Recorded at the Jazziza Records in December 2006/January 2007. Mastered at the Bauer Studio in February 2007.
Take an abundance of Liszt, a little Shumann, add some Ravel and Rimskiy-Korsakow and just a little more Bach.
As if that was not enough contrast already, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh mixes in Jazz - a lot of Jazz - and Mugam music from her Azerbaijani hometown of Baku.
There are many contrasts in Aziza Mustafa Zadeh's work, not least due to the conflict between hands and voice, which Aziza Mustafa Zadeh acts out to the joy of her listeners, and which has continuously been documented on CD since 1991.
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh is a pianist. She is a pianist like her father, the acclaimed jazz-pianist and composer Vagif Mustafa Zadeh, who passed away much too early in 1979.
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh is a singer. She is a singer like her mother Eliza Mustafa Zadeh, her mentor and constant companion.
Now the pianist and the singer meet again and again and there are contrasts, as they could only be experienced before in her concert - “Opera Jazz".
It seems to be that two worlds meet. There is the pianist-composer - the Jazzer with romantic inclinations - who tells of angels, guarding dreams, of lonely dolphins, of two brothers and of colors, red and black.
And then there is a completely new world: the world of the great opera.
Mozart. His Countess Almaviva from “The Marriage of Figaro", Donna Anna from “Don Giovanni" and also the Queen of the Night from “The Magic Flute" borrow Aziza Mustafa Zadeh voice. She sings Leonora from Verdi's “The Power of Destiny" and Handel's Xerxes aria “Ombra mai fu", better known as “Largo". Her voice swings from mezzo-soprano to highest coloratura, always accompanied from her own arrangements on piano.
Here too can be heard, that all the contrasts, that Aziza Mustafa Zadeh uses are all that which Aziza Mustafa Zadeh loves: simply music. And perhaps a line from the Pergolesi attributed “Se tu m'ami" is something like a trademark for this glamorous singer, pianist and composer: “Non perche me piace il giglio gli altri fiori sprezzero." - “Just because the lily pleases me, I do not have to despise the other flowers."
Mainz, April 2007 Werner Wenzel
CONTRASTS 2 OPERA JAZZ
1. Introduction (Zadeh)
2. Mozart's Jazz Ballade (Zadeh/Mozart)
3. Guarding Dreams (Zadeh)
4. The Queen Of The Night (Zadeh/Mozart)
5. Gothic Jazz (Zadeh/Handel)
6. Red In Black (Zadeh)
7. If You Love Me (Zadeh/Pergolesi)
8. Bachmania (Zadeh)
9. Do Not Tell Me (Zadeh/Mozart)
10. One Day, Perhaps (Zadeh/Mozart)
11. Lonely Dolphin (Zadeh)
12. Barabashka (Zadeh)
13. Peace, Peace, My God (Zadeh/Verdi)
14. Two Brothers (Zadeh)
Dedications:
“Two Brothers" - to Niko Pirosmani and Sattar Bahlulzadeh.
“Peace, Peace, My God" - to Maria Callas.
“If You Love Me" - to Claudia Muzio.
Arranged by Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
Total timing 53:48
Jazziza Records 2007 JR 1969-2
For more information contact All About Jazz.
