Ada
Rovatti's Disguise, Ghost Stories and Alone In Traffic
Ada
Rovatti's Disguise, Ghost Stories and Alone In Traffic
Italian
/ American saxophonist Ada Rovatti is a renowned saxophonist, composer and
arranger and her current album Disguise
also serves as a testament to her versatility in all of those areas, as eight of
the ten songs are original compositions and there is a re-arranged
interpretation of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” and a funky version of Led
Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven,” with guests Adam Rogers (guitar) and Randy
Brecker (trumpet).
As she did with Harold Arlen’s “Somewhere Over The
Rainbow,” on her previous solo album The
Green Factor, Ada Rovatti created a new arrangement for another classic song
“Smile.”
She says, “The melody is gorgeous and the lyrics are
amazing. It is kind of interesting
that the title is “Smile,” but there is really nothing to smile about it. He’s
totally sad. It is one of those melodies that every time I hear it, it gives me
goosebumps. It was one tune that I always thought was beautiful and I always
wanted to do it. Here again I didn’t wanted to use the Classical chords, the
original chords and I just heard the little darkness, because the title is
“Smile,” but the words and the lyrics are so sad. I wanted to add a little extra
on the chords. I wanted a little darker chord progression.”
As for the Led Zeppelin tune, “People never expect
“Stairway To Heaven.” “Usually, when I play live I say the title (for other
songs), but when I (introduce) “Stairyway To Heaven,” I say, we will play a tune
that you have probably heard a few times before and let’s see if you can
recognize it. As soon as Randy
(Brecker) and I do our intro, you can see big smiles on almost everybody’s
faces, like I got it. (We joke that now
she is a Rock star and she adds) too bad I don’t make that money (she
laughs).”
“With “Stairway To Heaven,” usually everybody is on the
same page. I guess deep down they know I am like an English rocker. I have this
passion for Rock and Fusion Funk. At the same time, an older crowd usually
appreciates “Smile.” I usually do a cadenza and I decided to keep the cadenza
and I played an intro over myself. I do it as a saxophone solo. I think on the
CD I make everybody happy. I don’t try to please everybody, but there is a
(common) thread that keeps each tune attached to the other, but sometimes they
are very different from each other,” says Rovatti.
Ada Rovatti says sometimes when she likes a song she
needs to change it somewhat to in her words “make it work.” I may have to
rewrite the tune and change the key and maybe stretch it a little (in places).
She takes us inside the world of an arranger for a peek,
“I take an interesting song and I stretch parts that I find interesting. I alter
it and maybe at a certain point I go in at 6/8. I divide every section and I go
with the flow and how I hear it. It is sometimes hard to explain. There are
enough chords or voicings to push me on a different direction.
I work with sequencing and it is easy to put a little part and repeat it
over and over when I hear it a bunch of times I think that is kind of hip when
the section is repeated over and over. I might change the way that it is and I
might repeat it a couple of times more and then I think if I repeat it four
times in the same key that is kind of boring, so the last two times I just
change the key. It is like a twist
of a twist of another twist.
You take a tune, a composition and you alter some chords
or you alter some rhythm in a way that you still recognize the tune, but it’s
not quite the same. You can take a phrase in a different key or put a different
rhythm in a way that sometimes people say, I know that tune and I can sing it,
but it’s not really the tune. It is
something that sounds familiar, but it has a twist to it.”
As Ada Rovatti explained during a 2009 interview with
Riveting Riffs Magazine, “The fact that I am (also) a piano player helps me a
lot, because I can hear the bass and the harmony. I know this may sound bizarre,
but sometimes I go to the C Minor or something like that. I am really challenged
by the voicing of the chords. Sometimes if you put the C Major in a different
voicing, it suddenly opens like a door. I guess because I am a saxophone player
and it is a B Flat instrument, I have never written anything that wasn’t good
for the horn. Although I write on the piano, there is always in the back of my
mind a very good register for the horn. I write melodies that are good on B Flat
instruments.
When I write, I try to do things in a way that people
don’t expect. When you hear certain chords, you expect that they are going to go
in different sections, but I always try to put a twist in, and to go where
people don’t think that I will go. Most of my tunes have pretty melodies so that
you can remember some part of the song. I don’t want to write music that only I
understand and nobody else does. What’s the point? We are still entertainers. A
lot of people forget that. If we do music just for ourselves we should close
ourselves in a room.”
The Green Factor
was released in 2009 and in between then and 2014 there was a touring, recording
and family time. Ada Rovatti and her husband Randy Brecker became the proud
parents of an adorable little girl, Stella.
“Having a child kind of slowed down everything. I just
wanted to enjoy the moment of having a child. At the same time I am not one of
those musicians who want to put a new CD out every year and I don’t want to put
out something that doesn’t mean anything to me.
