STEFANO BOLLANI

STEFANO BOLLANI
PIANO SOLO (2006)
256 KBPS

The shadow of pianist Keith Jarrett is long and deep, still hovering over musicians who are half his age. One of them is Stefano Bollani, a thirtysomething Italian pianist who has worked with trumpeter Enrico Rava. As the title suggests, this is strictly a solo album carving out a mood as much as a persona. Bollani and producer Manfred Eicher bring together a mix of jazz standards, classical works, and originals, with free-flowing improvisations that approach, but don't quite attain, Jarrett's rhapsodic extrapolations. Like Jarrett, Bollani has a taste for standards. He covers early-20th-century pop like "For All We Know," taking it out in an increasingly angular improvisation. But he indulges in slightly more contemporary fare as well, covering the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds track "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" and "Antonia," a moody ballad by Italian songwriter Antonio Zambrini. I've never heard the original, but in Bollani's hands it becomes a deep well of improvised introspection. Bollani evinces more of a classical touch than Jarrett, even when he isn't adapting a classical theme, as he does in the lyrical and romantic "On a Theme by Sergey Prokofiev." From Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" to the arch strains of his original "Sarcasmi," Stefano Bollani covers a lot of bases, living between high art and the cocktail lounge, creating a music that hints at deeper terrain, though it often settles into a pleasant middle ground.

1. Antonia
2. Impro I
3. Impro II
4. On A Theme By Sergey Prokofiev
5. For All We Know
6. Promenade
7. Impro III
8. A Media Luz
9. Impro IV
10. Buzzillare
11. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
12. Como Fue
13. On The Street Where You Live
14. Maple Leaf Rag
15. Sarcasmi
16. Don't Talk