During a concert, the Brazilian singer Lysia Condé recounted an anecdote about Chiquinha Gonzaga’s ‘Corta-Jaca’. The song was performed at a reception hosted by the Brazilian First Lady, Nair de Teffé, as a defiant gesture against the conventions of her time. The provocation was threefold: the song had folk origins, and was distinctly Brazilian. The…Continue reading‘Corta-Jaca’, the song by Chiquinha Gonzaga that scandalised Brazil
Category: Monday Notes
A music analysis column dedicated to the great classics of jazz and rock music: every Monday a song with technical notes and curiosities. To start the week on a good note… and learn more about music.
Fifty years after its release, Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd retains all its beauty and remains one of the most successful conceptalbums of all time. An unrivalled pinnacle in the use of the musical technologies of the time, the musical journey is enriched by sophisticated techniques, meta-textual elements and multiple narrative layers.…Continue readingThe Dark Side of the Moon, a plot with four narrative layers
[Monday Notes No. 184] Didn’t We is a song composed in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, a highly refined songwriter who composes both the lyrics and music for his songs. Many singers and musicians have performed this song, so I chose my three favourite versions and tried to compare them. To begin with, let’s listen to…Continue readingDidn’t We by Jimmy Webb, listen to Dionne Warwick, Sinatra and Art Farmer
Il jazz secondo Gianni Basso. Cronache di un caposcuola (Gianni Basso’s take on jazz. Chronicles of a leading figure) is a book by Sandra Scagliotti and Fulvio Albano, published by Azzurra Publishing in 2014, five years after the death of the great Piedmontese saxophonist. Gianni Basso was one of the greatest Italian jazz musicians, and…Continue readingGianni Basso’s take on jazz. Chronicles of a leading figure
[Monday Notes No. 183] Fryderyk Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 in E minor is one of the most played pieces by the Polish composer, not least because it is one of the few that does not require an advanced piano technique. Chopin did not write music specifically for didactics, this not too difficult piece…Continue readingF.Chopin Prelude op.28 no.4, how to create tension with melody and harmony
[Monday Notes No. 182] La Foule is one of the best known songs by French singer Edith Piaf. The song sounds typically French, but in fact its origin is in South America, in a Peruvian waltz. Here, then, is the story of La Foule and some notes on the song.Continue readingEdith Piaf, La Foule. A Peruvian waltz turned French
[Monday Notes No. 181] La nevicata del ‘56 is a song written in the 1970s by Carla Vistarini and Luigi Lopez, but remained unused for a long time. Only in 1990 did it find a great interpreter in Mia Martini at the Sanremo Festival. That same year, the song was also interpreted by Franco Califano,…Continue readingMia Martini, a song about nostalgia
I have selected one hundred unforgettable jazz pieces that have made the history of this music. The aim of this list is to suggest a few listens to those who do not know jazz music at all, or have only listened to some of it and are curious about new periods or genres. I have…Continue readingAn Introduction to Jazz: One Hundred Tunes to Discover Jazz
[Monday Notes No. 180] Denny Zeitlin is an American pianist who has performed since the 1960s in solo piano or trio with double bass and drums. He is a very fascinating musician also because of an unusual detail: despite a career in music at the highest level, he practised in parallel as a psychiatrist at…Continue readingQuiet Now, a Denny Zeitlin piece that Bill Evans loved
[Monday Notes No. 179] Por una cabeza is a tango composed by Argentine musician Carlos Gardel for the 1935 film Tango Bar. The lyrics of the song refer to horse racing, when a horse wins ‘by a head’, i.e. with very little gap. In Italian, a similar expression is used, winning ‘di corto muso’ (with…Continue readingPor una cabeza, the adventurous life of Carlos Gardel