It’s not even summer and yet I am drawn to dreaming of cool breezes and warm nights on the beach. As always, it helps to have a soundtrack for such fantasises and “Natural” by Nicola Conte & Stefania DiPierro provides just that.
Every song moves with the precision that only jazz musicians can bring to the party and, no matter what language she sings in, Stefania DiPierro exudes the kind of smokey singularity of the gloriously talented.
To the casual listener, all lounge jazz must sound the same but to the connoisseur the devil is in the detail and while no limits are probed here, it is hard to avoid being charmed by the sheer elegance of all that you hear on this album. Let’s be honest – every song here will make you wish you were Italian.
I know you didn’t ask but, if you had, I would have picked the sultry Dave Grusin influenced “Open the Door” as my favourite from this album.
Summer time and the living is easy (if you have the style).