Luca Zennaro - When Nobody Is Listening (2020)

His debut album «Javaskara» already impressed the insiders, therefore we shouldn’t talk about an actual surprise but rather – Luca Zennaro, born in Chioggia (Venezia) in 1997, still studies at the Rovigo Conservatory – an extraordinary, precocious maturity. «When Nobody Is Listening» is his sophomore album featuring introspective, whispered jazz, even though a music able to light up all of a sudden and spread energy which often seems dormant in the youth, as proven by the compelling incipit of the title track. What stands out are the doublings played by both the wind section – the great Jacopo Fagioli joins the Sicilian saxophonist Nicola Caminiti, whom we already admired in «Javaskara» – and the harmonic accompaniment, with the stimulating research for new balance thanks to the ever–different timbre combination offered by piano and guitar. Unlike the quartet that played in the first album, the sextet performing in the new one resorts to a fuller and rounder sound, one which is also wrapping and rich in ever–changing nuances. We mustn’t be distracted by two young talents, leaders as well, like Michelangelo Scandroglio and Alessandro Lanzoni. They share their skill with the leader and his clever guitar which whispers rather than shouts melodic lines that are always clear, eloquent and syncretic although meditative, as exemplified by the short and pregnant solo of Heritage. Zennaro’s improvisation supports incredibly well first Lanzoni on the piano, then the trumpet and alto sax, in How Time Flies, whose building up tension makes it one of the most accomplished tunes on the album. The cantabile Giochi di Luca is just as syncretic in its reference to Giochi di Luci, by Marco Tamburini (featured in the previous work), while Tangherlini’s piano supports efficiently Fagioli’s trumpet in Recitativo. That track, which starts slowly and reflectively, almost like a “largo” in classical music and gradually grows in intensity, represents perhaps the synthesis of a work much original and accomplished which proves how the young guitarist from Veneto area has made big strides in just two years.