Italy-born, Long Island, New York-based saxophonist/arranger Ada Rovatti delivers a captivating collection of original songs with wide-ranging thematic surprises around every corner.

Her seventh album as a leader, The Hidden World of Piloo features six improvisationally rich instrumentals that include blues grooves, samba vibes, straight-up lyricism, melancholic balladry and a comedic finale. Two songs include strings; another features the dobro, a country instrument unlikely to be in a jazz song.

Four Rovatti compositions showcase top-tier vocalists, including jazz-poll champion Kurt Elling, the Netherlands jazz singer Fay Claassen, German pop/jazz star Alma Naidu and fired-up R&B singer Niki Haris (the daughter of jazz great Gene Harris) who once served as a Madonna backing vocalist. They each follow Rovatti’s “impossibly ranged melodies” and settle marvelously into her phrasing.

1. Make Up Girl
2. Hey You (Scintilla of Sonder) (ft. Fay Claassen)
3. Painchiller
4. Life Must Go On (ft. Alma Naidu & Dean Brown)
5. Grooveland
6. Take It Home (ft. Niki Haris)
7. Simba’s Samba
8. Red August
9. The Naked King
10. Done Deal (ft. Niki Haris & Kurt Elling)

This diligently sculpted new recording opens on the deliciously animated Make Up Girl and the emotively impassioned cut that features Fay Claassen, who with her unmistakable timbre, is one of the great female voices of European jazz, Hey You (Scintilla of Sonder) and then we get brought forth the languishing Painchiller (a track about the grunge pop life in the ‘90s and featuring guitarist Tom Guarna), the warmly embracing, percussion hipsway that drives Life Must Go On (ft. Alma Naidu and Dean Brown), and then comes the New Orleans blues-hued Grooveland.

Along next is the moving ballad Take It Home (ft. Niki Haris, who was one of Madonna’s backing vocalists from 1987 to 2001, and was the guest lead vocalist on various Snap! singles in the early 1990s) and the Brazilian--grooved delights of the resplendent Simba’s Samba, and they are in turn backed by the melancholically measured Red August (which mourns her father’s death), the album rounding out on the low slung, smooth-grooved funk lines of The Naked King, closing on the engagingly bluesy Done Deal (ft. Niki Haris & Kurt Elling).

“This album is clearly not a project where band members solo twenty choruses of the blues,” says Rovatti, who is center stage on tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophones and flute. “I want to be recognized as a singer/songwriter, saxophonist and arranger. This album shows a different side of me.”

In essence, creating space for a round of solos isn’t her intent. She wants to focus on the interplay among her band members—including her husband Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugelhorn, organist Simon Oslender, bassist Claus Fischer, drummer Tim Dudek, percussionist Café Da Silva—and other guests.

In conclusion, Rovatti’s sophisticated songs are special. They dive deep into emotional memory. But some throw punches at the causes of the country’s social unrest and injustice. It is a wonderful, harmonious collection of tracks, fit for everyone to enjoy.

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