Daughter of an Italian father and a French mother, but long resident in New York, Caterina Zapponi switches easily between both her parental languages on this charming 13-track record. The singer’s choice of chansons and Italian standards sit well with the band led by her husband, the veteran jazz pianist, Monty Alexander.
Accompanied by just one expressive guitar and a little bass, Bora Bora is tender and particularly beautiful. Yearning and loss are conjured impressively by the singer on the Trenet/Chauliac classic, Que Reste-t-il de Nos Amours? on which she is accompanied solely by Yotam Silberstein’s expressive guitar.
Listen too to that Italian saga of disillusioned amour that is Estate and you know Zapponi is much more than a purveyor of the sparkling nonchalance of J’ai Ta Main, the opener.
Estate - the word means ‘Summer’ in English - was a minor pop hit in 1960. Shortly afterwards, the great Brazilian genius João Gilberto purred his way instinctively into what is the supreme version of the Martino/Brighetti classic. Inscrutable and emotionally introverted, Gilberto’s take is one of the greatest jazz covers of all time.
But don’t go to Youtube to check out Zapponi’s live version, where Monty and the band manhandle the song into funk territory, making it edgily urban like Steely Dan. Estate has to be sung with care and love.
The important things is that Zapponi comes close on this record to Gilberto’s sensitivity, whatever about that middling live version. On the album, she conveys, as the song is supposed to do, the sense of human vulnerability counterpointed against seasons that just repeat themselves, no matter what befalls us.
Throughout the album, guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli joins Zapponi on guitar, along with two other guitarists, Frank Vignola and the aforementioned Yotam Silberstein. Martin Pizzarelli plays bass and Kristian Jorgensen sympathetic violin. Highly recommended.
Paddy Kehoe
