Nicola Conte - Free Souls (2014) Lossless

Free Souls is pure Soul music when Marvin Parks voice softly embraces Shades of Joy melody and If I Should Lose You (a standard by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger which became famous thanks to Hank Mobleys version); is Africa when Tashas World and Bridgette Amofah are surrounded by the solos of Magnus Lindgren and Timo Lassy (both playing flute on Soul Revelation and Baltimore Oriole); is classy Jazz with the exceptional phrasing of jazzmen like Gaetano Partipilo (on Goddess Of The Sea and Ode To Billie Joe), Francesco Lento (one of the most promising Jazz trumpeter of these days, on Goddess Of The Sea and Ode To Billie Joe), Timo Lassy (on Free Souls), Greg Osby (on Ahmads Blues), Rosario Giuliani (on If I Should Lose You), Daniele Scannapieco (on Uhuru), Logan Richardson (on Sunrise, definitely a gem), of Fabrizio Bosso (on the beautiful African Other Blues with the spoken of Marvin Parks); and jazz again with the extraordinary vocals of Josè James on Goddess of The Sea. The groove and rhythm section had been provided by Teppo Makynen, Lorenzo Tucci, Pierpaolo Bisogno, Paolo Benedettini, Luca Alemanno, Pietro Ciancaglini and Michael Pinto, the right line-up to highlight this great project. Noteworthy is the contribution of Melanie Charles (Spirit Of Nature, Ahmads Blues, Live Your Life) and Heidi Vogel (from the Cinematic Orchestras combo on Sandalia Dela). The patterns of this rich artistical web constructed by Nicola Conte reveal decades of listening sessions and deep musical beliefs. An accomplished juggler when it comes to play with styles, capable to invent modern structures, Nicola got us used to his ability to blend harmonically different musical worlds and create cooperation between great musicians. Deepness is the added value of this album, something in between consciousness and spirituality. Nothing to share with futile trends, this record is a result of an urgent need to research in the depth of the soul and musical influences. I have known Nicola for too long to not understand that all this comes from the necessity to focus on an inexhaustible will to progress and desire for self-improvement, but most of all, from an unutterable passion for this marvellous universe called music.