Paolo Conte in London

[Chris]

Hi,

If you haven't heard him, try to listen to some of his pieces. Paolo Conte was only once in Warsaw, in November 1997, and it was for me a memorable event. I've seen him perform in Munich a couple of times although the tickets are being sold there immediately after a news that he will be coming to town.
"The Times" gave Conte a rare five stars review. I think it says something...
Best regards,
Chris

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From The Times
May 27, 2009
Paolo Conte at the Barbican Hall, EC2
Paolo Conte at The Barbican
Clive Davis

It’s hard to recall the last time an artist received such a thunderous standing ovation. The singer-pianist from Asti, an introverted magician who blends chanson, enigmatic poetry, vaudeville and cultured swing, deserved nothing less.

Nor is Paolo Conte resting on his laurels even in his early seventies. With its wash of subdued electronica, his new album, Psiche, is as cryptic and adventurous as anything he has released in his long career. His live act, too, has charted a new course, with the advent of the violinist Piergiorgio Rosso, whose impassioned flourishes create the sharpest possible contrast with the bandleader’s famously gruff vocals.

Conte’s compact band remains the finest working unit around. One of the great pleasures of a Conte show is watching musicians as assured as Massimo Pitzianti casually shifting back and forth between, say, saxophone, accordion and piano. From this elaborate game of musical chairs emerges a spellbinding range of sonorities.

Dressed all in black, Conte spoke only to give the names of his sidemen. At the start, he wrong-footed the audience with the discreet funk beat of one of the new songs Il Quadrato e il Cerchio. But the opening bars of Sotto le Stelle del Jazz gave us an opportunity to wallow in one of his most durable ballads. Another favourite, Come Di, took wing on its Roaring Twenties pulse, while Bartali, that nostalgic homage to one of Italy’s sporting heroes, the Tour de France-winning Gino Bartalia, was mischievously disguised as a dirge before the familiar stride-like rhythm took hold.

There was no way, of course, that the evening would pass without a rendition of Via Con Me, Conte’s trademark hit. Max, another standard, continues to glow even more seductively in the brooding, marimba-based arrangement that was unfurled on the epic live album recorded a few years ago at the Verona Arena. With barely a pause for breath the musicians then threw themselves into Diavolo Rosso, a hustling theme that evokes Morricone’s version of the Wild West. As ever, Daniele Dall’Omo performed miracles in keeping the guitar riff galloping along at full tilt.

Conte, who had slipped across to the marimba for the pensive new item Berlino, had the stage to himself as he sat at the piano for the anthemic Genova per Noi. His voice may have less of the declamatory power of old, but it has lost none of its guile.