Daniela Nardi Channels Legend Paolo Conte – CBCMusic Q&A

Read full interview at - http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2012/4/QA-Daniela-Nardi-covers-Italian-legend-Paolo-Conte

ESPRESSO MANIFESTO The Songs of Paolo Conte May 15 at LulaWorld 2012

Daniela Nardi’s Espresso Manifesto offers up an earthy, dark, smooth and hot brew at this year’s Lula World Festival 2012. Special guest from Italy, will be Gabriele Mirabassi who was one of the Italian jazz musicians Daniela worked with in Italy on this album.

Other musicians in the band that night will include

Ron Davis – piano

Kevin Barrett – guitar

Bryden Baird – trumpet

Louis Simao – accordion

Ross MacIntyre – bass

Roger Travassos – drums

WHAT:                     CD Release at LulaWorld Festival

WHERE:                  The Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St W, Toronto

WHEN:                    Tues May 15, 8:30pm

TIX/EVENT INFO:     $15 adv/ $20 door   416-588-0307  http://www.lula.ca

 Espresso Manifesto Trailer

ESPRESSO MANIFESTO at CMW Jazz Showcase – March 21, 2012

Honourable Mention Billboard Magazine World Song Contest   Reader’s Pick for Best Female Vocalist 2009 “Best of Toronto” Now Magazine   Female Vocalist of the Year 2009 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards   “Nardi’s musical world is fine, smooth, filled with light and human depth.” Radio France “A fine singer-songwriter… superior  songs.” Toronto Life ______   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 13, 2012     WHO:                      Multiple Award winning Songstress Daniela Nardi offers A Tasty Sneak Preview of her New, Rich, Earthy CD, Espresso Manifesto at Special CMW Jazz Showcase!!   WHERE:                  The Courthouse, 57 Adelaide St E, Toronto WHEN                      Wed, March 21, 9:30pm TIX/EVENT INFO:     $10   http://canadianmusicfest.com/artists-2012       “Espresso. The ultimate symbol of all things Italian. Dark. Rich. Earthy. Complex yet effortless. Elegant yet primal. Hot. When made in the right way, the only way, it is like nothing you have ever known. This is Italy to me. If one person embodies all these elements, it’s Paolo Conte. His music, his lyrics, the experience: as Italian as Espresso. This is my manifesto, my Espresso Manifesto: to create works that proudly display the wonders of those earthy, complex, elegant, primal people, my people – the Italian people.”   -Daniela Nardi     [Toronto ON]  Join one of Canada’s most celebrated homegrown artists, Daniela Nardi, and her rich, tasty Sneak Preview of Espresso Manifesto – The Songs of Paolo Conte, at Canadian Music Week’s Jazz Showcase!  Espresso Manifesto, Nardi’s new exhilarating world music project, marks a musical, as well as personal, milestone for the award winning multi-talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist.   The heartfelt set is a tribute to the legendary Italian composer/performer Paolo Conte, with Nardi exploring a dozen of Conte’s classic songs.  The singer’s distinctive readings capture Conte’s passionate essence, while unearthing new layers of emotional content and putting her own unmistakable mark on the material. Nardi matches her sublimely expressive vocals with spare, earthy jazzy instrumental arrangements, offering an evocative meeting of old-world romanticism and modernist cool.   Nardi’s deeply felt reworkings of such stirring vintage numbers as the plaintive, haunting tango inspired “Gioco D’Azzardo“, the beautifully bittersweet “Nina“, the punchy, playful “Via Con Me“ and the breezy, swinging “Gelato al Limon“ offer powerful testimony to Conte’s enduring genius and Nardi’s singular interpretive skills.  The resulting merge of composer and performer, and of cultures and sensibilities, makes for a memorable musical experience whose timeless eloquence transcends the songs’ Italian lyrics. Espresso Manifesto finds Nardi, the Toronto-born daughter of Italian immigrants, stepping outside of her prior musical comfort zone to explore some adventurous new creative territory. She and her husband, renowned jazz pianist/composer Ron Davis, traveled to Italy to record the album with a studio band comprised of some of that country’s most respected jazz and prestigious musicians. “No woman had ever taken on a full record of his material before, so I was intrigued by the idea of putting a female spin on his songs,” Nardi says.  ”There’s such a strong male character to his songwriting, so I thought that it would be an interesting challenge to find the feminine in his work.  He can be quite dark at times, he can be quite ironic however I managed to find songs where he is his most vulnerable and perhaps most emotional.”   The combination of Conte’s remarkable songwriting and Nardi’s sensitive interpretations gives Espresso Manifesto – The Songs of Paolo Conte an effortless universal appeal that transcends culture and language.   Nardi will be joined on stage by a celebrated ensemble featuring:   Ron Davis – piano Morgan Childs – drums Mike Downes – bass Kevin Barrett – guitars Bryden Baird – trumpet Sasha Boychouk – clarinet   Don’t miss the opportunity to take in the delicious sounds of Espresso Manifesto! ____________________________________________________________________________________   “Powerful yet intimate, outstanding, an arresting voice” eJazznews.com “Daniela is a successful icon for the new generation of Italian-Canadians” PanoramItalia Magazine   “This musically evocative and deeply emotional work reflects life lessons learned, and fuses passion, poetic power, and musical and vocal skill, to striking effect.” Tandem/Corriere Canadese  “Daniela Nardi nodded to her Italian heritage by singing two of Italian jazz pianist / composer Paolo Conte’s tunes, one of which was “Via Con Me,” a song featured in the Meg Ryan film French Kiss, and on this evening it evoked the most vigorous response from Nardi’s audience… This was an outstanding performance by a passionate singer, who was at ease in front of her audience and was supported by a very polished group of musicians. Canadians are often sadly noted for being apologetic about their recording artists, actors and those in other art forms. Canadians should hold their heads high and be proud that you can call Daniela Nardi one of your own” Joe Montague, Riveting Riffs Magazine - 30 -  MEDIA                      Faye Perkins / Tal Hebdon – fayep@realworldartists.com talh@realworldartists.com   905-894-4667 Lisa Weitz  | LW Communications  lw@lwcommunications.ca    416-624-3466

