Antonio barbagallo

Review excerpt:

Here is the huge and pleasant surprise of a Catanese who lives in New York. Guitar player, interpreter and composer Barbagallo is, above all, an imaginative performer who uses his guitar to support his extremely unique voice: raucous, filled with strong "chiaroscuro" traits, and melancholic; is able to swing, to tell a story, to improvise and express himself in English as well as in Portuguese and Italian. "Splendida Luce" is the portrait of an authentic jazz singer who uses his voice as an instrument and knows jazz, not only the vocal side of it, as he demonstrates the hard choice of a balanced repertoire of rare modern jazz standards by Mingus, La Faro, Lins, and Nascimento, and Barbagallo's original songs. - Musica Jazz

Review excerpt:

The record "Splendida Luce" highlights perfectly the three equally important aspects that characterize the music of Antonio Barbagallo: the author, singer, and the guitarist.
The voice presents some harmonic qualities that beautifully melds with the sound context of the band, becoming like an instrument among the instruments. Impressive rhythm and solo guitar parts match high standards of both beauty and melodicism.

- Jazz it

Review excerpt:

Barbagallo's vocal sound on his new record "Splendida Luce" appears to be perfectly integrated with the rest of the band and he is able to explore in the cracks of his very often-angular repertoire. A.B. definitely shows to have very well assimilated the lessons of the great interpreters of the African-American tradition. Excellent is his choice and the contribution of the band members to the success of this record.

- Jazz.net

Review excerpt:

This CD, a contemporary mix of brass, vocals, guitar, piano, bass, and drums, has a refreshing, original quality, brisk tones that vary from track to track, while Barbagallo adds his nimble guitar improvisations and vivacious vocals as well. - Roberta on the Arts

Review excerpt:

Barbagallo's repertoire represents a tribute to some of the American continent's musical tradition and atmospheres, from Brazilian and Caribbean contemporary music, to the classic modern jazz standards. Barbagallo's interpretation of the modern jazz Mingusian songs "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love"and "Portrait," as well as his bossa nova repertoire, beside his original compositions yield very passionate results. In the album's diversity Barbagallo allows his voice to take the lead while his guitar represents that "extra touch" that defines his musical portrait tout court. - L'Isola

Review excerpt:

Antonio Barbagallo lives and works in New York and has been developing a variety of style combinations that qualify his artistry with a highly intellectual connotation. The unmistakable character of this artist is manifested in the particular way he uses his voice that designs spirals of colors at times relaxed, but always balanced and coherent in his eclectic style. His Italian style is well represented by Barbagallo's playful voice effects, the harmonic modulations of his compositions, and the ability to research really unusual intervals and results, in the end, in an extremely original sound and almost "chamber" style when his Italian cantato and the New York jazz idiom are integrated. Barbagallo's activity as songwriter must be taken under consideration also as well as the great contribution to the work by Gaetano Messina. Finally, Barbagallo 's efforts in this valuable work show us the complete ultimate range of his wide and multifaceted artistry.
- Sound Contest

Review excerpt:

"Splendida Luce" shows that Barbagallo has a significant artistic versatility as well as a good sensibility that characterize his work as a high level product. What is most surprising is his ability to write meaningful lyrics as well as open, intelligent and refreshing arrangements, adapting his extremely unique voice's qualities to the pentagramma and conducting them to converge toward a unique flow.

Barbagallo's spoken and irregular attacks, and the use of unusual intervals bring us back to the golden era of jazz singing of Armstrong and Sinatra, but Barbagallo's stylistic exploration reaches far beyond the more open harmonic fields and the forms of the contemporary jazz style. The modern Brazilian jazz standard, "Vera Cruz," features Barbagallo's dynamic rhythmic approach with his beautiful guitar solo.

The result is a highly sophisticated and tasteful CD with a sensitive expression in which heterogeneous musical languages converge in a natural way.

The elegant texture of the record as well as Barbagallo's wide range of melodic approaches transforms this work into a vehicle that has the power to reach out to a larger audience than just the restricted niche of jazz fans.
- 4Arts