Live Life Long is clearly the West Coast background of Fazzari's music including the opener, ' I'll Have It Made ' with the subtle, Van Dyke Parks-like marimba. Vinny recently used Amsterdam as his base for his European tour which finds its impact in the modest hit ' Amsterdam ', not totally unrelated to a cliche (' Amsterdam, you don't see wooden shoes around here much anymore '), but it is by far, a beautiful ode to our capital city. Allthough it must also be said that Fazzari is a little monogamous because in the short, but beautiful ' In LA ' he sings with just as much love for Los Angeles.
Another striking track is the only cover on the album: the Judy Garland Classic 'Over The Rainbow' (here simply called 'Rainbow''). It's a cheerful optimistic version of the famous track, where multi-instrumentalist Fazzari plays all the instruments. Live Life Long is a beautifully, versatile debut album where optimism dominates, wether it's the song 'It's A New Beginning' or the title track 'Live Life Long', Fazzari is someone we must keep in the gate!
Music from California often has a nice summer twist. So is the debut album by Vinny Fazzari. The singer-songwriter played in various diverse American West Coast bands. He's also worked as a record producer, owning his own professional studio working with the likes of Bob Dylan and Earth, Wind and Fire to name a couple. After working in LA, he ended up in Amsterdam where he met local musicians such as Ivo Severijns and Gus Genser (ex-Wild Romance) and John Hayes (Mother's Finest). Fazzari's compositions combine positivity, musicality and humor. His voice is like a cross between Al Stewart and the early David Bowie. Fazzari's original adaptation of the song "Over The Rainbow" comes out as a total surprise and has a refreshing and modern vibe. As a producer, Fazzari's Live Life Long sounds by far ahead of it's time. For Vinny, the future is promising: Fazzari in his own country won the Los Angeles Music Award in the category, "Best International Solo Artist" and his single "Amsterdam" was a modest hit here in The Netherlands. (JB)
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 By Joost Fetsen The name Vinny Fazzari may not ring a bell to many people. But he's actually been around for awhile now and even before the appearance of his debut album. Live Life Long, he received an award for best solo artist. Multi-instrumentalist Vinny Fazzari has worked along side many artists, Bob Dylan and Earth Wind and Fire being the most famous. He also owned his own recording studio working as a producer and engineer. But he was itching to pursue his live performance career so he sold his studio and ventured off to Europe to test the waters there. He performed in Germany, Italy and Spain. He felt it was now time to finally release his own songs on his debut album. POSTPONEMENT WASN'T AN OPTION Already in 2006 - after winning the award for Best Solo Artist at the Los Angeles Music Awards, Vinny already started to envision his creation of a concept album with compositions he has written himself. With drummer Gus Genser and bassist Ivo Severijns (Herman Brood and his Wild Romance), and guitarist John Hayes (Mother's Finest) they began hitting the clubs in the Netherlands. But Vinny had to make a very important decision. His mother came down with cancer and he decided to return to America and leave his home base of Amsterdam behind. The care of his mother led to a long delay before Live Life Long could appear. Now it is finally time that Fazzari can have his wish and let go: a theme - album, based on old and new songs alike, which he merged in such a way that the compositions compliment one another. After listening to this wonderful album several times we can only agree that Fazzari was very successful in his mission. He wrote all the songs and plays many instruments himself such as guitar, bass, drums, keys, marimba and percussion. Yet it is not a one man project because we can hear other instrumentalists who also contributed. A RICH MUSICAL LIFE Fazzari has a very fine voice and a good hand at writing songs. The second song off the album tells a story about his travels in our capital city 'Amsterdam' and is a nice catchy song which easily invites you to sing along to. Not at all wrong as a Dutchman to praise such a song about our city. And then Fazzari goes directly to Mexico where he sets the stage of his next number 'Your Dress". The singing and the way the album sounds, past memories come to life of music from the 70's and 80's. Listen to "Hold Me Close Tonight" and you can hear the similarities of Boston or Journey. The singing - with which his head voice is not avoided - is strongly reminiscent of singers Gary Wright or Al Stewart. But please don't get the impression that this song is typical for the sound of the entire album!!!! No, Live Life Long is clearly the result of a very rich musical life with all of the influences Fazzari puts in his music. He'll make 2015 and the future his own new blend resulting in an album with many facets.