Smoke Burst is Mario Rossi's highest point. The best, most mature and accurate point of his career. Released independently, his fourth studio album is the perfect illustration of what his musical vein is like.
“It is the most complete work in my discography, both instrumental and in terms of repertoire. It represents my references well and the essence of what I like to hear.”
When we listen to Smoke Burst, we are impacted by an inspiring bunch of songs. A catchy sound, wonderful guitar tones, and a really good band. This makes it easy to embark on this real sound journey. There is a direct connection to our hearts.
“When I make a new album, I always want to hear what I like and what I'm looking for in an album, in a song”, says Mario Rossi. “I play guitar every day and keep a recorder close by as something interesting always comes up.”
This process proved to be efficient and very productive. It has become the powerful fuel with which Mario Rossi has been writing all his albums. Not bad for someone who has pleased critics and audiences from different countries in the last years.
In the case of his new release, the special spice is the fact that the material was all recorded live in the studio. Besides, the band that brought Smoke Burst to life took the album to another level of quality.
“It was a great and fulfilling experience to have brilliant, committed and extremely professional musicians”, celebrates Mario Rossi. “Again, I had Rafael Cacavallo on drums and Edê Boy on keyboards, both musicians who recorded my previous album, Heavy. Bassist Marcelo Rocha joined us during the pre-production and he got along very quickly with the band. He is from the Jazz world and added a very original chemistry to the songs.”
Some of the songs feature a talented name, Richard Fermino – a really great player. Additionally, Smoke Burst featured female vocals from Lu Vitti on It Means Blues and harmonica master Steve Bell, from Chicago, on There's No Hope for Willie Brown.
“Lu Vitti is known to the album's producer, Othon Ribeiro. He showed me some videos of her and suggested her as a guest”, explains Mario Rossi. “At the time, she was on tour in Europe, and as soon as she returned, we arranged for her to participate. We had It Means Blues in mind, but we sent her two other tracks to choose from, but It Means Blues was her preference as well. To my surprise, Lu is also a fan of Carmen McRae. This track she recorded has that night club kind of feel to it, as well as B.B. King, Etta James, Carmen McRae influences... Everything was a good definition of the word 'perfect'.”
So, how can we describe in words the deep feelings caused by the songs on Mario Rossi's new album? It’s very hard! That's why you need to listen to this work. Nothing better than music to show us how beautiful the result of something done with excellence can be.
Yeah, definitely Smoke Burst is the highest point of Mario Rossi. As said, it is the best, most mature and accurate point of his career. And that's great, because it shows us an artist on the rise, growing with each release.