Stefano Bollani - Vars on Jesus Christ Superstar review I John Fordham's jazz album of the month

The Guardian 80

(Alobar)
Bollani treats his youthful obsession – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock musical – with a respect that does not limit his inventiveness

Stefano Bollani, the technically dazzling and hugely entertaining pianist, composer, broadcaster and writer from Milan, was once a classically trained piano prodigy with an unexpected teenage obsession. When he was 14, Bollani saw the movie of Jesus Christ Superstar, immediately bought the album that had launched the epic rock-opera in 1970, and fell helplessly in love with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s story and its genre-busting, pop/classical score. Three decades later, Bollani - who has partnered stars from Bill Frisell and Chick Corea to Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso, and tends to treat all musical holy writ as ripe for deconstruction - has returned to his youthful muse, not as a cast-of-thousands extravaganza, but as a heartfelt solo piano tribute.