Stefano Bollani - Napoli Trip

The Guardian 80

(Decca)

Milanese pianist Stefano Bollani sees Naples as “a parallel universe in which I often wander, alone or with companions”. His tribute to the city devotes some of its 16 tight tracks to his virtuosic solo playing, and some to a fine new quartet including Neapolitan saxophonist Daniele Sepe and electronicist Jan Bang, with the serenely funky Manu Katché at the drumkit. There are jigging Naples street dances that become pressing contemporary grooves; the late singer-songwriter Pino Daniele’s Putesse Essere Allero is a poignant solo meditation, and O Sole Mio an accelerating piano dance in which the famous tune races to keep up. The 60s comedy-movie hit theme Caravan Petrol is a jazz-piano twister and one of the standouts, while Bollani gently croons the lyric of Lorenzo Hengeller’s Guapparia 2000 with a rare vocal straightfacedness, and plays the closing waltz as a lovely duet with Brazilian bandolim master Hamilton de Holanda. You might need to share a little of Bollani’s love affair with Naples to entirely get it, but Napoli Trip glitters with invention nonetheless.