Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella team up again for West African Influenced EP ‘Free Your Mind’
Pioneering Italian musician, deejay, and producer Nicola Conte has been one of the most forward-thinking artists over the past two decades, creating new music that crosses over numerous genres and influences including jazz, soul, African, Latin, Brazilian, house, and electronic music. On his latest recording, he teams up again with trombonist Gianluca Petrella for their third EP release on Schema Records.
This new brilliant three-track record, titled follows in similar footsteps as the duo’s previous two releases Sun Song / Nigeria and African Spirits / New World Shuffle, further exploring West African influenced rhythms combined with cosmic synths, layered horns, broken beat grooves, and jazz inspired melodies. Ghanian vocalist Bridgette Amofah offers up some soulful vocals on both “Imani River” and “Infinity.”
This new three-track record, titled Free Your Mind, follows in similar footsteps as the duo’s previous two releases Sun Song / Nigeria and African Spirits / New World Shuffle, further exploring West African influenced rhythms combined with cosmic grooves, layered horns, and jazz inspired melodies.
The albums title tack opener, is primed for the dancefloor featuring deep house grooves fused nicely with an Afrobeat rhythm section, horns and synth lines. On “Imani River,” Ghanian vocalist Bridgette Amofah, who is also featured on the EP’s final track “Infinity,” offers up some soulful vocals backed by some mid-tempo African-inspired percussive grooves and Petrella’s trombone solos. The record’s final track is nice melding (in a way) of the first two songs, with an overall driving uptempo groove, blended with Amofah’s vocals and some spacey atmospheric synths.
The recording also features a number of other great guest musicians including trumpeter Jordan McLean, saxophonist Gaetano Partipilo, percussionist Simone Padovani, drummers Tommaso Cappellato and Teppo Mäkynen.
With each release including ‘Free Your Mind’, Nicola Conte and Gianluca Petrella are proving to be a strong collaborative team, producing brilliant music that truly straddles the line between the dance floor and spiritual atmospheres.
Look out for the duo’s full-length album release later this year!
Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella — ‘Free Your Mind’
(Schema Records)
A1. Free Your Mind
A2. Imani River (feat. Bridgette Amofah)
B1. Infinity (feat. Bridgette Amofah)
