Nicola Conte
BOSSA PER DUE
(EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LOUNGE MUSIC)

As a classically trained composer, Italy’s Nicola Conte probably never imagined that he’d one day swap his baton for a set of turntables. But as a DJ, musician, arranger, and producer, he found an intelligent way to freshen up European acid jazz, blending bossa nova with grooves inspired by ’60s and ’70s soul jazz and spy-movie soundtracks. The mod maestro’s big break came when his retro-cool " Bossa Per Due " became the themesong for an Acura commercial and made him a minor international celebrity.

Now that his first full-length album, which combines hit singles like " Missione A Bombay " and " Forma 2000 " with new material, is out on Thievery Corporation’s ESL label, Conte is aiming to take his pop-historical revisionism from the headphones of rare-groove aficionados and into the living rooms — and, yes, car radios — of stateside listeners. An irresistible cocktail of samba, bossa, swing jazz, funk, and easy-listening lounge flavorings, the disc alludes to Nino Rota as often as to Richard Holmes or Donald Byrd, and inevitably it brings to mind images of Marcello Mastroianni in sleek shades and a Nehru jacket gunning his white convertible down a stretch of Mediterranean coast. Anchoring each of the 12 cuts with a pulsing drum-and-bass groove or Brazilian jazz-time rhythm, Conte adds light-headed flute runs, vibraphone, sax, and keyboard solos, John Barry–like orchestral horns and timbale, and even sitar and tabla embellishments (check out the driving " Dossier Omega " ), topping it all off with breezy female vocals and a few choice samples. Sophisticated and fun, it’s his love letter to leisure in action.

Issue Date: August 30 - September 6, 2001