Zucchero & Co.

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HITTIN' THE SWEET SPOT
- Zucchero & Co.

By Christopher M. Wright
© 2005 Christopher M. Wright
All Rights Reserved

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Hard to find good music these days? Here are some albums worth listening to. These recommendations are completely independent - AIM accepts no promotional fees or CDs whatsoever. The music rises or falls on its own merits. To be recommended, the music has to find its way into my collection and get played repeatedly. That rates an 'Honorable Mention' while 'Discovery', AIM's highest distinction, is reserved for those rare occasions when the music is among the best of its kind.

Zucchero & Co. is a career summation by Italian blues artist Adelmo Fornaciari whose nickname means 'sugar' in English. A star in Europe since the 1970s, Zucchero has earned many famous fans, some of whom appear with him in this collection of 14 duets which span the years 1988 to 2003. Zucchero went back into the studio to hone and polish his collaborations with Eric Clapton, Sting, B.B. King, Miles Davis, Sheryl Crow, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli (whom Zucchero discovered), and other notables.

Think of it as American blues meets Italian lyricism. "They are the two parts in me," Zucchero told the Los Angeles Times. "One is the blues and the other is the music of Puccini and Verdi."

The first track I Lay Down with the late bluesman John Lee Hooker just grabs you. It's power is evident. It alone is worth the price of the album. "That was a dream for me -- he was one of my heroes," Zucchero said in the L.A. Times interview. Another high point is the haunting Pure Love with Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries.

Strongly melodic, the tunes are mostly written or co-written by Zucchero, whom some call 'the Italian Joe Cocker' for his smoky voice. The album, which made Billboard's Top 200 and Top World charts, largely avoids the problem many duet albums have of sounding disembodied and thrown together for marketing purposes. International versions were released earlier but the American version retains an international flavor as not all of it is sung in English. Licks on several cuts from keyboardist Luciano Luisi are reminiscent of the '70s Italian art-rock band PFM (especially The World Became the World).

This is a fine example of pop-blues crossover, although some of the cuts (with Sting and Pavarotti) stray outside the mold. Purists would prefer that you listen to vintage blues from original masters. Zucchero & Co. is more polished than Delta field recordings, to be sure, but it has a timeless feel that won't sound dated until the blues fade into history. Sometimes, polishing is good.

This is pop music of the highest order that stands up to repeated listening. There is definitely something to be absorbed here, even by people who fancy they know something about music.

Zucchero's Official Website -
www.zucchero.it/

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