His second album finds Zacchia leading a Hammond trio through eight tracks that drift between memory and imagination with the unhurried confidence of a musician who has found his voice. The instrumentation\u2014guitar, Hammond organ (Pietro Caroleo), and drums (Maurizio De Angelis)\u2014recalls the classic soul-jazz lineage of Jimmy Smith and Grant Green, but Zacchia’s approach is more impressionistic, less concerned with showcasing virtuosity than with creating what he calls “a sonic landscape where suspended harmonies give way to rhythmically rich sections.”<\/p>
The opening track, “Reveries,” establishes the album’s contemplative mood with a melody that seems to emerge from some half-remembered dream of New York’s jazz clubs. Zacchia’s guitar tone is warm without being cloying, his phrasing economical yet expressive. When he does unleash sharper interventions, they feel earned rather than gratuitous\u2014the musical equivalent of a raised voice that carries weight precisely because it’s used sparingly.<\/p>
The album’s strongest moments come when past and present collide most naturally. Zacchia’s reading of Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo” doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel but rather polishes it to a different shine, while his tribute to Wes Montgomery, “Full House,” benefits from the kind of harmonic sophistication that comes from deep listening rather than mere technical study. These aren’t covers so much as conversations across time, the sort of thing that happens when musicians understand that tradition is a living thing rather than a museum piece.<\/p>
“Longato,” the album’s second single, offers perhaps the most personal glimpse into Zacchia’s artistic development. Named after the countryside of his youth, it weaves rock riffs from his formative years into the harmonic openness of modal jazz. The result is surprisingly cohesive\u2014a testament to the guitarist’s ability to synthesize influences without losing his individual voice.<\/p>
Caroleo’s Hammond work deserves particular mention. Too often, organ trios lean heavily on the instrument’s more bombastic qualities, but here the Hammond serves multiple functions: rhythmic anchor, harmonic foundation, and solo voice. His interplay with Zacchia suggests musicians who have moved beyond the call-and-response mechanics of lesser groups into something approaching telepathy.<\/span><\/p> Zacchia has created something genuinely atmospheric\u2014an album that exists in that peculiar space between the real and the imagined, where the best jazz has always resided. In an era when so much instrumental music feels either aggressively contemporary or nostalgically backward-looking, Anemoia achieves something rarer: it sounds like now while honoring then, creating a sense of place that exists only in the music itself.<\/span><\/p> This is sophisticated, adult music that rewards patient listening. Zacchia may be trafficking in nostalgia for times unlived, but the emotions he conjures feel entirely present tense.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/andreazacchia.com\/<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n
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