I have to write things that are meaningful to me. If I pick a standard I
have to put my own interpretation and arranging of it. Everything went so fast
that after three or fours years I said I need to go into the studio and then the
next thing it was one year later. I was also involved with Randy’s project,
Randy Brecker: The Brecker Brothers Band
Reunion, so that took quite a bit of time learning the repetoire and
playing. I just wanted to focus on that and also on my playing and writing.
I focused a little more on my instrument instead of writing and
arranging. When I had the inspiration I put down something, but this time it was
a little longer, because this time there was a little kid to take care of too (she
lightly laughs). It took a
little longer than what I was planning to (to create a new album), but I am
happy to have made something that means something to me. It is a good
representation of the last six years.
The idea of the cover and the title
Disguise, show the different faces
that I have and I have discovered a lot of different faces in the last six
years. In one of the pictures, is
Stella’s drawing of me, so there is the mother figure. Then there is a little
more with womanly makeup and a refined and sophisticated side. Then there is
more the housewife and I am holding one of those dusting objects, I don’t know
how you call it. I have my hair up and I am taking care of the house.
The other one is more nostalgic and then another of the way that I am. 
It is has been very up and down mental wise the past six
years. I had to deal with some
depression and some health issues.
It was quite an intense six years and I discovered a different side of myself
and it reflects in the way that I write. Each tune has its own personality. I
told you in the last interview that I grew up listening to English Rock music. I
listened to a little bit of everything and that also shaped my writing,
composing and arranging. One of my favorite tunes of all time was “Stairway To
Heaven,” and I always thought that at some point I would want to do a rendition.
The tunes reflect the diversity of my musical style and taste and also
the way that I am,” she says.
Flautist Anne Drummond is tremendous on the opening song
“Ghost Stories,” as she adds an ethereal ambience and a hint of other worldly
spirits, while Ada Rovatti’s saxophone solo at the midpoint as well as the
introduction to the song gives some credence to the notion that the instrument
is very human like in its ability to be conversational. Janek Gwizdala is superb
on bass, while pianist Oli Rockberger is divine and Dana Hawkins’ drumming is
sublime. If Riveting Riffs Magazine has a vote, we consider Ada Rovatti’s
original song “Ghost Stories,” to be the best tune on her album
Disguise. The song is both mystical
and very uplifting.
As for the theme and the idea for the song “Ghost
Stories,” Rovatti says, “
I am a big fan of ghost shows and everything that is paranormal and sci
fi. I find it highly entertaining. I am a little obssessed I guess with the
afterlife and the connection with people who leave us. The tune has a little
melancholic open sadness, but it is my firm conviction that there is a
connection with the afterlife. It is not over, there is still the energy and the
essence of the person and it is just up to us to find the sign and the
connection on a daily basis. A lot of musicians are really intrigued about these
things, so I thought it was a good idea to write it. I have heard so many
stories about my friends who have had encounters or signs from the afterlife
that I thought to write a tune called “Ghost Stories.”
As for some of the other songs on the album
Disguise, Ada Rovatti says,
“”Halfway,” talks about being in the middle of life. You are half-way through
life and you start counting what you have done so far. (She
laughs and says) It is kind of a sad tune. There are some happy tunes like
“Tripping Step,” “Gentle Giant,” and “Moving Forward,” but there are also
melancholic tunes and that is what is reflected on all of the different faces on
the cover. “Moving Forward,” is about always having a positive outlook and it
doesn’t matter what happens you are just going with the flow and moving forward.
(As for) “Alone In Traffic,” I spent a lot of time stuck in traffic and that was
a time when I really think about my goals and what I have to do. This is a whole
new experience, because we moved out of New York City, three years ago and we
live on Long Island in the middle of the woods. There is much more of a
spiritual (feeling) since I moved out of the city, because I spend a lot of time
alone in the middle of the woods. I drive really, in the middle of nowhere. It
is much easier to grow spiritually and to look inside myself. When I was in the
city there was always such a rush and to go (her
cadence becomes more rapid) and you don’t really have time to slow down and
look inside yourself. I think the
CD reflects a little darker or a little more intimate part of me. It was quite a
shock and I am still dealing with it, because I realize I always ran and tried
to be busy, because I didn’t really like to be by myself and to talk to myself.
When I slow down and I start to think about life and myself I get in
trouble and I just get very dark. I
had to find instead the beauty of being by myself and to not be afraid.”
Ada Rovatti continues to grow as a musician and as a
person. “The more experience (I have) and the more places that I visit, the more
stories that I hear, I stuff everything in a bag and then at some point they are
going to come out in my playing or in my composition. There is nothing like
experience. When I do clinics I point out how important it is to spend time on
the instruments and to practice and to be devoted to the instrument, but never
forget there is a life out there. If you don’t live fully you aren’t going to be
able to tell a story when you play or compose.
There are a lot of musicians who are obsessed with the instrument and
playing and everything is about Jazz and their little world of music. They
completely miss out on the main things that are out there. Also, when I became a
mother my eyes and ears accepted that there is something else (besides) music
and it doesn’t make it less important, but it enriches.”