Loris Donatelli blends tradition and innovation in his debut album 'Blue Taxi'

“With Blue Taxi, I wanted to create an album that serves as a bridge between tradition and innovation, where every note tells a fragment of life. It’s an intimate yet universal work, a solo project that speaks to those who love to lose and find themselves in music,” says Pescara-born guitarist and composer Loris Donatelli, describing his debut album, set for release on Wednesday, May 14, via PlayCab. Available in digital and physical formats, Blue Taxi takes listeners on a journey beyond the boundaries of jazz, weaving an uninterrupted dialogue between tradition and experimentation.

The album’s eight tracks (five of which are original compositions) showcase Donatelli’s masterful use of loops, dissonances, and improvisations, blending acoustic and electric sounds with an introspective and contemporary narrative approach. Far from a mere stylistic exercise, Blue Taxi is an emotional map where listeners can wander and rediscover themselves, merging the depth of jazz with the freedom of contemporary music. “Each track is a universe unto itself and a metaphor for inner exploration,” the artist explains.

Track by Track: A Journey Through Sound

• “Blue Taxi”: The title track opens with an asymmetrical, persistent loop inspired by the sound of a horn in urban chaos. Rooted in the blues scale, the harmony unfolds through fourths (a nod to McCoy Tyner) and stacked thirds, with dissonances evoking city noise, while the meter reflects a frenetic, unstable movement.
• “Autumn Leaves”: This interpretation begins with a free solo guitar introduction before shifting to Joe Pass’s chord-melody style. The track culminates in an energetic swing improvisation, with two guitars recreating the interaction of a traditional jazz trio.
• “Modal Steps”: A modal jazz waltz that gradually reveals itself through the suspended dialogue of two guitars, with a melody expanding into increasingly wider intervals, creating a rich and unpredictable harmonic tapestry.
• “’Round Midnight”: A nocturnal journey through the shadows of jazz, Thelonious Monk’s elusive theme takes an unexpected turn into a hypnotic funk groove, as if melancholy suddenly found its rhythm. The solo guitar, reminiscent of Wes Montgomery, engages in a tight dialogue with the underlying groove.
• “All of Me”: This classic, immortalized by Billie Holiday, is reinterpreted with ethereal textures and poetic dissonances. The guitar unravels the theme with reflective calm before dissolving into an improvisation that fades into a haunting loop.
• “Tourbillons Intérieur”: A whirlwind of sounds inspired by French composer Olivier Messiaen, this track immerses listeners in an introspective and timeless sonic landscape.
• “Ovunque”: Here, the guitar becomes breath, a melancholic sway where harmonies ripple like water and notes blur into distant memories.
• “Quarter Past Twelve”: The album closes with a blues that loses track of time. Over a hypnotic loop on the classic 12-bar structure, the guitar slips into a 5/4 meter: “The extra beat is a moment of rhythmic disorientation that transforms tradition into discovery, like looking at a clock and realizing you’re elsewhere,” Donatelli reflects.

About Loris Donatelli

Born in 1978, Donatelli is a guitarist, composer, and educator from Montesilvano, in the province of Pescara. A graduate with honors from the Luisa D’Annunzio Conservatory in Pescara, he has collaborated with artists like Stef Burns (Alice Cooper, Vasco Rossi) and performed at the Primo Maggio Concert in Rome in 2011 and 2012.

Blue Taxi is now available on all major platforms via PlayCab.