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“To My Friends” album release
The album “To My Friends” is a Modern Jazz Solo Piano album by pianist and composer Luca Ridolfo. The album is made up of 9 tracks, 2 of which are available to listen to on Spotify.
“To My Friends” – The long year
While the COVID-19 lockdown plunged the world into silos, there are some who have dug deeper to find beauty in spite of the isolation, creativity in the void. One such artist is composer and pianist Luca Ridolfo. The Italian artist had left his hometown to hone his skills and live in the Netherlands. Although he normally goes back home twice a year, the COVID-19 lockdown period meant that he could see neither friends nor family for a whole year. In his home studio, he composed what was going to be a heartfelt phonic letter, “To My Friends”. The musician does know the limits of his home studio and says:
From the very beginning, my choice was to record it professionally, to have a professional sound that can “compete” with the CD of the jazz heroes I always listen to. I fondly believe that providing the listeners with an outstanding sound experience is important in this period, where the listener has plenty of options to choose from.
The theme behind “To My Friends”
Rather than specifically addressing his won friends, the composer decided to refer to friends that everyone could relate to. Every piece . Ridolfo reveals:
Every song is dedicated to a particular kind of friend we all have. For example, “Compagni di Avventure” (Companions of Adventure) is a piece dedicated to the friends with whom you shared an experience. Risalendo (Rising up) is dedicated to friends who had a hard time in their life and are now picking themself up. In this way, the listener can dedicate a song from this album to a particular friend they know.
The artist let his muse take him to what his friends mean to him. The music is a kind of letter to them and the blend of calm and excitement mirrors the many faces that friendship takes and the void that its absence creates.
The sound that makes up the album
While the spirit of friendship inspired the release, a particular muse is behind the album sound. With Jazz sonorities reminiscent of those you can hear in ECM albums, the music artists betrays his soft spot for the artists.
What I like in the ECM albums is how “spaces” are treated by the artists and the audio engineers and the fluidity that characterises every single album of this particular label. My favourite artists from this particular label are Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, Bobo Stenson, and Abdullah Ibrahim.
His piano doigte is really agreeable and the mind dances as if there was a natural blend of genres beyond Jazz. This is because the young composer’s sound goes beyond its primary muse. What makes this album unique is Ridolfo’s ability to bring in sounds from other genres, blending them cohesively into one to create his own unique brand.
His passion for his idols is such that he waited to be able to travel again to record his album in the Artesuono Recording Studio where Stefano Amerio is the resident sound engineer. Stefano Amerio is the go-to sound engineer associated with many albums produced for the well-known contemporary jazz label ECM. His sound has a particular trademark. As Luca says:
I knew the sound I wanted, and I was sure to get it in the studio of Stefano Amerio.
As an additional perk, the studio is located in Udine, the same region where the musician comes from.
About Luca Ridolfo
Luca Ridolfo is a young pianist and composer from the north of Italy who now lives in the Netherlands.
Covid-19 provided Luca Ridolfo with the spark needed to realize how important our friendships are. the situation inspired him to create his first album, a 9-composition opus.
In this musical release, Luca Ridolfo celebrates the bonds we have with our friends and their different personalities. This first album was released in May 2022 and can be bought on the musician’s official website, where you can also find out more about Luca Ridolfo.