Daniela Nardi’s Espresso Manifesto – Staying True to Her Heritage

 

Mille grazie to the folks at PanoramItalia for doing a lovely little piece on the release of the new project “Via Via – The Songs of Paolo Conte”…….

 

Here’s an intro paragraph to read and then link to full article in the magazine…….

“It’s ironic that Daniela Nardi sips a cappuccino in a Toronto café, as the self-proclaimed electro/acoustic pop artist promotes herself under the whimsical moniker of ‘Espresso Manifesto’. “The attention that’s put into making and producing the perfect espresso and making a record is quite similar,” says the anti-diva, associating espresso with Italy in an all-encompassing name that embodies her band, her voice and the production of her music as a cultural movement.”

 

Entire article:

http://www.panoramitalia.com/en/arts-culture/music/daniela-nardi-s-espresso-manifesto/638/

 

 

Via Via Viene Viene

working in the studio with the Italians

Love technology. Pasquale Minieri and Sandro Marcotulli are busy working away in the hills of Umbria on the Mix for “Via Via” as I am sitting here, in my Canada Goose no doubt, receiving mixes via email for my comments. Then the disc will be off to Milan on February 8th – without me alas – to be mastered at the legendary Nautilus Mastering. I am really excited about this because dude that’s going to master the record has done Jovanotti’s albums, like Safari…..thrilling for me. As much as I would give anything to be back in Italy to be witness to all this, I am here, in Toronto waiting impatiently for the final product.

 

But as they say, the real work begins – after the recording, all the promotion, marketing, touring details……anyone who says – oh but you are doing what you love – I will have to slap them. Yes, the music part is definitely where the love comes in. The business part of it – though incredibly necessary and though I do have a business background so, I am not intimidated by the work – still can be well, work! It’s not the fun part but it must be done.

 

Ron gave a fantastic show with the Windsor Symphony this past weekend and I was able to join him on stage to sing “Azzurro”. It was a bit of a rush to be in a 1,200 seat theatre, singing this stride piano piece, just me and Ron and the audience to witness. They didn’t know what the heck I was saying but it didn’t seem to matter. They just loved the vibe and loved the energy of the piece…..which is great.!

 

Now back at my desk with details overwhelming me, mixes that I am going to drive around in my car and listen to and a good coffee……ahhh, the life of a working artist!!!

 

 

New Espresso Blog

We are busy little bees in the Espresso Manifesto post production camp. Pasquale is working away in the hills of Umbria finalizing some the mix and then sending it off to Milan where I will be mastering it at Nautilus with Antonio Baglio.

But apart from all biz stuff, I wanted to create this blog to yes inform you of the Via Via’s progress but also to have another creative outlet to post things in real time…..

So glad to have you here….I look forward to sharing various EM items with you!

Ciao

DN