Cafe Roma, Vol. 2 [Digipak]
Various
CD
Though this budget-priced two-disc compilation is billed as "an Italian jazz & lounge experience," you'd be hard-pressed to guess that it has anything to do with Italy based on the music itself, most of which sounds much more Brazilian or Cuban than anything else. A few tracks are actually sung in Italian and credited to Italian musicians, but since a bunch of others are sung in Portuguese, you have to really be paying attention to catch the linguistic switch. Still, what matters here isn't nationality; what matters is whether the music grooves, and that it does. Everything has a jazzy, swinging feel and just a faint whiff of European movie soundtracks from the 1960s, and even if regional favorites like Nicola Conte and Giacomo Bondi are unfamiliar names here in the States, no one with a pulse will be able to resist the hip-swaying charms of much of this program. Among the highlights are a fine adaption of the jazz standard "What a Difference a Day Makes," performed by Dynamic 4, and the invigorating (if misspelled) "Cosmic Odissey" by Spacestar. Things do occasionally get a bit soft in the middle, as on Vibraphile's enervatingly smooth "By Night," but for the most part this is stuff that will liven up any party.
Tracklist:
- Tema de la Onda - Aldemaro Romero/Nicola Conte
- 3ZOZO12 - Guido Pistocchi/Lorraine Bowen/Fabio Nobile
- Siempre - Monorama
- Caf‚ Caldo - Mazachigno
- Good Bye - Spira
- From Paris to Rio - Latin Vibe
- Spirit in the Yellow Sound - Do Mori
- Ilusoes - Jim Porto/Themis/Barriere
- Jet Set - Daniele Luppi
- It's a New Day - Time Passing
- Last Flight to Rome - Mazachigno
- By Night - Vibraphile
- Electrostatic - Urban Chill
- Magic Soleil - Cool Water
- Maracana' - Bungalove (Main Mix)
- St. Denis Ceara - Mona Gadˆlha/Various Artists (Panaphonic Remix
- Fly in the Sky - Pauline London (Main Mix)
- Salsera - Barrio Jazz Gang (Crisp Remix)
- Love Can Sing - Pauline London
- Espuma Bossa - Litiana Gimenez/Panaphonic
- Tropical Man's Revenge - Roby J.C. Sound
- Clave, La - L.E.D.
- What a Difference a Day Makes - Dynamic 4/Various Artists
- Blue Bossa Blan‡o - Banda Nova
- Spectrum - Barrio Jazz Gang
- Cosmic Odissey - Spacestar (Nujazz Remix)
- Walkin Sofa - L.E.D.