Usually, when I come across Polish jazz in any way, no matter who the authors of the new album are, Polish jazz is still associated with Tomasz Stanko for me, even though there are no trumpet sounds on that album, sorry.
Feathers is Simona De Rosa’s musical journey through cultures, languages, and personal experiences. In eight songs, she combines folk traditions from Ireland, Cuba, Bulgaria, and the Arab world with modern arrangements by Michal Ciesielski.
The Polish band Confusion Project enriches the diverse sound. Highlights include “Como Es,” a homage to Cuban dance, “My Guiding Star” with The Bulgarian Voices Berlin, and “Akhay Kerim,” a Kazakh folk song.
Each piece tells its own story, making “Feathers” a genre-bending, deeply personal sonic experience. Look forward to a multifaceted concert with sounds that blend musical and cultural boundaries!
Simona De Rosa is an award-winning singer, composer, and music educator. With two albums of her own and numerous other releases, she has established herself in the New York jazz scene and tours internationally.
Born in Naples, she began playing the piano at the age of ten. As a teenager, she discovered her voice and experimented with various genres, from classical to pop, before developing her passion for jazz and the art of improvisation. After completing her studies, Simona moved to New York and has since divided her time between New York and Italy.
Today, she is a versatile artist: an acclaimed singer, composer, educator, and musical innovator—but above all, a global musician. From Naples to Vietnam, from New York to Beijing, and beyond—her music is shaped by her travels and her exposure to the musical cultures of diverse countries, which she reinterprets in her unique style.
Confusion Project is a Polish jazz trio founded in 2013. Since then, the band has developed its own musical language—a modern interpretation of jazz fusion with expressive melodies, complex rhythms, and a vivid sound aesthetic. With four studio albums, two live albums, and numerous concerts in Europe, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan, the trio has made an international name for itself.
In 2019, the band toured China for a month, playing 20 concerts in various cities. They returned in 2023 and thrilled audiences at venues including Blue Note Beijing and Blue Note Shanghai. Musically, Confusion Project operates in the jazz fusion genre, but also integrates elements from progressive rock, drum & bass, classical music, and film music. The pieces are characterized by strong melodies, harmonic richness, and narrative imagery.
Feathers is Simona De Rosa’s musical journey through cultures, languages, and personal experiences. Across eight songs, she weaves together folk traditions from Ireland, Cuba, Bulgaria, and the Arab world with modern arrangements by Michal Ciesielski.
The Polish band Confusion Project enriches the album’s diverse sound. Highlights include Como Es, a tribute to Cuban dance, My Guiding Star featuring The Bulgarian Voices Berlin, and Akhay Kerim, a Kazakh folk song. Each piece tells its own story, making Feathers a genre-blending and deeply personal sonic experience. Get ready for a rich concert that dissolves musical and cultural boundaries!
Simona De Rosa is an award-winning singer, composer, educator. Having released two albums as a leader and appearing on numerous albums, she has established herself in the NY jazz scene and continues touring internationally. Born in Napoli, Italy, Simona De Rosa started to play piano at the age of ten. As a teenager she discovered her voice and started singing different types of music from classical to pop and soon become fascinated by jazz and the thrilling possibilities of spontaneous improvisation.
After graduating, Simona moved to New York, and has been living there and in Italy since then. Simona is now many things: an acclaimed vocalist, composer, educator, and musical innovator, but first and foremost, she is a musician of the world. From Napoli to Vietnam, New York to Beijing, and many places in between, Simona’s seemingly limitless musical explorations stretch even beyond her travels.
Drawing a reverent influence from each of her experiences, her music is steeped in a rich understanding and curiosity of many countries’ musical traditions while offering her refreshing perspective.
Confusion Project is a Polish jazz trio founded in 2013. Since then, the band has developed its unique musical language, a modern approach to jazz fusion with expansive compositions, strong melodies, complex rhythms, and a distinctive illustrative aspect.
The band has recorded four studio albums and two live albums and performed numerous concerts in Europe, as well as in China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. In 2019, the band toured China for a month, playing 20 concerts in various Chinese cities.
In 2023, the band repeated its China tour, playing enthusiastically received concerts at venues including Blue Note Beijing and Blue Note Shanghai. Confusion Project’s music, while still rooted in the jazz fusion idiom, incorporates some elements characteristic of genres such as progressive rock, drum & bass, classical, and film music. It is always full of strong melodies, rich harmonies and counterpoint, as well as some illustrative elements.
We’re currently touring Europe, but we also plan to take Feathers to Asia, where we already toured in 2024. In fact, right after the tour in China and Poland, Michał and I decided to create an album together. We wanted to carry forward the sonic atmosphere of Djenub, an album we recorded in China, but with more original material. And so we did, creating Feathers, a global album with a personal voice,- an interview with us said SIMONA DE ROSA.
From the Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan to the streets of Cuba, from Lebanon to Beijing, and from Italy to Poland to China. This convoluted geography is the foundation of Feathers, a collaborative album by Confusion Project and vocalist Simona De Rosa. It’s an album about freedom, strength and beauty in a journey through life with an open mind and heart.
It is a combination of the language of jazz that I learned during my studies in New York, with music from different parts of the world that I encountered during my travels,” declares De Rosa. The title refers to the story of a seagull flying into the sky after freeing itself from its own bonds with Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the symbol of the eagle, a popular trope in Kazakh folklore.
De Rosa began working with Confusion Project in 2023, after several years of friendship and cooperation with the trio’s leader Michał Ciesielski, with whom she has toured China since 2018. Since then, she has regularly joined the trio on concert tours. The joint album is the next stage of this cooperation.
Simona for the last several years has been traveling around the world, doing research on traditional music of different regions of the world. An album that blends ethnic music with jazz is definitely a natural consequence of her research and inspirations. I was extremely happy when Simona shared her idea for the album with me, I love folk music, but it’s always a challenge to arrange it in a modern way, without loosing it’s original depth and beauty. I hope we succeeded, but I guess the listener has the final say,- an interview with us said Michał Ciesielski.
We recommend that you definitely purchase this CD and enjoy it, and without leaving this collection review, buy it directly from here.
Tracklist:
Side A (20:34):
Journey (feat. Valentina Bellanova & Aleksandra Denga) (3:48)
Como Es (5:02)
My Guiding Star (feat. Bulgarian Voices Berlin) (5:08)
Argeay Ya Alf Laila (feat. Ziad Trabelsi) (6:36)
Side B (21:37):
Simoneranza (5:10)
Autumn In Beijing (3:22)
Golden Eagle (6:29)
Akhay Kerim (feat. Nasiafromasia) (6:36)
Lineup:
Bass – Piotr Gierszewski
Vocals – Simona De Rosa
Keys – Michal Ciesielski
Drums – Adam Golicki
