Solitudo

Solo violinist Anais Drago has developed a highly personal style that marries the disciplines of the classical violin sonata with the worlds of jazz and fusion. Her new CAM JAZZ recording Solitudo finds her again making use of electronic devices, samples and overdubs to create a music of haunting beauty and wit that matches horror movie motifs with the raucous joy of classic jazz violinists such as Joe Venuti and Stuff Smith. Violin may still be regarded as a relatively marginal instrument in jazz, but unfairly so. The very first jazz groups may have been small string ensembles, employed to play art music upstairs, but retasked after hours to explore earthier measures. Anais Drago perfectly straddles both worlds. Her music is complex, dark, sometimes abstract, but also refreshingly light-hearted and confident, and utterly memorable. Solitudo is like nothing else you will hear this year, or next. It is the sound of an artist creating her own musical world.  (Brian Morton)

Recorded in Cavalicco in April 2021 at Artesuono Recording Studio Recording engineer Stefano Amerio

Photos by Elisa Caldana

Liner notes by Brian Morton