1. Your upcoming release Primary Colours just came out. Can you tell us a about the launch event? What can we expect to hear?
For the album launch, I’m very excited and proud to be back at the Vortex - where I also did the launch for my previous release Vapour. We’ll be playing the new album in full, as well as some of the music from the first album and probably a few other surprises too. I’ll be joined by the musicians who recorded Primary Colours, so with me on stage there will be Sam Leak on Organ, Tom Olledorff on Guitar and Jay Davis on Drums and Tara Minton will be special guesting on Harp. Talking about the new music, this explores drum’n’bass grooves, latin influences, free improvisation and even classical music and takes inspiration from many of my musical influences, in particular from the works of Gretchen Parlato, Bobby McFerrin and Jeff Buckley.
2. You have recently become a mother for the first time! Are you ready for gigging again?
I am and looking forward to it but at the same time I want to take my time to do so - knowing myself, I would be able to walk on stage with the baby strapped to me in the carrier! However, my son Leonardo is 2 months old so some days are still really tiring for me; I want to make sure that I’ll dedicate the proper care and attention to myself, my son and also my music.
3. Your single ‘Blue’ speaks of speaks of motherhood, safety and home. How do you hope your son will feel after listening to this track? Once he has grown up a little of course!
Blue takes inspiration from the sea in my hometown of Taranto where I cherish a lot of memories. In the track, the sea speaks to me, reminding me that whilst I am somewhere else, I can always return home to where I can fully be myself. The tune is about the joy that comes from - and with - old memories and the sense of belonging. I really hope that once my son is old enough to understand the essence of the lyrics of Blue, he will know that he’ll always find in me the safe haven that I find in my hometown.
4. Primary Colours is described as a concept album. Can you talk us through what the concept?
I think that in life it’s very important to listen to our feelings so that we don’t let other people or situations put us down, staying truthful to ourselves. I think that being aware of our emotions and feelings and accept them is fundamental and I don’t believe in “negative” and “positive” emotions: to me, every human feeling “completes” another one and life experiences are generated by the combination and interaction of these feelings. Primary Colours is about how base human feelings and life experiences interconnect and interact with each other - ultimately leading to life changes - just like primary colours and shades combine themselves, creating new tones. From here, I thought to write a collection of musical stories associating every emotion to a colour and every colour to a musical story.
5. The track ‘Black’ explores the isolation and loneliness of depression in quite a light-hearted way. Many people suffer from depression and I know you are passionate about wellbeing. How do you hope people connect with this track and how do you manage your own wellbeing?
I am passionate about wellbeing indeed as I’ve experience that we can really make a change to ourselves, with help, self-work and awareness.
Depression can be extremely disarming and it’s fundamental to ask for help. I hope that everyone that will listen to the track and can relate with the lyrics of the intro will feel hit by the development of the tune and its real message and find some strength in it.
Understanding ourselves and our emotions can help us to find our inner strength in the worst situations. My strength was to realise that there’s no light if there’s no dark and to accept the shades. Sometimes we need to reach rock bottom and to find ourselves in a “black” room to remember that there’s still light out there, that we want that light and that we can look for it. And even if sometimes we find ourselves in the dark again, we can remember that time in which we changed things..and a “sad” song becomes a tune of joy and pride.
6. You work with a range of wonderful musicians and have the brilliant Tara Minton on harp in the track ‘Blue’. What was it about the harp – and Tara – that inspired you to have harp and Tara for this album?
Tara Minton really is a brilliant artist and I’m very proud that. I have her on the record! I’ve worked with her on many different occasions - such as sharing the stage at Ronnie Scott’s during the release of her album Please Do Not Ignore The Mermaid or in Lebanon, at Al Bustan International Festival (with Faris Ishaq and Kham Quartet).
Listening to her original music, I really got Tara’s connection with the sea and understood that it was as strong as mine; so, when I wrote Blue, I could see her “painting” with her harp all the shades of blue that I needed and I knew that she could give me those waves through her playing.
She also plays in White, a tune about reaching peace and calm arranged by my husband (and bass player), Joe Boyle, on a short melody that I wrote in a more a 'classical' way. It’s just a duo for harp and voice as I knew that Tara would have played this in her elegant and luscious way. The result was even more magical than I could’ve hoped and I couldn’t be happier with it!
7. You sing in English and in your mother tongue, Italian, on the new album. How important were your Italian roots in creating the album?
Well, despite the fact that I’ve lived in the UK for 7 years now, I’m still and will always be proudly Italian so my roots are always in my music. Since I’ve left Italy, there hasn’t been one day that I haven’t missed my hometown in Puglia. I’ve always felt self-conscious about writing in Italian - I think it makes me feel more exposed in some way. But when I wrote Blue, I got very enthusiastic about sharing my roots in my mother tongue. When I previewed the song at the Taranto Jazz Festival last summer I was pleased to discover everyone loved my writing in Italian.
8. The album features your long-time collaborators Sam Leak on Hammond Organ and Jay Davis on drums, with the addition of guitarist Tom Ollendorff. How did the musical relationships with these musicians develop and what was it like to work with them on this album?
I met Sam and Jay 7 years ago, the second or the third evening after I arrived to London at Oliver’s Jazz Bar in Greenwich…Sam was hosting the jam session and let me sit in…I felt so lucky to play with them and I still feel the same every time we play together. I’m proud to share my original music with them since my first record.
Despite having started to play with Tom later, I’ve immediately felt a beautiful music connection with him: I simply love his music and his playing and he’s such a great artist!
I think that the band has become more and more solid since we all started to play together: we’ve reached a beautiful interplay and I feel a great respect coming from each of them.
They are a big part of this album: I’ve discussed my tunes with them prior recording, listening to their ideas and opinions - even helping with the arrangements some of my tunes. They’ve always been happy to bring their contribution with passion and honesty and I’m very grateful for this.
9. Thinking about your previous album Vapour compared to this new one, how to you feel you have developed as a composer and storyteller?
Talking about the music from Vapour, it mostly came from “hearing things” in the most unexpected situations…I always say that “the music came to me” and I just had to put al the ideas together.
After developing the idea for Primary Colours - and starting from a ‘non musical’ concept, that is the feelings associated with a story - I had to work more in a traditional way on some tunes, looking for sounds and harmonies that would have better told the stories behind the tunes and express the emotions related to them. This has been very helpful for me as it made me grow as a composer, having to fill some gaps in my music knowledge, in order to better understand how to achieve specific results. As a storyteller, it has nourished my creativity to connect colours to emotions and bringing these into different stories.
Comparing with Vapour - through which I’ve “introduced myself” to the audience; sharing my musical tastes, my background and my way of approaching creativity - Primary Colours definitely highlights my abilities as a musician and composer-songwriter, expressing and sharing my feelings and vision of certain things through my music.
10. And finally, performance plans – where can we see you play?
My next gig will be at The Vortex Jazz Club on the 26th of January 2024 for the Primary Colours album launch so save the date! Towards the end of my pregnancy and thinking about touring for the album promotion, I knew that I would have needed a small break from performing so I’m not gigging for a few months but I’ll be back on stage next Spring so keep an eye on my website!
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