Massimo Farao Trio - My Funny Valentine

Massimo Farao is a wonderful Italian pianist who has played and recorded with Red Holloway, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Tony Scott, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jeff Tain Watts, Jack DeJohnette and Chris Potter, among others.

Venus Records' producer Tetsuo Hara must have really fallen in love with Farao's music because in less than a year he released no less than five of the Italian pianist's albums. The debut CD by his trio Luiza was followed by Bohemia After Dark which featured his bassist Aldo Zunino in a duo setting. Now we have three new albums (Autumn Leaves, My Funny Valentine and I Left My Heart In San Francisco) that were all recorded in a three-day session in February, 2014.

It seems quite a feat for a piano trio to produce three albums-worth of music in three days, but the quality of the performance is consistently high. Farao's passionate style and romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. He doesn't play too many notes and his arrangements are relatively straight forward, but his choice of notes is exquisite. With his unfailing sense of swing, all his music — including ballads — radiates an aura of happiness. Recommended to fans of piano trios!

Produced by Tetsuo Hara. Recorded at Pianopiano Studio in Torino, Italy on February 11-13, 2014.