Rob Paparozzi
Etruscan Soul
visit Rob at
Honeydrippers Records
and on myspace
also available on amazon
One thing you are not going to do with this musician is put him in a neat little cubicle and slap a label on him, no pigeon hole for this artist. He has toured with The Original Blues Brothers Band with Steve Cropper as the front man, is touring as the lead singer for the newly reformed “Blood, Sweat, & Tears” and has done extensive movie and TV work. The music here displays a wide spectrum of interests and a great diversity of styles; it ranges from the Beatles “Ticket To Ride”(done as an instrumental), to Allen Toussaint’s “I’m Gone” (done with Meters’ funk), to the standard “In The Heat Of The Night” (done with a very soulful Ray Charles’ arrangement), and this is just the first three songs. Though he considers himself first and foremost a singer he has 5 of the 15 songs as instrumentals; there he displays his chops, considerable, on piano, harmonica, chromatic, diatonic, and bass harmonicas.
What truly stands out on this disc are the arrangements of many of these songs that we know (standards) and the new light he presents them in. Taking songs where we thought the vocals so important and turning them into instrumentals, or just displaying a different take on a song that brings new light to the song. Listen to “Love The One Your With” done as a jazz flavored instrumental, avery funky version of Sting's "She's Too Good For Me. When he wants to he can stay close to the original and do it just homage, Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”. An outstanding disc by someone you think you haven’t heard, but are sure happy you are hearing now.