Album Review: It's Hard To Say Goodbye from Enrico Granafei

Album:  It's Hard To Say Goodbye
Artist:  Enrico Granafei
Label:  CAP Records
Website:  www.enricogranafei.com
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It's Hard To Say Goodbye, the fourth US release from harmonica virtuoso, classical guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and composer Enrico Granafei, is a compilation of Latin-infused jazz rhythms sautéed in Granafei's soulful playing.  Inspired by harmonica master Toots Thielemans, Granafei illustrates the potency of the reed instrument to helm the melodic direction of arrangements as its wind-imbued texture intensifies the make-up of the scores.  Composing six of the 11 tracks, Granafei's delivery affects the listener profoundly.

He titled the album It's Hard To Say Goodbye in memory of three people who were very special to him:  Toots Thielemanns, and two musicians who played on the recording, pianist Mike Longo and flugelhorn ace Claudio Roditi.  Sewn into the melodic fabric is human sentiment, expressing merriment from experiencing the pleasures of life to channeling reflections over losses through life.

Launching the disc with his original work, “Claudinho,” a springy, upbeat tune featuring Roditi's frothy flugelhorn solo, as Granafei's harmonica forms rows of curlicues over the samba beats.   Granafei authors vibrant frills on guitar and harmonica with his undulating notes over the reggae ripples of "PIA," an acronym for parasailing in Aruba.  The effect is a myriad of pulsating activity.  

The disc shifts to a sleek bossa rhythm along “L’utima cialda,” coasting gracefully, as Granafei's nimble movements on the harmonica sketch improvised doodles with a calligraphic style.  Expanding further with the freehand raptures of the piano, cultivating an entrancing missive.  “Night Train,” penned by pianist-composer-arranger Amina Figarova, is a spellbinding piece, propelling Granafei's harmonica swirls and Figarova's own soaring keys, each moving at will and in harmony.

Granafei sings in his native Italian through “Calabrossa,” adding a silky mane across the candlelight glow of the fluttering keys.  The funky beats of “What Goes Around, Comes Around" features the buoyant tremors of percussionists of Diego Lopez and Annette Aguilar with the searing embellishments of Neil Alexander's Rhodes and the samba quakes of Granafei's harmonica accentuating the Latin mix.

He reworks three tunes by Thielemans.  "Bluesette," a signature piece of Thielemanns, is cradled in folksy tinctures, as the soft rustle of the keys brush across the gently simmering guitar strums, articulating an European bistro flare.  His harmonica shimmies and twitches enthusiastically then turns pensive along “To My Lady,” another of Thielemanns's compositions.  The title track, a Thielemanns treasure, inducing a mournful sonorous, immersed in meaningful arcs and eloquent extensions on the harmonica.

Granafei has recorded with Eddie Gomez, Eliot Zigmund, Marc Johnson, Adam Nussbaum, Amina Figarova, Billy Hart, Wallace Roney, Vic Juris, Dave Stryker, Ted Curson, Irio de Paula, and Nnenna Freelon, among many others, contributing greatly to his musical influences across the jazz field.  His nimble playing is spellbinding, stirring pure elation in the listener.  His music is an elixir for the soul.

Musicians:
Enrico Granafei - harmonica, guitar and vocals
Mike Longo - piano
Claudio Roditi - flugelhorn
Neil Alexander - keyboards
Amina Figarova - piano, keyboards and Fender Rhodes
Diego Lopez - tambourine
Annette Aguilar - percussion
Drums - Takashi Otsuka, Christian Fabian, Greg Jones, Gordon Lane, Silvia Cuenca, and Richie Morales