About Anthus
Anthus did not take long to become established as “one of the best male jazz voices in our country”, according to the specialised critics. Now, after two years’ work in the studio, this singer, composer and arranger releases Calidoscòpic, his most autobiographical work to date. This highly eclectic album is the result of a veritable torrent of creativity in which Anthus fuses contemporary and classical jazz with Mediterranean sounds, pop and even rap. In short, a world of sounds reflected through the filter of his own personal kaleidoscope.
Auteur jazz
“I like observing the world around me”, says Anthus. “I see it as if it were surrounded by a multitude of realities, one over the other, like layers, windows, or mirrors that reflect our existence and in which we see ourselves as we are or how we would like to be...”
And this album also takes a look at music from different angles, because, in it, Anthus unveils his kaleidoscopic colours, overlaying the most varied sounds, one on top of the other: from contemporary to classical jazz, from Mediterranean sounds to pop and even rap. What do all these styles, fused together, have in common? According to Anthus, they all reflect an immense love for music and the desire to make music.
Calidoscòpic comprises ten tracks that truly reveal Anthus in body and soul. "Cubs, esferes i cilindres", "Elisa", "Mediterraneum", "Hipnosi il•lustrada", "Metròpolis", "Miratges", "Música ets tu", "Adéu-siau pare", "800 km" and "Homocromia" are the titles of the ten tracks, each of which describe different realities and all of which reveal Anthus in his purest state.
Nothing is static, nothing is as it was before, and nothing will be the same an instant later. Our everyday life is composed of infinite windows and mirrors that change according to the light or our angle of vision. And the same is true of Calidoscòpic, a faithful reflection of Anthus’s very being: eclectic, versatile, innovative to the maximum. This restless, creative artist is engaged in a constant quest to elevate jazz to its maximum expression. In Calidoscòpic, we meet a unique vocalist, a true jazz artist.
Anthus: the origins
All artists have a special sensitivity, something that awakens a torrent of creativity in them. In the case of Anthus, his creative force springs, originated from a small record-player – a relic, if the truth be told – that enabled him to escape from the strictly traditional society in which he grew up. Indeed, in the Sicily of his youth in the 80s, only his grandmother shared anything like his own artistic sensibility, while in others he found only negative vibes. Everything conspired against his creative urges. This was particularly true of his traditional, conservative father, who believed that “a man cannot be a singer in Sicily". Anthus had to put up with this lack of comprehension throughout his youth. Still, there were occasional magical moments when, in secret, his grandmother gave him a glimpse of the outside world, creativity and music thanks to the little 45 rpm record player that she kept at the back of her wardrobe. And so it was that, at the tender age of eight, Anthus discovered song, listening to the crooners from the 50s and 60s, the jazz greats, falling under the spell of the voice of Frank Sinatra... All hidden from everyone at his grandmother’s house.
"When family and friends gathered at our house, I wasn’t interested in their conversation and the things they talked about. I went into the yard, got some red bricks, placed them side by side and built my own stage. When it was done, I got up there and started singing. Football bored me and nothing could persuade me to give up my dream of being a singer".
Finally, the late-90s, restless, inquisitive and keen to discover the world and new musical styles, having received basic training in singing and performing, Anthus set out in a new direction.
The magic of Ireland
"Sicily could not give me what I wanted". At the age of just 19, he left that sunny Mediterranean island and set up residence in cold, wet Ireland. Another island, another dimension, where he looked for his opportunity. Anthus began his adventure in Dublin without the support of his family, without financial assistance, without a letter of presentation. Those first months were hard, but he was driven by a goal: to carve out a place for himself in the world of jazz.
They say that there is no such thing as coincidence. But Anthus believes there is, and that it has a name: "Billy Elliot". That film marked him forever, because he saw himself in the young aspiring dancer whose father did not, at first, believe in his talent. That story persuaded him to get more training. He sang in hotels to pay for his studies. As he was unable to enter the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ireland’s leading education centre for modern music, he furthered his instrumental and vocal education at the Walton School of Music. But he wanted the best, so he hired a teacher at the Guildhall to give him private classes after work. And, finally, he succeeded: he was accepted by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and spent more than three years mastering the different jazz styles, taking his degree in Jazz Performance and standing out both for his voice and his compositions, creating a jazz fusion that had rarely been heard before then.
