Kaïros - Celosia (2023) [Hi-Res]

Elsewhere is possible while remaining anchored to one's own land, one's own origins, one's own traditions. This is the starting point for the Kairos project's debut album Celosia, to be released on 29 May 2023 on the Emme Record Label. An ensemble led by Vincenzo Natale on accordion and Gerardo Pizza on alto, tenor and soprano saxophone, which also features Lorenzo Gagna on electric bass, Iacopo Sichi on drums, Edoardo Ferri on electric guitar, Edoardo Ferri on acoustic guitar, Stefano Riccio on percussion, with special guests David Boato on trumpet and flugelhorn and Marcello Allulli on tenor sax. In this album, the roots, sounds and popular traditions of Southern Italy are mixed with jazz, rock and modern music in a perfect harmony of sounds and interplay. An encounter between past and present and between apparently distant languages that, despite their different origins, dialogue in perfect symbiosis. This formation, born in Irpinia, began its journey in search of new perspectives, finding inspiration in the feeling of unease and the culture of otherness. This is why it has embraced original sounds contaminated by external sounds, languages and visions.

Among the album's most representative compositions Annaré is one of the most autobiographical because it is a dedication to the mother that Gerardo Pizza lost at the age of 6. It is an intimate, deep ballad, torn between the anger caused by the disappearance and the never-quenched hope of seeing her again. The beginning is with a free saxophone improvisation that anticipates the theme in which the group joins in, which is repeated twice in a free manner. Marvin, on the other hand, resembles a samba in which Stefano Riccio on percussion is joined by the disc's two special guests, David Boato on trumpet and Marcello Allulli on tenor sax. The track is divided into two parts, in the first there is an intro played by percussion, drums and guitar, in the second the tempo is halved and the enveloping melody is enhanced by the entrance of the trumpet. Mandragola is the composition that best encapsulates the facets of this project. Different melodic lines follow each other in the first theme, while in the second, the sound approaches the Argentine tango. Amore e Psiche is instead inspired by Canova's famous sculpture and was born after an art history lesson. An intimate ballad, similar to a scene from a film, where the protagonist initially reflects on his life. In the second part, these thoughts become darker and darker, restless, and the final scene ends with him trying to escape from these thoughts to calm himself down.