Reality and Fantasy

Raphael Gualazzi's debut album in 2005 gained him some recognition in jazz circles. Its successor, Reality and Fantasy, appeared only six years later, but by then, the situation had drastically altered, as the pianist had won the Young Artist section at the 2011 Sanremo Festival with "Follia D'amore," earned second place at the Eurovision Song Contest with an English version of the same song, and attracted considerable interest in countries such as France and Germany. Reality and Fantasy was composed, produced, and arranged by the retro-looking yet multi-talented Gualazzi, a collection of traditional ragtime, jazz, and soul sung indistinctly in English or Italian in a voice that switches between a croon, a scat, and a guffaw. ~ Mariano Prunes