Claudio Cojaniz, Coj & Second Time - Sound of Africa (2017)

Take the classic «Blue Africa», one of the most successful recordings of the last Claudio Cojaniz, a duo with the double bass of Franco Feruglio, add the A.P. Trio (with Alessandro Turchet and Luca Colussi, among the tightest rhythm section in circulation in the recent years), and crown the whole thing with Luca Grizzo’s imaginative percussion: here you have Coj & Second Time, a quartet that is ductile, playful creative and respectful of the tradition at the same time, soaked in blues and African music. The quartet had been previously employed in the execution of the «Si Song» suite (available on a Caligola Dvd), at Roccella Jazz Festival 2016, in that occasion with four extra brass and the violin by very special guest Alexander Balanescu.
This new project was created with the collaboration of the non–profit organization Time for Africa, and the proceeds will fund an educational project for the families of the mining workers of Marikana, South Africa. It is a way to remember the massacre operated in that country in 2012 by police forces on the miners on strike. Marikana is also the title of a track of the Cd, with a highly evocative flavor. The album starts with the piano solo of the South African national anthem, although only one minute later the other three musicians come into action, and the song, a kind of medley, becomes an original composition by the leader, Capetown, as opposed to what is indicated in cover notes.
In this new band much room is left to Luca Grizzo, the author of a sweet and dreamy medley with Middle Eastern atmospheres, where he is also engaged as a vocalist, accompanied by Turchet’s inspired oud. In addition to presenting five new compositions, all of which are extremely lyrical and singable, among which we like to remember the fascinating Dadaab and the dancing Niger, Claudio Cojaniz here reinterprets Lion’s trip (from «Blue Africa») and the more recent Blue Dance, whose melancholic and later playful theme is brilliantly exposed by the double bass with the bow. The track – which is also one of the parts of the aforementioned suite «Si Song» – is definitely the longest in the Cd and makes an ideal and effective closing for it.