For his fifth full-length album, three years after Fantàsia, Ferrazza is on a path of personal rebirth. Some aspects remain unchanged from the previous work, starting with the line-up. Ferrazza’s double bass and synths are once again joined by Enrico Zanisi’s piano and synthesisers, Livia De Romanis’s cello and Valerio Vantaggio’s drums, with Alessandra Diodati’s voice acting as a binder, in a constant dialogue with the instrumentalists. Even the cover’s graphics are closely related to those of Fantàsia, in fact, both were born from the creativity of Sophia Zaccaron, whose strongly dreamlike drawing serves as a preamble to the disc’s content.
The Roman double bass player interprets the figure of Prometheus no longer as an external salvific entity, but as a symbol of the human being himself, who, by exploring his own interiority, rediscovers fire. The latter is understood as the set of those primordial and natural capacities that contemporary society has trapped and through which Promethean man can rediscover his authentic self and contact with the world around him. The myth of Prometheus, the titan friend of humanity and progress who steals fire from the gods to give it to men, remains in the background, taking on a new, profoundly humanist meaning.
‘Prometheus,’ explains Ferrazza, ’ represents contemporary man oppressed by fears, conformism and doubts. Fire, symbol of vitality, intuition and creativity, becomes a metaphor for the human potential that, by resisting external pressures, evolves and rediscovers its authentic essence. Personally and from my point of view, I feel a strong need for centredness, for something that brings me and my fellow men back to exalt those characteristics that make man what he was born to be, a condition that in mythological culture put him before the gods and that throughout history has led him several times to replace god, becoming himself the image or body of the divine.’
Each track is a sound world of its own, and the voice is the leitmotif of a journey of self-discovery. There are frequent changes of atmosphere and dynamics: from dreamy, relaxed suggestions to tighter moments full of drama, in which the line-up traverses progressive, gothic, and at times dissonant influences that well express the torment and difficulties of the progress of human consciousness.
Jacopo Ferrazza completed his academic studies at the Frosinone Conservatory. He has won numerous prizes and awards, including as best bassist in the Jimmy Woode Award competition and was included among the three best Italian talents in Musica Jazz’s Top Jazz 2017 and 2019. In 2018 he received the SIAE award as one of the best Italian jazz talents and in 2022 he won the Global Music Awards in the jazz category with his album Fantàsia.
He was professor of jazz double bass and ensemble music at the Conservatorio ‘Braga’ in Teramo for three years and has been a tenured professor at the Conservatorio ‘Refice’ in Frosinone since 2022, where he teaches jazz composition and jazz ensemble music. In the course of his career, he has played with formidable performers (Dave Liebman, Nicola Piovani, Fabrizio Bosso, Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Mario Biondi, Enrico Pieranunzi etc.) and performed at festivals and jazz clubs in Europe, the United States, Asia and Africa. He released Rebirth (2017) and Theater (2019) for the CAM Jazz label and a solo double bass album entitled Wood Tales (2021) for Teal Dreamers Factory.
Formatatation
Jacopo Ferrazza, double bass, synth, compositions
Alessandra Diodati, voice
Enrico Zanisi, piano, synths
Livia De Romanis, cello
Valerio Vantaggio, drums
Tracks
1 Prologue
2 The Cave
3 Prometheus
4 The rediscovery of fire
5 The pillory
6 The Titan rises
7 Oceanic Chorus
8 I am everywhere
Credits:
Prometheus is produced by Jacopo Ferrazza and Teal Dreamers Factory
The album was recorded from 28 March to 2 April.
Recording, mix and mastering by Enrico Furzi at ‘La strada recording studio’ Graphics and cover art by Sophia Zaccaron
Photos by Simone Angileri
