Marco Polo, secondo la fantasia di Italo Calvino, descrive al Kublai Khan, le città toccate durante i propri viaggi, sebbene si tratti di luoghi immaginari. “Le Città Invisibili”, testo del 1972 del celebre scrittore è fonte d’ispirazione per il nuovo lavoro del trombettista Andrea Guzzoletti, aiutato nell’opera da Antonio Inserillo (Computer) Roberto Cecchetto (chitarre ed elettronica) e Stefano Onorati (tastiere ed elettronica). “Invisible Cities” trasuda di ispirazioni che vanno da Hector Zazou, a Jon Hassell, da Mark Isham a Miles Davis. L’album è dedicato alla memoria di Zazou, scomparso nel 2008, e contiene “Last City” un inedito live dello stesso assieme a Guzzoletti. Le città invisibili del trombettista e produttore di Lucca sono otto, ispirate a Italo Calvino e dedicate ad Hector Zazou. Ad aiutarlo, cointestatari Roberto Cecchetto e Stefano Onorati, divisi tra acustiche (chitarra e pianoforte) e cibori elettronici. Ma l’elenco dei featuring è assai lungo: Kent Condon, Lawrence Jenkins e Patrick Morgenthaler, per dirne solo altri tre. A chiudere il cerchio, l’intervento dello stesso Zazou, nella ghost track Last City. Il lavoro di programming ben si amalgama non solo alla tromba di Guzzoletti, ma a tutti gli strumenti chiamati in causa, rendendo il progetto assai sinuoso e caldo, capace di spaziare dal jazz al lounge, dall’elettronica al free, dal french touch al trip hop. Per Guzzoletti la riprova di un eclettismo maturo da cui aspettarsi ancora altro.

In questi giorni sta uscendo sui principali portali il mio disco “Invisible Cities” in formato digitale, e per la fine di settembre inizi di ottobre sarà in distribuzione fisica anche nei negozi di dischi.

The recording “Invisible Cities” draws its inspiration from “Le Città Invisibili” by Italo Calvino, and as the book itself it is an often mental voyage through imaginary cities which exist only in the mind of the storyteller.

The Book:
The central character is Marco Polo who, at the court of Kublai Khan and by way of his dispatches to the Sovereign, describes the cities along the routes of his travels within the immense Empire. In these reports he speaks of the men who built the cities, their form, the relationship between their inhabitants and the actual architecture. However; these cities exist only within the mind of the venetian explorer:  in fact Marco Polo goes from detailed descriptions and minute detail to ensemble visions; but always looking where others cannot see, towards that which appears invisible to them. The cities in Marco Polo’s story are intended as separate entities in their own right: these invisible cities are not in contact with one another. Thanks to the narrative it is Marco Polo who ‘creates’ them during his storytelling – just as Calvino the writer ‘creates’ his imaginary worlds in his work.

There are many points of interest in the novel: first of all the relationship between the ‘Stranger’ and the strange land in which he finds himself. An interesting and recurring theme is the relationship between language and communication: Marco Polo initially has great difficulty in speaking the language of the Monarch and therefore expresses himself through gesture and sound to describe the cities he has ‘visited’. Subsequently he learns the language and becomes fluid in its expression; however he will discover new obstacles inherent in the use of this mediated and less direct form of communication. The attitude and expectation of the Sovereign himself with regards to his desire to establish order within his vast dominions is also worthy of consideration: the Khan is on the one hand terrorised by the sheer scale of his empire and the impossible task of enforcing order, whilst on the other he is reassured by the paradox of equilibrium established by the opposing forces at work within it.

The Record:
Just like the book, this too is a metaphysical voyage where the predominant themes are the dual nature of language and communication, closed versus open environments, movement and stasis – in the sense of actual physical movement as opposed to mental ‘travel’.
The trumpet is both traveller and listener; but this role is also exchanged with and between the other instruments: Piano and Guitar. As with the novel, the objective is to create order from a multitude of sounds and colours often in contrast with one another, in fact in this work there appear to be no precise structures but a particular attention which encompasses everything from the minute detail to ensemble visions; but always looking where others cannot see, towards that which appears invisible to them.

The work consists of a total of 9 tracks composed and arranged by Andrea Guzzoletti, featuring important contributions from three other elements who, as well as being close friends, are also superb musicians and sound engineers : Antonio Inserillo, Roberto Cecchetto and Stefano Onorati.

The record is dedicated to the memory of the great musician Hector Zazou who tragically passed away in September 2008, and will contain a previously unreleased live track which gives us further valuable insight by way of a performance by Andrea Guzzoletti on stage together with his friend Hector Zazou.