Jazz Plays Classical and Both Lose

Cover of the Melodia album (from its JazzBeat Web page)

Melodia: jazz under glass is a new album of “original compositions for piano and bass & more” by pianist Jay D’Amico, performing with bassist Marlon Martinez. Consolidated Artists Productions, which provided the Web page for this recording, has distilled the essence of D’Amico’s intentions into a single sentence: “The track ‘Melodia’ has a lovely melody that gives the listener the impression that it could be an aria by Puccini, but the piece is also strongly influenced by jazz, making it an excellent example of the musical melting pot that D’Amico favors in his compositions.” Speaking from the vantage point of the diversity of musical genres, I have to say that any suggestion of Puccini will demand extremely imaginative listening and any influences of jazz would not venture beyond the rather insipid “smooth” category. Taken as a whole, the tracks may serve well as background music. However, I suspect that most readers of this site are more interested in attentive listening; and there is little offered on Melodia to satisfy attention.