" data-original-title="" title="">Silvio Amato has a well-established career as a composer, arranger, and film scorer. Amongst other projects, the Italian-born pianist has written soundtracks for major motion pictures, a multitude of pieces for children's television programming, theme songs for a variety of television shows, and has been highly successful with ice ballets. His compositions for Peter Pan, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast have been taken to the ice all over Europe. He has also composed pop music. Coupled with a background in classical music and his more recent alliance with opera, you might wonder what any of this has to do with jazz. The answer is nothing. With Variations of Relevance, Amato ventures into uncharted waters. As stepping out of one's comfort zone is never easy, Amato is to be admired for boldly choosing to follow his heart into the jazz genre.

All but the last song on this record are Amato originals. Uniquely, it's also music written for a soundtrack reworked into jazz compositions. It's intriguing to see/hear what transpires from this unconventional framework. Equally of interest is Amato's feel for jazz. Reconstructing and/or reimagining a song isn't the same thing as playing it with a touch that renders itself to jazz.

The first song is wisely and sumptuously accompanied by the great