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Optics

Overview

Optics --- 2014

Jazz singer and composer Alice Ricciardi, just released her second album, and her first, on Greg Osby’s Label Inner Circle Music. Debut album “Comes Love” was released on Blue Note/EMI, acclaimed by critics and public worldwide. OPTICS perfectly showcases Alice’s versatility and understated elegance of her sound. It provides ample proof that she is one of the jazz world’s most diverse and distinctly unique singer. While approaching the classic compositions and original material she doesn’t fall into the typical jazz clichés: baroque vocal gestures, and over-sentimentality. Instead, she choses to treat these songs simply, letting the songs speak with minimal, contemporary arrangements. Joining Alice Ricciardi on this intimate and richly melodic collection are some of the most outstanding and charismatic italian musicians; the impressive pianist and composer Pietro Lussu, guitarist and composer Enrico Bracco, worldwide renewed bassist Dario Deidda and drummer Marco Valeri. The album begins with the passionate and obscure standard Deep Song. This opening perfectly defines the mood of the album, introspective and classically modern. Anyone Lived In A Pretty How Town is introduced with a reading by great American poet E.E. Cummings. improvisation songs. A hypnotic guitar arpeggio introduces Optics, a light and dreamy 3/4, concrete, yet vulnerable and mysterious piece. Sorrow features Edna St.Vincent Millay’s poem; A Lovesome Thing, Billy Strayhorn’s masterpiece, has a bucolic and placidly musky mood. Aaron Copland with lyrics by Emily Dickinson, transformed into a simple and warm folk ballad, With this latest release, Alice Ricciardi sketches portraits that come to life through the unique voice of a truly inspired artist. Her fascinating sound, tells a complete story that takes the listener on an unmistakable and unforgettable musical journey.