The Guildhall School was his springboard to making a living from jazz. With his quartet, Anthus played live at venues all over the Irish capital. He acquired experience and honed his ability for live improvisation, soon becoming a leading light on the city’s jazz scene thanks to his fine voice and depth of musical feeling. It was in Dublin that he presented his debut album, Dreamer, on which he laid the foundations for the versatile, innovative jazz style he would go on to develop.
But Anthus needed to take another step forward, another leap forward, even. After several years in Ireland, he began to hear to call of the Mediterranean once more… Its voice was like the sirens’ singing, becoming stronger and stronger. He missed the salt, the heat, the fusion of cultures: the Mediterranean Sea, its sounds and its peoples. During a visit to Catalonia in 2003, he discovered the Barcelona jazz scene, the fusion of cultures, the activities and rich traditions of the Catalan capital. “I identified with this place. I saw that it was fertile land for my music. I didn’t think twice”. This new leap forward marked a turning-point in his life, and would later inspire such compositions as "Mediterraneum" and "Miratges", which appear on his new album, Calidoscòpic, tracks that are the result of an exploration of Mediterranean sounds, and which Anthus fuses superbly with jazz.
Barcelona, Mediterranean capital of cosmopolitan jazz
"At last I had found the city I was looking for". The year was 2004, and Barcelona was his next stop... Anthus saw, in the Catalan capital, in its cultural scene and its fusion of Mediterranean cultures, the place where he wanted to live. "It is a city where you feel free. This is my land". And so it was that, in this “fertile land”, Anthus was able to plant the seed of what his music would eventually grow to be. The first fruits were not long in coming. He soon became a regular at jazz venues in the city, and entered into contact with the Taller de Músics, one of the pioneering jazz schools in Catalonia, an institution deeply rooted in the cultural and social development of Barcelona. And it was from within this cultural environment that Anthus released Radici (“Roots”), a compilation of Sicilian popular songs passed down through the oral tradition, and heard now for the first time with the jazz arrangements. “Radici”, says Anthus, “links my past, represented by Sicilian popular music, and my present, jazz”. This fusion of styles embraces all the Mediterranean cultures: sounds from North Africa, Turkey, Greece and so on, blended with jazz harmonies. It is Mediterranean jazz. But Radici also includes several of Anthus’s own compositions, and the artist is accompanied by such outstanding musicians as Santi Galán, Vicenç Solsona, Miquel Àngel Cordero and Ramón Díaz on the album. Reviews of this second release saw Anthus elevated to the heights of "Mediterranean jazz crooner".
The release of Radici enabled Anthus to consolidate his position as a leading live artist, and he performed at such leading events as the 46th Barcelona International Jazz Festival, the 7th Girona Jazz Festival, the 2015 Barcelona Mediterranean Voices Cycle and the 16th Vila-seca Street Music Festival.
His follow-up album, Profundament Jazz, is a compilation of performances from several concerts, both audio and video. The disc is like an extension of Dreamer, the tracks all reworked in the light of new experiences and energies. In Profundament Jazz, Anthus reveals his musical talent as he tips his cap to such American jazz legends as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. He explores his facet as a crooner more fully, too, performing jazz classics with a touch of swing, bossa nova and funk, as well as writing lyrics for instrumentals composed by iconic jazz greats like Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter.
Profundament Jazz received a warm reception from critics and audiences alike, and Anthus performed at the 18th Platja d'Aro Jazz Nights Festival and the 2016 Montjuïc Sala-Castell Festival, among other events. The singer himself was hailed as “one of the best male jazz voices in the country”. Then, in November 2016, Anthus released Calidoscòpic, a true auteur jazz album featuring ten tracks that reveal all the talent of this outstanding vocalist in body and soul.
Anthus privé
His music is partly fuelled by his enormous interest in contemporary art. Painting, particularly Cubism and Futurism, is a major source of inspiration for the tracks on his latest album, as we can see, and hear, on "Cubs, esferes i cilindres" [Cubes, Spheres and Cylinders] and "Metròpolis", for example. But Anthus is also a photographer. His fascination with the black and white image has led him to use an analogue camera and development and to present shows in Sicily, Germany and elsewhere. Proof of his creativity can be seen, too, in the corridor of his home, where he has installed a permanent exhibition, twelve metres long, featuring portraits of the nude bodies of men and women enriched by his artistic use of light and shade.