Ferdinando Argenti: Argenti

Italian born Ferdinando Argenti started with piano lessons at the age of seven. Moving to the U. S. in 1984 he attended Berklee College of Music where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Over the years, the pianist/vocalist has worked such jazz notables as Chet Baker , Lee Konitz and Kenny Wheeler.

On this album, Argenti reveals a free wheeling style, using the complete keyboard as he runs through a play list of standards and his originals. He also sings, in Italian, on five tracks. Lyrics are in the liner notes in English. The kick off tune is a perky "Easy to Love" with an arrangement that employs different rhythmic patterns for the piano, Todd Baker's acoustic bass and Bob Savine's drums. With this perky beginning, one assumes that the rest of the session will reflect the happiness of the opener. Wrong. Matters get dense, a situation brought on by electronically created strings, which add absolutely nothing except to make things very busy. On a pretty little tune "Raccontami Di Te", there's Argenti singing, with horns blowing in the background, a percussionist knocking out rapid beats and an electric bass cluttering up what otherwise might have been a nice track to listen to. Argenti comes across much better without all the musical paraphernalia as on "You Don't Know What Love Is", done in a quartet setting, sans strings and with a feel of jazz. Similarly, "La Piu' Bella del Mondo" is an upbeat vocal with horns ensemble featuring a solid trumpet solo by Phil Person. More of this and less of the pretentious string arrangements would have made this album a class A event. But while inconsistent, it has merit.