VIDEO @frameworkfilmes by Vitor Granja & Pedro Landeiro 🇺🇸 There’s always an interesting story behind the creation of an album, especially when it crosses over borders and cultures. In the case of Mafalda Minnozzi, it’s a story of a lifetime of cultural exchange. Her trajectory from 1996, as performer to recording artist to even television personality in Brazil, comes full circle from her beginnings with Italian song, to her new Bossa Nova based release RIOFONIC. After living with the musical culture and musicians for so many years, after collaborations with Milton Nascimento, Leny Andrade, Joao Bosco, Guinga and Martinho Da Vila, the time came to join forces with Bossa Nova legend Roberto Menescal and an all-star Carioca band to give thanks to the city of Rio and thanks to the music that prepared her for this musical celebration *** 🇮🇹 C'è sempre una storia affascinante dietro la creazione di un nuovo album, specialmente nel caso che l'opera oltrepassi confini e intersechi culture. Nel caso di Mafalda Minnozzi, tale storia è la sua propria storia, vissuta dialogando tra culture diverse. La sua traiettoria artistica è approdata nel 1996 in Brasile, dove si è affermata come artista di grande talento e carisma sul palco, in studio di registrazione e nei programmi televisivi più seguiti. Con il nuovo album RIOFONIC fortemente incentrato sulla bossa nova, si chiude quindi un cerchio che dalle sue origini di raffinata interprete della canzone italiana l'ha vista arrivare ad immergersi nella cultura musicale brasiliana e collaborare con tanti musicisti e con artisti del calibro di Milton Nascimento, Leny Andrade, João Bosco, Guinga e Martinho Da Vila. Ha così unito le sue forze a quelle del leggendario Roberto Menescal, che della bossa nova è uno dei fondatori, e all'energia di una band "stellare" per rendere omaggio alla città di Rio e alla sua musica che tanto l'ha ispirata e infine spinta a celebrarne la grandezza *** 🇧🇷 Há sempre uma história interessante por trás da criação de um álbum, especialmente quando a obra atravessa fronteiras e cruza culturas. No caso de Mafalda Minnozzi, essa história é a sua própria história, vivida dialogando musicalmente entre culturas diversas. Sua trajetória desde 1996, como artista de palco até se tornar uma artista de gravação e até mesmo uma personalidade da televisão no Brasil, completa o ciclo desde seus inícios com a canção italiana até seu novo lançamento baseado na Bossa Nova, RIOFONIC. Depois de conviver com a cultura musical brasileira por tantos anos, e após colaborações com Milton Nascimento, Leny Andrade, João Bosco, Guinga e Martinho Da Vila, chegou o momento de unir forças com a lenda da Bossa Nova Roberto Menescal e uma banda carioca de estrelas para agradecer à cidade do Rio e à música que tanto a inspirou e a levou a celebrá-la ***
Acclaimed international singer Mafalda Minnozzi has been hailed by All About Jazz Italia as “a sensitive interpreter [with] outstanding vocal technique, [who] dominates the stage with her fascinating stage presence and her powerful and flexible voice, rich in a thousand nuances.” On her new album Natural Impression, the latest chapter in a longstanding collaboration with American guitarist, arranger and producer Paul Ricci, Minnozzi embodies every word of that well-deserved praise. In a richly varied set of music, Minnozzi displays her deep affinity for Bossa nova, French chanson, Italian standards, American jazz and other flavors of global song. Hers is a skillful balance between the virtuosity and eclecticism of jazz with the cosmopolitan sensibility of world music. Her style recalls ancestral links with Italian melodrama and French cabaret in a stylistic blend that uses the voice in the manner of a skilled instrumentalist — shown, for example, by her nimble unisons with Beavers’ trombone on “Mas Que Nada”, or with Ricci’s guitar on their boppish rendering of the Leny Andrade-associated showpiece “Estamos Aí” as well as the seductive dance with Don Byron on “Ne Me Quitte Pas”. The songwriters on Natural Impression — Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ivan Lins, Luiz Bonfá, Jacques Brel, Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben, João Bosco, Lucio Battisti, Roberto Menescal and more — offer priceless material for Minnozzi, and she commits to it body and soul. The “house” band couldn’t be more solid, supportive and freshly inventive. Valle’s “Samba De Verão”, Battisti’s “E Penso A Te” and Veloso’s “Coração Vagabundo” were mixed for the album by Kassin who has “a unique DJ approach to music,” says Minnozzi, so these three tracks offer a different dimension to the typical jazz sonic. Alves’ brilliant piano solos and Ricci’s electric and acoustic guitars fill the spectrum sonically and stylistically throughout, with tasty wah-wah fills giving “E Penso A Te” an R&B twist. The guest soloists shine their brilliance in all the right spots: vibraphonist Joe Locke on the Bonfá classic “Carnival (Manhã de Carnaval)”, clarinetist Don Byron on the aching Brel ballad “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” trombonist Doug Beavers on Jorge Ben’s iconic “Mas Que Nada,” and keyboardist Michael Wolff and bassist John Patitucci together on the lilting, melancholy “Coração Vagabundo.” World song premiere: “Bruma,” by Bossa Nova legend Roberto Menescal, debuted by Menescal and Minnozzi in a captivating duet. Minnozzi is boundlessly expressive in all these settings, connecting to each lyric viscerally, regardless of language. The way she ends the Jobim number “Só Tinha De Ser Com Você” is emblematic of her creativity: she improvises fluidly, nails challenging arranged unison parts, and finally reaches beyond pitch altogether for a playful effect. It’s that same uninhibited energy she brings to the stage, where everything including body language and gesture heightens the emotional impact of her delivery. Minnozzi’s approach to a song is one of a kind, and Natural Impression is among the most invigorating examples of it to date.