Love and Other Difficulties by Carmela Rappazzo

While experiencing covid lockdown in New Orleans Carmela wrote and recorded her seventh project “Love and Other Difficulties” an exploration of the many aspects of love.

The thirteen tracks are comprised of six original songs of Carmela’s and three collaborations with pianist and composer Oscar Rossignoli. There are also three standard covers and a cover of New Orleans singer-songwriter Paul Sanchez.

The standards chosen were Cole Porter’s “So In Love” with its tango-esque arrangement and its sense of longing, Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” his love song to flowers, and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” another beautiful song of longing. New Orleans’s own Paul Sanchez’s “Empty Chair” about a lost love rounds out the cover songs with its own form of heartache.

Carmela’s original compositions also represent many types of love and some are a departure from her usual jazz influences. “Cicada’s” childhood memories of summer were inspired by one of Duke Ellington’s “Queen Suites”, “Lightning Bugs and Frogs”. “Dancer “, inspired by Eric Satie’s Gnossienne No.1 is a tale of a love that may disappear as quickly as a ballerina’s pirouette. “Love Tune” is the musing of how one would cope without love, and has some additional voicing contributed by Oscar Rossignoli, yet “Love Tune 4 Real” is about true love. “Ursula (redux)” is a new arrangement of a song of her’s about the reluctant bride and the groom who loves her.”Keep Your Distance”, a free-form piece, about obsessive love, and “Sweet Sleep” a lullaby about an ideal fantasy love round out the original compositions.

When Carmela heard Oscar Rossignoli’s compositions the dark and richly textured “Heartbeat” and “Endless Fall” with its overtones of melancholy she wrote lyrics for both.

The musicians chosen for this project all bring a unique perspective and sensibility to their playing and their contributions were invaluable. None are ‘strictly jazz’ players, which was an important criteria for the material.

Carmela has been playing and recording with Honduran pianist and composer Oscar Rossignoli since she arrived in New Orleans and he was a natural fit for this record having both an extensive background in jazz, Latin and classical music. He also served as Musical Director on this project.

Martin Masakowski, bass, is from a New Orleans musical family, and his style and training span across jazz, classical, experimental, Eastern European, and Indian cultures. He brings a unique musicality to this project.

Doug Belote is a South Louisiana native who grew up in Cajun country immersed in the sounds of jazz, funk, R&B, Cajun, Latin, and second-line drumming and that versatility brought a perfect amount of spice to this project.

Recorded at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans, mixed by Pete Snell in Los Angeles, and mastered by Robby Hunter at The Attic Studios in southern New York, this collection represents Carmela Rappazzo’s newest endeavor. Its title “Love and Other Difficulties” was inspired by a collection of poems by Rilke.

The record was produced by Carmela Rappazzo and co-produced by Tony Award-winning producer Barbara Manocherian.