GRIGIO

Frederick's grandma was used to bring him to the sea....this is the translation of the long title of the first track. What's unusual is a reggae rhythm played with absolutely no percussions. Quintorigo were a quintet made of contrabass, cello, violin, sax and the exceptional voice of the actual singer John De Leo. This song was presented at the "Sanremo Festival" in 2000 if I remember correctly, obtaining a good success from the critics. This was the most commercial, if we can call commercial any thing made by Quintorigo.

"Grigio", the title track is a jazzy song, parodistic, on which John De Leo gives an idea of what he can do with his voice. The lyrics are weird: "Irony doesn't miss a glance on us. It's like a summer rain that washes us while we are in the sea"...this is more or less what the chorus says. This song has a lot of swing.

Songs like "Malatosano" and "Causa Vitale" are very "avant" and hard to be described. Very artsy.

"Precipitango" is a joke between "precipitando"(falling down) and "tango". Effectively is a tango with a good trumpet solo. A mix of Astor Piazzolla and Miles Davis.

"Egonomia" is another joke between "ego" and "economy". The sound is heavy and the rhythm is compulsive. A great track with lyrics as strong as the music.

I don't know who plays the grand piano on "Intro-Opening Credits". Probably each of the band's members is able to play it. The composition has a classical mood. After two minutes and half the piano is replaced by violin and cello. It's very athmospheric and quite dark. This part reminds to authors like Mahler or Albinoni.

"Nola Vocals" should be a cover of Bill Lee, the author of Crudella De Vil. I don't know the original version but this song doesn't have anything to do with Dalmatians or other kinds of dog. It's a jazzy song with its roots between 40s and 50s. What is very prog is the arrangement.

"Zahra" opens with "Doos" and "ba-Ba-Hoos" overdubbed. John De Leo sings like Bobby McFerrin, even if I can't be sure that it's the band that sings instead of De Leo overdubbed. Impressive.

"Highway Star" is exactly what it seems. It's a cover of the famous DEEP PURPLE's song. The sax opens it, then the contrabass gives the rhythm, the sax takes over the part that was of Blackmore and John De Leo makes one of his greatest performances. Look for their live performances on youtube. Its incredible how they can play hard rock with those instruments.

Finally, "Bentivoglio Angelina" is another song presented at Sanremo. It's an eclectic song. Undefineable into a genre. GONG, GENTLE GIANT, ZAPPA are names that pop-up to my mind.

I have the temptation to rate it with the fifth star. I round it down to four but it's very close to be a masterpiece.