John Fordham  

Stefano Bollani – Sheik Yer Zappa review – a fittingly one-off tribute to Frank

The Italian pianist assembles a crack team to celebrate improvised subversion, writes John Fordham
  
  

Stefano Bollani
'Breakneck effervescence' … Stefano Bollani. Photograph: Valentina Cenni Photograph: Valentina Cenni

Italian pianist Stefano Bollani’s duo with Brazilian bandolim player Hamilton de Holanda was one of the big hits of the last London Jazz festival, but though this live set often has the same breakneck effervescence, its focus is very different. It’s an extensively improvised tribute to Frank Zappa, featuring Bollani on piano, Fender Rhodes, vocals and whistling; Josh Roseman’s blustery trombone; hard-hitting percussionist Jim Black; vibraphonist (and former Peter Brötzmann sideman) Jason Adasiewicz; and plummy-toned Brad Mehldau bassist Larry Grenadier. Mixing Zappa classics and originals, Bollani celebrates the arts of improv and Zappa’s legacy as both a great melodist and a cultural subversive. He plays (and whistles) Peaches en Regalia as a multi-idiomatic solo extravaganza, sings the explicit original lyric to Bobby Brown (US radio stations wouldn’t touch it in Zappa’s prime), and on the long, winding hook of Eat That Question, with Black’s choppy drumming behind it, delivers the killer track of a real one-off venture.

 

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