UPSIDE DOWN
Claudio Scolari | Principal Records (2019)

By Jouko Kirstilä Kuvat 05.01.2020

Programming a drum kit and synthesizer into a unified musical entity is Claudio Scolari own area of ​​music making. The instant work with another drummer and keyboardist Daniele Cavalca results in an abstract musical view of the past, present and future.

Their collaboration began virtually by chance in 2007 when they met in a recording session where they were making their own project recordings. Claudio Scolari, who comes from a classical music educator’s background, and younger generation drummer Daniele Cavalca joined forces. From there, the idea of ​​creating music as a joint discussion of two drum sets began to develop.

Both complemented the instrumentation of the rhythmic percussion modeling of the two drum sets, adding other instruments such as piano, flute, bass and melody. With the lively moving and ever-changing style of interpretation of the drums, they seek to reinforce expressive sound patterns, which in turn were reinforced by means of improvisation. The compositions, to the extent that has been written directly in general, are the result of the collaboration of the two drummers.

When Scolari's son Simone Scolari came with his trumpets to interpret the theme lines, a new kind of detail, a melodic detail and a harmoniously lush texture emerged in the mind of the trio. The result was the release of two musically exciting, artistically beautiful, neat and fresh recordings, Colors of Red Island 2010 and Synthesis 2012.

They did not “gossip” in vain, but the music progressed beautifully, spiced up by means of improvisation, appealing to the ears of the listener of ordinary music with its enjoyablely pure experiential lines. All of these elements were supported by a futuristic background created with electronic sounds that, through music, reflects some abstract images of modern architecture.

Since then, the Claudio Scolari Project released the 2018 slightly more fiery album Natural Impulse, which was a mix of pure improvisation and compositional parts. The band released their latest, fourth album, Upside Down, in October 2019. The album has been recorded for the first time in a completely improvised single shot as a live play, with the exception of a few pre-recorded songs. The original trio has turned into a quartet, with electric bassist Michele Cavalca also playing on this record. Now the journey continues in an unlimited surreal atmosphere experimenting with an acoustic and electronic sound jungle, where Jazz rhythms are deliciously mixed with classical melodies.

Smoke in C Minor opens the game and sets off with a spiritually refined vibration as Daniele plays the piano and Claudio works on the drumming leveling background. In between, enjoyable side dishes are created as electronically programmed biting pendants. Fine-toned start.

Underground Soul subtly retrieves a distant echo as a vocal painting of a trumpet. A cohesive beautiful and forward-looking background is created as if the vending machine were printed on, instinctively easily, colored by drums, piano and bass.

The particularly multi-nuanced and somewhat surprisingly transformable, multi-edged Upside Road, on the other hand, finds its way through Rhodes ’intriguing sound pattern and proceeds softly accompanied by a rubbery peculiar electrical impulse.

The song And Wantll Make You Smile, which starts with a fun playful start and a little light shoe casually, makes the listener in a good mood and smile with pleasure. There is something familiar about the title track Upside Down. As a counterbalance to the former, it seems to seek its own form, becoming more depressing in nature and atmosphere.

The nearly seven-minute Twister is a glowing drum solo song. Listening, it felt like it was a collaboration between Claudio and Daniele from start to finish. Be that as it may, it is not useless with useful parts of power, but the output is clean, high-quality in all respects and well-balanced drumming art.

In the song, the trumpet blown by Syrah Hangover Simon plays the lead role. The trumpet’s powerful and powerful sound emerges from behind the mystical buzz of the piano and old-fashioned synthesizer as if searching for a distant dimension, while creating a picture of hazy twilight around it.

Wired is perhaps the most insidious track on the album and I think the most interesting because of the diverse sound variations. In addition to the trumpet, it is dominated by a powerful rubber boast of electric bass and a jagged sound output complemented by Rhodes.

The last two and at the same time the shortest tracks on the album complete the whole with variety, Bismantova Castle with a calm melancholy adaptive calm and a fast and last fast rhythmic drumming that lasts a little over a second.

The album is an interesting collection of new ideas. While the content is electrified in a very modern way in its own way, it is at the same time exceptionally well-groomed and wonderfully finished, creating a soothing and carefree relaxed listening exp