20 Jun 2024 11:31
At the Roman Amphitheater in Terni on Wednesday evening a concert was staged by Anthony Strong, the English singer who in fifteen years of activity has been able to interest a heterogeneous audience by staging hundreds of live performances, as well as in his recordings, a repertoire with multiple strands. Together with Massimo Morganti’s Colors jazz orchestra he brought to the stage a performance created specifically for Visioninmusica and for the Carit Foundation, the financing body and supporter of the initiative.
The first trend chosen by the crooner refers to the atmospheres of Broadway and Hollywood, with songs created for musicals or films, which subsequently went beyond the boundaries of the theater or cinema screen, becoming jazz standards in their own right, with an autonomous life. Just think of Too Darn Hot by Cole Porter, written for the musical Kiss me, Kate (1948), then taken up by Ella Fitzgerald (1956) and Mel Tormé (1960). In many cases, the original interpreters of the musicals – Fred Astaire above all – were followed by the greatest jazz musicians: Strong takes up the legacy of these, without imitating or reproducing, but reinterpreting each piece with his brilliant refinement. This is how the historic pieces by Irving Berlin (Cheek to cheek), Jerome Kern (The way you look tonight) and George Gershwin (They can’t take that away from me) appear, which with his voice resonate with renewed freshness. And this also happens for Sixteen Tons, a song not taken from a musical, which however boasts countless covers since its first recording in 1946: this version represents a real “gem” in the show, with an even more engaging melody and rhythm. In the wake of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett, Strong also excels in his peculiar vocal style, re-proposing, of these memorable artists, the deep, intimate way of singing, rich in nuances and with almost whispered features, typical of the intimate nightclubs in which they performed. From the local style of crooners, who emerged between the Second World War and the end of the Sixties, Strong and the band will repopulate songs such as The Night We Called It a Day, Unforgettable and Steppin’ Out. The third chosen trend instead goes beyond the previous categories and reaches without hesitation the R&B of Ray Charles (Hallelujah, I Love Her So) and Stevie Wonder (Higher Ground). There was no shortage of original compositions, which mark Anthony Strong’s compositional path, alongside that of arranger and performer: That Kinda Guy, taken from his debut album Guranteed! (2009); When It Moves You, from On a clear day (2015); Gambling Man Blues, from Me and my radio (2019).
ALBERTO MIRIMAO’S PHOTOGALLERY
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