25 years after their debut album One which made over 10.000 sales, lead the pioneering italian acid jazz movement and featured James Taylor (JTQ) on the Moog synthesizer, why rest on your laurels and celebrate with the usual reprint/remaster from the past? Gazzara is a band that never ceased to play live on stage so they opted for a new double soul/jazz/bossa album titled The Bossa Lounge Sessions instead, featuring 29 tracks played live by the original roman trio – Francesco Gazzara (keys), Massimo Sanna (bass), Mauro Mirti (drums, percussion) – along with guest musicians and including many rarities.
CD 1 features 14 tracks recorded live on stage between 1998 and 2010 during the band’s international tours (Italy, Russia, Portugal, Japan, UK), with many of Gazzara’s bossa/jazz classics, some unreleased covers – “Chitlins Con Carne” ( (Kenny Burrell), “Do It Again” (Steely Dan), “Hot Barbecue” (Jack McDuff) – and original live recordings from the early acid jazz era (1996) when the group’s line-up included fellow musicians Gianni Del Popolo (guitar) and Alex Gigli (drums).
CD 2 features 15 more recent tracks recorded live in studio between 2013 and 2020, with a tracklist based on the soul/bossa tunes from the latest Gazzara albums The Bossa Lounge Experience and Portrait In Acid Jazz rearranged for the instrumental trio with long time guesting friends Dario Cecchini (flute, sax) – featuring on CD 1 too – and Eduardo Piloto Barreto (flute). This second CD comes with an added bonus: two brand-new Gazzara songs and the unreleased instrumental versions of three old bossa/jazz tunes originally included in Brother And Sister (2006) and My Cup Of Tea (2009).
The Bossa Lounge Sessions: A Live & Studio Experience isn’t just the first live record by Gazzara. It is also the very first double live album released by long time independent and established italian label IRMA RECORDS: a fascinating way to add that vintage flavour of the 1970s when jazz/rock artists were presented by their labels with a classic double live collection. The extra atmosphere is also guaranteed here by a warm bossa/lounge sound made with hammond, rhodes, moog, and latin percussion.
Gazzara’s discography so far features 7 studio albums, ranging from the early success in the acid jazz and house music international scenes – their “Timeless” track was featured in the sold out french compilation Hotel Costes Vol.3 (2000) – to the later bossa/lounge hits, when some of their The Spirit Of Summer (2001) album tracks were extensively used in HBO’s “Sex & The City” TV series. The title-track from the same record, remixed by Dave Warrin in the USA, was a dancefloor hit in 2002 and it is still included in countless compilations and playlists all around the world.
The Bossa Lounge Sessions: A Live & Studio Experience definitely shows the real live sound of Gazzara through the years while offering some present work – as the original new tunes on CD 2 - from a band that never stands still, even during a pandemic, when playing live on stage is temporarily not possible.