhodes; Tumi Mogorossi: drums; Tlale Kakhene: percussion (8); Seby Burgio: organ (9, 11); Mike Rubini: baritone saxophone (9).

Let Your Light Shine On

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Nicola Conte - Free Souls

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:05
Size: 144.4 MB
Styles: Soul-jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[4:52] 1. Shades Of Joy
[4:19] 2. Goddess Of The Sea
[3:37] 3. Free Souls
[4:19] 4. Spirit Of Nature
[6:09] 5. Ode To Billie Joe
[4:20] 6. Soul Revelation
[4:07] 7. Ahmad's Blues
[3:56] 8. If I Should Lose You
[4:20] 9. Baltimore Oriole
[4:23] 10. Uhuru
[3:32] 11. Sandalia Dela
[4:19] 12. African Other Blues
[4:47] 13. Sunrise
[5:58] 14. A Prayer For Lateef

Italian producer and guitarist Nicola Conte first gained recognition for his cunning re-imaginings of acid jazz via influences from bossa nova, classic Italian film scores and Indian music. More recently, he’s focused solely on Latin jazz. With Free Souls he takes another left turn, constructing a brilliantly complex soul-jazz sound with Latin, African and Afro-Cuban inflections.

Conte’s core group is mostly Italian (Swedish saxophonist Magnus Lindgren the obvious exception), as are the majority of his guests (save American saxophonists Greg Osby and Logan Richardson). But Free Souls is truly a global affair. Six exceptional vocalists weave in and out of his ever-shifting tapestry, including dynamic young Haitian-American Melanie Charles, British-Ghanaian Bridgette Amofah (a powerful mix of Shirley Bassey and Aretha Franklin), the Netherlands’ eminently cool Natasha Tusk (a.k.a. Tasha’s World), Brits Marvin Parks and Heidi Vogel and American José James.

The playlist volleys between Conte originals, exploring liberty from multiple angles, among them the freedom of nature-James’ loose, shimmering “Goddess of the Sea,” Charles’ undulating “Spirit of Nature”-and East Africa’s Uhuru campaigns for independence, plus a curious assortment of covers. Those interpretations include Parks’ oddly but magically upbeat “If I Should Lose You,” Amofah’s sinewy “Baltimore Oriole,” Charles’ furtive “Ahmad’s Blues” and, again from Amofah, a slow-burnin’, Stax-worthy “Ode to Billie Joe.” The rhythms and styles are literally all over the map: breezy bossas, muscular funk, dense African percussion, earthy soul. True to Conte’s grand vision, it is gloriously emancipating. ~Christopher Loudon

Free Souls mc
Free Souls zippy

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Nicola Conte, Stefania Dipierro - Natural

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:09
Size: 121.7 MB
Styles: Bossa Nova, Vocal jazz
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[3:29] 1. Maracatu Atômico
[4:02] 2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
[3:35] 3. A Gira
[3:07] 4. Within You And I
[4:08] 5. Open The Door
[3:16] 6. Ainda Mais Amor
[4:45] 7. Caminhos Cruzados
[3:40] 8. The Meaning Of Love
[3:36] 9. Natural
[3:41] 10. I Feel The Sun On Me
[3:20] 11. A Menina Dança
[4:56] 12. Vento Bravo
[4:34] 13. Que Maravilha
[2:54] 14. Joia

Natural is the latest collaboration between musical travellers and kindred spirits Nicola Conte and Stefania Dipierro, the culmination of a relationship rooted in a shared belief in the spiritually healing powers of music. The Italian duo is set to take 2016 by storm with a sensual, sumptuous and highly accomplished record, firmly anchored in the traditions of Brazilian bossa nova, samba and jazz.

Stefania and Nicola first came together as members of the seminal 90s musical collective Fez, with Nicola leading the group. This period, one full of inspiration and discovery, laid the seeds for Natural. Though Stefania lent her enviable vocal talents to many bands over the years and Nicola went on to an illustrious production career, outside of a handful of tracks from Nicola’s album Jet Sounds, it was not until now that the stars aligned again, allowing these two mercurial talents to merge their musical sensibilities once again to access the deep spirituality that is at the core of their approach to sound. Stefania’s ongoing musical journey has ensured that her connection to, and understanding of jazz runs deep, as she resoundingly demonstrates throughout Natural. With Nicola once again in the production seat, the album serves as the defining showcase for her inimitable vocal talents.

Nicola first achieved international acclaim for his signature style of samba-influenced acid-jazz, which also drew inspiration from 60s and 70s Italian film soundtracks. Alongside his production work Nicola has laid out his musical vision through his guitar playing and songwriting, with numerous studio albums including 2004’s Other Directions, released on Schema, a French Subsidiary of Blue Note Records. His compilation series Viagem, all 5 volumes of which have been released on Far Out, provide an insight into the sounds of the past that have inspired his music of today, a peerless collection of lost bossa and samba jazz from the swinging Brazilian 60s.

