Musica Jazz Presso il Teatro (Jazz Music at The Theater)
Here in Prato, we spend almost every night at our favorite restaurant, Café Al’Teatro (mentioned in my last Postcards from Prato). The people at Al’Teatro make eating there feel like we are in our own kitchen, personalizing the menu for us and making sure we are always full and happy.
The other night as we were finishing up our soy cappuccinos, we were told that we were able to attend the Jazz show across the street at Teatro Metastasio. This is one of the most beautiful and classically-designed theaters I have ever seen. The architecture seemed brand new, yet untouched from the day that it was first constructed.
When we were told that it would be a night of Jazz, I was beyond excited. I heard some Patsy Cline instrumentals playing from behind the large oak doors and thought this would be an incredible experience.
When the usher saw that we were really enjoying what we heard, he asked if we wanted to sit and watch the entire show. We eagerly agreed and he brought us down a few levels to a box seat in the back of the theater.
After the peaceful instrumentals ended, however, things got a little odd. In classic American Jazz and Blues there is a technique known as ‘scatting,’ where improvisations of wordless vocals are used as fillers for spaces of instrumental melodies in a song.
Italy has shown itself notorious for adapting American music into their own by changing them slightly to fit the society and culture in which they live. It seems that they did the same when it came to Jazz ‘scatting.’
As a man (who resembled what I picture Albert Einstein to have looked like) stood in the corner and imitated seizure-like motions while screaming, whistling and blowing raspberries into the microphone (commonly known as horse lips for vocalists), we were actually a bit scared.
This all came in the middle of a commonly known Jazz piece, “Hong Kong Blues.” However, during this version, the band picked up to a chaotic pace with spastic solos and no real harmonization what so ever. The inconsistency definitely made listening a bit more difficult, as each sound bounced off the wall and into another.
I have learned a few things that are important to know in Italy… If you are a vegetarian that eats fish and you sit down and order scallops, you will get three giant pieces of steak in lemon sauce. When you order fruit as a side dish, expect to get a large pear or apple as is off the tree, placed into a bowl and served to you. Lastly, the Jazz music that you may know and love in America is only a base line for the Jazz music they so eagerly exude in Italy, and it would help to take two Tylenol before attending a full show. So don’t be fooled.
