Nicola Conte is an Italian DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader, known initially for introducing an innovative style of acid jazz that incorporates bossa nova themes, melodies drawn from Italian

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s of the 1960s, easy listening themes, and traditional

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

. Recently, he has focused much more on

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

. This focus is evident in his albums ''Other Directions'' (2004,

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

& Schema) and ''Rituals'' (2008, Schema), and many remixes he has done for contemporaries stretching across many closely related genres. Conte, a classically trained musician, is an innovative jazz revivalist and part of what was termed "The Fez Collective", based in the Apulian city of Bari, and the Idizioni-Ishtar/ Schema Records, a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

known for promoting a distinctly Italian approach to acid jazz as well as jazz music as a whole. Conte's first album was ''Jet Sounds'' (2000). The single "Bossa Per Due" gained international recognition and was an underground hit. It was used within a short time for a prime-time commercial for Acura automobiles. In 2002, the title track also gained recognition in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

after it was used in two popular commercial advertisements for

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underwear being sold by

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stores. The album was licensed for US distribution by Thievery Corporation's Eighteenth Street Lounge (ESL) label in the summer of 2001 as ''Bossa Per Due'' (2001), and was a slightly reconfigured version of the Italian ''Jet Sounds'' album. This was followed by the remix album ''Jet Sounds Revisited'' (2002). Two years later,

's French subsidiary released Conte's next album ''Other Directions'' (2004). Conte released his next album, ''Rituals'' (2008). Conte released ''The Modern Sound of Nicola Conte – Versions in Jazz-Dub'' (2009) on Schema Records. Unlike his 2002 remix album which featured artists largely reworking his songs, this two-CD set had Nicola releasing original titles and featured some of his jazz styled remixes of other people's works. His album ''Love & Revolution'' (2011) was released on a deluxe two-CD set, and a standard single CD by Universal Classics and Jazz, while album ''Free Souls'' (2014) was released on Schema. Conte has also produced albums by other artists including Paolo Achenza Trio (album ''Ombre'', 1997), Rosalia De Souza (album ''Garota Moderna'', 2008), Stefania Di Pierro (album ''Natural'', 2016), and Marvin Parks (album ''Marvin Parks'', 2017).

Discography

Albums

(all CD and vinyl; except ''Love & Revolution'', CD only) * 2000 – ''Jet Sounds'' ( Schema taly 2000) * 2001 – ''Bossa Per Due'' 'Jet Sounds'' retitled reissue(

ESL English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

S 2001) * 2002 – ''Jet Sounds Revisited'' (Schema taly 2002) * 2004 – ''Other Directions'' (Schema/

taly 2004) * 2008 – ''Rituals'' (Schema taly 2008) * 2009 – ''The Modern Sound of Nicola Conte'' (Schema taly 2009) * 2011 – ''Love & Revolution'' (arranged by Magnus Lindgren) ( Impulse!/ Universal Italy taly 2011) * 2011 – ''Free Souls'' (Schema taly 2014) * 2016 – ''Nicola Conte Presents Stefania Dipierro – Natural (Far Out Recordings K 2016) * 2018 – ''Let Your Light Shine On'' (With Spiritual Galaxy) ( MPS ermany 2018)

Compilations

He has released several compilations, including:

''Deep, Afrocentric, Modal Jazz'' series

(all CD only) *''Nicola Conte presents Spiritual Swingers ... Deep, Afrocentric,

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...

From

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Archives'' (

apan 2008 / Universal Music U 2009) *''Nicola Conte presents Mystic Prestige ... Deep, Afrocentric, Modal Jazz From

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

Archives'' ( Universal Classics & Jazz apan 2014) *''Nicola Conte presents Blue Note Tribe ... Deep, Afrocentric, Modal Jazz From

Archives'' (Universal Classics & Jazz apan 2015)

''Viagem'' series

(all CD and vinyl; except volume 1, ''Viagem'', CD only) *''Viagem'' ( Far Out K 2008) *''Viagem 2'' (CD: Far Out K 2009 / 10" LP: Old Gramophone Works/Far Out K 2015) *''Viagem 3'' (CD: Far Out K 2011 / 10" LP: Old Gramophone Works/Far Out K 2014) *''Viagem 4'' (CD: Far Out K 2012 / 10" LP: Old Gramophone Works/Far Out K 2014) *''Viagem 5'' (CD: Far Out K 2013 / 10" LP: Old Gramophone Works/Far Out K 2013)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conte, Nicola Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Italian electronic musicians Club DJs Italian DJs Blue Note Records artists Far Out Recordings artists Virgin Records artists Schema Records artists Acid jazz musicians Putumayo Department People from Bari Electronic dance music DJs