The fifth edition of Il Centro della Musica, an event promoted by the Donizetti Theater Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Social Policies of the City of Bergamo, continues on Saturday, June 27, in the “Gavazzeni” Ridotto of the Donizetti Theater (5 p.m.) with an appointment dedicated to the encounter between jazz and Italian songwriting entitled From Be To Pops. Offering it will be a sextet led by pianist Claudio Angeleri, one of the most representative exponents of Bergamasque jazz and heart and soul of the Centro Didattico Produzione Musica, and including vocalist Paola Milzani, saxophonist Gabriele Comeglio, guitarist Michele Gentilini, bassist Marco Esposito and drummer Matteo Milesi.

An auteur concert could be called From Be To Pops: in fact, on the program are famous songs written by some of Italy’s great songwriters, from Gino Paoli (“Una lunga storia d’amore”) to Fabio Concato (“Se non fosse per la musica”), from Bruno Martino (“Estate”) to Pino Donaggio (“Io che non vivo”), and made famous over the years by national and international performers such as Mina, Ornella Vanoni, Joao Gilberto Gil, and Elvis Presley. Extraordinary melodies that have become evergreens that have crossed styles and oceans, thanks to versions by Michel Petrucciani, Toots Thielemans, Mike Stern, Chet Baker. The trait d ‘ union is improvisation, through which jazz has been able to metabolize music and cultures from all over the world. With this spirit Claudio Angeleri has created an original project, involving his longest-running group, formed in 2001 for a record that was favorably received by industry critics.

The arrangements keep faith with the recognizability of the melodic lines, while introducing original elements characteristic of Claudio Angeleri’s pen, now more pop and funk, now more bebop and bluesy. From Be To Pops is a crossover project that years ago, during the “Notti di Luce” festival, had involved, thanks to Gabriele Comeglio’s big band, the same authors themselves: Fabio Concato, Gino Paoli, Ron, Lucio Dalla and Roby Facchinetti.