Author of successful melodies such as “Vieni via con me,” “Bartali” or “Genova per noi,” he is above all a virtuoso jazzman and, over his career, he has given history timeless songs brought to success by the great names of Italian music, such as “Azzurro” sung by Adriano Celentano.
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We meet him before his sold-out concert at the Kongresshaus in Zurich. His gaze is that of a sage ready to size up whoever is in front of him. His availability and kindness are those of the great professionals. The curiosity that shows through him reveals that desire to experiment which, at almost 80, has not yet died down. The European tour he is undertaking is demanding, but “I love my audience too much - the artist confesses to us - not to give myself completely to them. Compared to the past, we thought of a tour with fewer dates, also so as not to tire myself too much - he smiles. The result is a more restrictive and considered choice for a more sensitive audience.
Paolo Conte presents to us his latest collection of tracks from the album “Snob” but, seeking a rationale for this title, he reassures us by specifying that “neither I nor my audience can be described as such, since mine is not a niche musical genre, but rather a jazz adapted to a wider audience, one that also loves popular music. I am not a snob - he stresses - I have always liked to call myself a dandy, which is a very different adjective” and decidedly more refined. In today's musical landscape, the maestro is regarded as a legend.
The question arises spontaneously about the relationship between young people and music according to his views. “To the new generations - the artist states - I would have them listen to some of my tracks, which I could describe as mature and structured, precisely to give them the chance to engage with lyrics and notes perhaps unfamiliar to them, but which can nonetheless intrigue them.” We cannot forget his love for the South American sound, whose essence he has grasped, and he reconfirms it to us with a mix of innocence and sensuality that he elegantly weaves into his nostalgic musical style. During the pleasant conversation, we dwell on the history of Italian music and in particular on that charm which the songwriters of the 60s or 70s gave us and which now seems lost. “They were magical moments - he recounts - in which the flowering of musical masterpieces was driven by the culture and above all by the social ferment of those years. They are historical periods that cannot be repeated and, to this day, I honestly do not see the hope that any of the modern singer-songwriters could fully take up the legacy of that generation.”
The time the maestro has devoted to us is almost over, but Paolo Conte allows himself a few more minutes to welcome, with interest, the passionate greeting of one of his great admirers who lives in Zurich, Francesco Stomeo. A great music connoisseur and vinyl collector, he offers him snippets of his life in which the maestro's music has been a continuous and magical backdrop. The artist is pleased and intrigued, he smiles, sly, at having met a pioneering admirer of his music, who manages to wrest from Conte the promise of being able to hear him again in his beloved Salento, a land of absolute and sun-drenched inspiration. The time has come to delight the Zurich audience, the curtain rises, the instruments of the excellent musicians are tuned, the fingers already brush the piano and the magic begins.
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