Jazz for everybody, the challenge of Paolo Jannacci who returns to the Meeting for an evening dedicated to his compositions and piano. With Paolo Jannacci (piano), Stefano Bagnoli (drums), Marco Ricci (bass), Luca Meneghello (guitar).

 

Paolo Jannacci returns to the Meeting, having previously accompanied his father Enzo in 2009. Together with drummer Stefano Bagnoli, bassist Marco Ricci, and guitarist Luca Meneghello, he will present an evening of jazz.
“My challenge is a jazz for everyone,” Jannacci loves to repeat. He was born in Milan in 1972, has been a professional musician since 1987, and is a composer of soundtracks and teacher of ensemble music at Milan’s Centro Professione Musica.
He has an extensive series of collaborations to his name, which have placed him alongside artists, singers, and musicians like Dario Fo, Giorgio Gaber, Paolo Rossi, Chico Buarque, Massimo Ranieri, Roberto Vecchioni, Ornella Vanoni, Mauro Pagani, Cochi & Renato – and, of course, his father Enzo, for whom he edited the arrangements of numerous albums, as well as accompanied him at the piano on tour.
Jannacci has given concerts in Italy and abroad, where, he affirmed, “I feel better, because they don’t check their watches – they stay there, relaxed, and listen to you.”
The protagonist of his compositions, which are almost all originals, is the piano, which allows both his love for lyricism and the romantic legacy, and his predilection for vibrant Latin atmospheres, to shine through. His piano playing, indebted to lessons from masters like Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Herbie Hancock, but also to classical composers like Debussy and Chopin, is delicate, reflective, and of an exquisite timbral sensibility.
Jannacci’s works include “Notes” (1999), “Tape 1” (2004), “My Tangos” (2005), and “Trio” (2008), recorded together with bassist Marco Ricci and drummer Stefano Bagnoli, partners with whom the Milanese pianist has reached a human and artistic harmony lasting more than a decade.
There are four pieces for solo piano, including one of Chopin’s Mazurkas: “I wanted to put it in the program because, in my opinion, everything derives from there, from the great classical and romantic composers. We haven’t invented much that is new. Sure, it’s a performance by the book. Who did I have in mind? Well, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was the greatest pianist of all time: it’s a shame that I couldn’t hear him live, but when I put on one of his CDs, I fall to the ground with emotion…”
“Each one of my compositions,” says Jannacci, “is born from the depths and wants to dialogue with the audience, to make itself heard and understood. Often, thanks mostly to friendship, we succeed. Playing in a quartet requires strong values that life doesn’t propose anymore: it bans selfishness, it makes you choose among your ideas, it works only if you have studied much and you know how to respect others. I start from these foundations in the lessons that I teach on ensemble music, too.”

Quartet
Paolo Jannacci: Piano
Stefano Bagnoli: Drums
Marco Ricci: Bass
Luca Meneghello: Guitar

Reviews
“Jannacci is elegant and effective at the keyboard, nimble but not necessarily quick, in perfect dialogue with his partners. An effective entrance into the world of jazz.”
(Antonio Orlando, Musica e dischi)

“It’s not the usual music, it’s really beautiful music.”
(Gianni Mura)

“Some people will certainly think, ‘With that name, he has the doors wide open for him.’ If your last name is Jannacci and your father’s name is Enzo, your chances of getting into a recording studio are decidedly better than average. If, however, you abandon yourself to listening to his music (his latest work is ‘Trio,’ Universal Music), you will see the conjectures and perplexities of all kinds driven away, and become aware of the talent of the artist in question. Because Paolo Jannacci is a first-class pianist, an enchantment of measure and beauty.”
(Paolo Battifora, Il Secolo XIX)

“Jannacci Junior proposes profound music with delicacy, in a clean approach to the keyboard made of limpid emotions and a touch free from exc