In the fall of 2013 the Antonio Ciacca quartet had an engagement at the famous Blues Alley jazz club in Washington D.C. As usual the Italian American pianist, along with his own original compositions, includes in his live performances material drawn from the Italian American Songbook, from composers such as Henry Mancini, Harry Warren (real name Salvatore Guaragna), Chick Corea, Frank Signorelli and Joe Lovano. What caught the attention of vocalist Sweet Lu that night was the soulful, “Silveresque”, “Golsonesque” quality of Ciacca’s compositions. He was already familiar with Ciacca’s music through a friend and great vocalist in his own right, George V. Johnson, who set to lyrics a few of Antonio’s songs. After the show Sweet Lu and Antonio met and the vocalist expressed the desire to record one day with a band of top notch New York Jazz cats. You have to always be careful with what you wish for. To make a long story short, Antonio and Sweet Lu started to discuss material, arrangements, personnel, studio choice, etc. Early that year Antonio spent a month as member of the Andy Farber Quintet in Doha working at the newly opened Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) Doha. During the month long engagement the band played a tribute to the Soul Jazz of the 50’s, performing the music of the Adderley Brothers, Benny Golson, Joe Henderson, Donald Byrd and Horace Silver. With this music still in his head, Antonio proposed a set list of the same soulful grooving music of the 50s but with lyrics yet to be written. Sweet Lu accepted the challenge and 5 months later they were in a studio recording the material. THEME FOR MALCOLM by Donald Brown is a great tune rarely played live. Donald Brown, himself, also recorded a Big Band version with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. Despite the meter change (from 4/4 to ¾ and back) the performance grooves flawlessly with great solo work from Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) and Tivon Pennicott (tenor saxophone) and Antonio (piano) plus impeccable rhythm work by Mike Karn (bas) and Jerome Jennings (drums). The out chorus avoids the cliché of repeating the melody verbatim by going into a spoken word improvisation by Sweet Lu who connects himself with the younger generations of African American singers-rappers. EVERY DAY I FALL IN LOVE was a number of the late great Joe Williams. The unforgotten voice of the Basie Orchestra is one of Sweet Lu’s main influences. The arrangement is simple and effective with excellent solos on flute (Pennicott), muted trumpet (Pelt) and bass (Karn). As arranger Ciacca displays his taste for delicate counter lines and solid groove work from the rhythm section. LAGOS BLUES is Ciacca’s best know composition. Over the years it has been recorded a half dozen times as an instrumental and as a big band. This is the first recording of a vocal version. It is a contemporary, straight-eight feel blues that calls for nothing but groove. Sweet Lu nails the mood of the song with a great soul finale. BLACKJACK by Donald Byrd is the classic Juke Box song of the 60s. Sweet Lu displays his wide vocal range in a grooving and “in the pocket” scat followed by a brief, brilliant tenor solo that keeps the groove hot. The song ends with a vocal improv where Sweet Lu explores the dark, low range of his voice. DRIFTIN’ by Herbie Hancock was first recorded on Hancock’s Blue Note debut album “Taking Off” featuring a stellar band including Dexter Gordon on tenor sax. Sweet Lu’ work on this song is not limited to setting the melody to words. He transcribes and sets to lyrics Dexter’s entire first chorus solo. Grabbing the torch directly from Eddie Jefferson and John Hendricks who started the art of vocalease, Sweet Lu displays a great talent in a field that seems forgotten. NANCY WITH THE LAUGHING FACE by Jimmy Van Heusen was part of Frank Sinatra’s repetoire. Frank was so fond of the song that many people think that he actually wrote the song. The reason for Frank’s deep love for the song is that when Jimmy Van Heusen presented him the song for some reason Frank thought it was written for his daughter Nancy Sinatra, which was never the case. This explains why Sweet Lu changed the word “Nancy” with ‘Kathy” which is his beloved wife. His brilliant delivery of the words reminds us of Al Jarreau’s work on ballads. Pennicott’s warm tenor solo is fantastic support to the overall great performance. BARON 5 is the second of Ciacca’s originals. The song is dedicated to Antonio’s steady gig at a venue on the 5th Avenue in NYC. The venue, originally named Bar on Fifth, is now changed to Measure. It is a classic, swinging number in the tradition of Hank Mobley-Blue Mitchell. Notably the composer solo a la Wynton Kelly and the fantastic drum solo by Jerome Jennings with the bass still walking, a tribute to the late Frankie Dunlop who was the absolute master of this style of drum solo. Sweet Lu is not scared by the up-tempo and delivers a clean and powerful set of original lyrics without missing a beat. MAMACITA by Joe Henderson is a classic blues groove. The song receives the same treatment of Driftin’ earlier. Sweet Lu sets the melody and the first chorus of Joe Henderson’s solo. The tenor man delivers a powerful solo, which proves why he is one of the most sought after soloists on the New York jazz scene. Jeremy Pelt confirms to be one of the most complete trumpeters of his generation. SWEET LOU is the third original written by Ciacca exclusively for the session. The song is dedicated to Jazz titan Lou Donaldson. Ciacca collaborated also to the lyrics as well. It is a minor blues written in a key (E minor) that: “ Prevents you from playing “cliches”, to quote the composer. Ciacca’s extensive work with Benny Golson is evident in written “Shot chorus:” which is a trademark of Golson work for the Messengers and the Jazztet. The song displays Ciacca’s unique voice as composer and arranger: simple, swinging and most of all that he sticks in your mind right away. The band swings with a joyous feel, yet grooving. The jazz world welcomes a much needed great, new vocalist/lyricist who can groove hard and sing love songs when necessary.