A pearl for our album ... in a state of "Grace": Mr. Gary
Lucas Gary Lucas arrives in Livorno, Alessio Franchini continue the romance idyll in the sign of Jeff Buckley
Gary Lucas, guitarist and co-writer with Jeff Buckley, came in Livorno to record a song with Alessio Franchini. A collaboration born under Jeff’s sign.
Livorno. "Alessio Franchini sings like an angel and is the best I know in interpreting Jeff Buckley." For this reason, Gary Lucas, guitarist and composer, also alongside Jeff, came to Livorno, to record a track on the new album of Alessio, coming out later this year and titled "Everything can change in an instant." As songwriter, Alessio Franchini began playing in Livorno at age 16, in 1997, to perform the songs of Jeff Buckley, American singer who died in 1997 and posthumously become to the great worldwide success. In 2007, the tenth anniversary of his death, Alessio organized an evening tribute first in Livorno and then in Rome, until he was invited in 2008 to the Hard Rock Café in Paris for the "Jeff Buckley French Tribute". That's where Alessio met Gary Lucas, the man who is co-author of the two most successful songs by Jeff, "Grace" and "Mojo Pin. Gary Lucas played in the only album made in life by Buckley: "Grace", dated 1994. Twenty years have passed, in which the New York guitarist has established itself worldwide. Gary Lucas is described as "the best and most original guitarist of America" by Rolling Stone and has never ceased to pay tribute to Jeff despite having worked with other big names such as Nick Cave, Capatin Beefheart and Chris Cornell. Why all this tie with Jeff? "Because he was an angel. I loved him and I was very influenced from him artistically” - Gary Lucas answers. “With Jeff I wrote my favorite song, "Grace," and I am proud that people is still talking about him". Gary recently wrote a book about his collaborations with Jeff: it is called "Touched by Grace" and was released in 2012 for the Italian publisher Arcana. It was a way to shed light on some aspects of Jeff’s artist life and quell some falsehood. "It 's been also a way to describe the human face of Jeff - Gary says -, a guy who had an angelic voice, but it was a boy, sometimes sweet, sometimes complicated. I am very sorry that he's gone. when it happened we did not see each other from a while: then I cried every day". In the English version of the book, Gary also talks about Alessio Franchini: "It is not easy to find singers who know how to compete with Jeff. Alessio knows how to do it, it enters into his songs. “it's great working with him. – Gary says - We played together in Amsterdam with the largest jazz orchestra of the world and will do it again in Milan in March 2015. I came to Livorno to help him in his project. I wrote a music for him, Alessio has put the melody and the lyrics and a song is born; I worked so well with Buckley, who would be proud of Alessio”. What is the name the song? "The title is" Expired days" - Alessio answers – “it comes from a very personal experience and we recorded it at Big Wave Studios in Livorno. It will be the only song in English on my new album. Having Gary in Livorno is an idyll".
Dario Serpan
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