On this new collaborative release for Far Out, Conte’s forward thinking production cleverly compliments and contrasts with the warmth of Dipierro’s laid back inflection and gloriously rich timbres. Natural is aptly named, considering the ease with which Stefania and Nicola have re-assumed the roles of muse to one another, a musical relationship providing the deepest access to the poetry within their sound. The album’s title track and first single is a perfect introduction to their world, a masterful blend of global influences in which a propulsive Afro-rhythm bolstered by a searing funk guitar, whilst soothing Rhodes chords provide a distinctly Brazilian warmth and Stefania’s vocals offer up an enriching melody to soothe the heart and engage the mind. Alongside original compositions from Nicola and others, Natural also tantalisingly promises some inspired re-interpretations of classic Brazilian and jazz pieces: Trio Tenura’s exemplary bossa groove A Gira and Steve Kuhn’s beautiful The Meaning of Love are among the tracks respectfully imbued with an updated resonance. The scintillating blend of jazz and bossa alongside a contemporary sensibility makes for a debut collaboration. A timeless example of the special places Brazilian music can go with a beautiful voice and a smooth groove, marking out Dipierro as a natural talent of the highest order.

Natural mc
Natural zippy

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Nicola Conte - The Modern Sounds Of Nicola Conte

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 43:49

Size: 100.3 MB

Styles: Jazz/Pop/Rock, Electronic

Year: 2009

Art: Front

[4:39] 1. When I Wish Upon A Star

[3:28] 2. All Or Nothing At All

[5:15] 3. Charade

[6:15] 4. Flamenco Sketches

[3:30] 5. Groovy Samba

[4:17] 6. Lotus Sun

[4:02] 7. New Blues

[2:25] 8. Solo

[5:25] 9. Take Five

[4:29] 10. The Shaman

Performer [With] – Akiko, Alice Riccardi, Daniele Scannapieco, Fabrizio Bosso, Flavio Boltro, Gaetano Partipilo, Gianluca Petrella, José James, Kim Sanders, Lisa Bassenge, Lorenzo Tucci, Mark Murphy, Pietro Ciancaglini, Pietro Lussu, Rosario Giuliani, Teppo Mäkinen, Till Brönner, Timo Lassy.

This set has been a long time coming. Italian composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and label impresario Nicola Conte has been issuing tracks on compilations, on 7", 10", and 12" vinyl for over a decade as mixes, side projects, and reworks. (The latter means that he actually uses his own band to reconceptualize and rearrange an original artist’s recording, more often than not with said artist’s participation.) Most of these cuts came and went, and have been out of print for some time. This killer double-disc set collects virtually all of them in a single spot -- 26 tracks' worth on his Schema imprint. The range of artists is staggering, from Mark Murphy, Til Brönner, Jose James, and Marco Di Marco to Fertile Ground, the Five Corners Quintet, Maki Mannami, and Roberto Roena.

Highlights on disc one include Mark Murphy’s “Stolen Moments (Midnight Mood Rework)”; his own Latin-ized cover of Henry Mancini’s and Johnny Mercer’s “Charade,” with Lisa Bassenge on vocals, and the killer reconstruction of [re:jazz]’s “Quiet Nights” subtitled “Out of the Cool Version,” after the Gil Evans session on Impulse! that inspired it. But tracks like the Jack Lawrence and Arthur Altman standard “All or Nothing at All,” by Conte's group with Jose James on vocals, are stellar examples of his ability to chart for large ensembles and make them rhythmically compelling and harmonically adventuresome, yet contain utterly smooth textures. Disc two contains the gorgeous reworking of Til Brönner’s version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s and Vinicius de Moraes’ “Só Danço Samba,” that retains Brönner’s vocal and trumpet solo, but conceives everything else -- Conte’s guitar work on this track is stellar. The 12” of the Sunaga T Experience’s “A Healing Blue (Shape of Jazz to Come Version)” features Sheila Landis adding lyrics to the composition and fronting the Italian quintet. Also check the Afro-Cuban rework of Dave Brubeck’s classic “Take Five!” by Roberto Roena.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you know anything about Conte’s side project work, or his singles there are plenty of them here -- if you dig the man’s music, you’ll flip for The Modern Sounds of Nicola Conte: Versions in Jazz-Dub. It is a seamless, utterly engaging collection of 21st century clubjazz rooted in the traditions of bossa, West Coast, progressive big band, continental, and post-bop jazz, as well as 21st century electronic music that has something on it for everyone. Thom Jurek

The Modern Sounds Of Nicola Conte   

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