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Pianist Roberto Negro is among the leading figures on the new French jazz scene. Though born in Turin in 1981, he received his music education first in Kinshasa (former Zaïre), where he grew up, then in France, his country of choice for over 20 years, the last 10 of which spent in Paris. Kings And Bastards is his first album on CAM JAZZ and piano solo debut. Here is a record that runs along two paths, split between natural piano sound and prepared piano, lyricism and roughness, heroes and villains. The 13 tracks on this album, whether scripted or unscripted but all bearing the pianist's signature, were recorded either at Stefano Amerio's recording studio in Cavalicco, at a concert during the Sons d'Hiver festival in France or on Negro's own piano at his home, by accurately adding electronics and doing post-production at a later stage, always with a consistent, spot-on approach that did not diverge into too many directions. So, Roberto Negro has managed to devise a work that is true to himself and departs from conventional piano solo performances. A work encompassing all the components that have nourished his music over the years: the recent death of his father, Kinshasa and its boroughs, the mountains, glimmers of film soundtracks, Lo-Fi music... The title takes up the dual nature of this recording, the duality between kings and bastards. Even though, in actual fact, the boundaries between them are more unclear, blurred: kings turn into bastards, bastards into kings. Likewise in this music, in which gentleness alternates with viciousness.

Track Listing