The link between Italy and Kenya has been increasingly speaking the common language of jazz for some years now.
It was the trumpeter Paolo Fresu, at the beginning of the millennium, who fell in love with the urban substratum of the capital Nairobi, rich in mixes, encounters and suggestions.
From there, projects, collaborations, and jam sessions followed, thanks also to the 'artistic residencies' offered by Rome to young and enterprising Italian musicians on the move, to exchange experiences and offer their contribution to local jazz musicians and students.
Gianfranco Menzella, the last artist to come from Nairobi, is no longer very young and, above all, has behind him a career as a saxophonist full of great collaborations, interesting albums (one above all, 'Nothing by chance' in duet with the great saxophonist Eric Marienthal) and explorations ranging from Big Band to more modern and complex sounds and compositions of his own.

We met the musician, originally from Matera, on the occasion of his participation in the 'Afrolect' festival, organised by the trumpeter and great Kenyan jazz aggregator, Mackinlay Mutsembi, and he told us about this beautiful 'direct' experience with Kenya, of life even more than music.
 'Kenya was a wonderful discovery for me,' admits Menzella, 'I was contacted by Mackinlay, through the Italian Cultural Institute in Nairobi, as the Italian artist chosen to participate in the ‘Afrolect’ festival and I was immediately enthusiastic. The idea of interacting through music with people so far away made me feel like a citizen of the world. I immediately felt a physical connection with the land and the places since my arrival in Nairobi at night, a surreal place populated by wandering silhouettes on the edges of the dimly lit streets and architecture that took me back to a distant time. In the days that followed, I appreciated the lifestyle of the metropolis, its colours and flavours, the kindness, patience and cheerfulness of the African people, and realised how far removed Western stereotypes of Africa are'.
In the course of his jazz activities, Gianfranco Menzella has collaborated with renowned names on the Italian and international scene, such as the aforementioned Eric Marienthal, Danilo Rea, Fabrizio Bosso and many others. Yet without the slightest snobbery, the saxophonist from Lucania has not only integrated splendidly into the Kenyan territory of 'blue notes', in some ways still unexplored and immature, but has emerged enriched, as he himself confirms.  

‘It's true, I've had the good fortune to collaborate with many strong artists, I carry in my heart my experience with Jerry Bergonzi, in my opinion one of the strongest saxophonists in the world, and then in New York with Dave Wong, Aaron Kimmel, Joe Magnarelli, Tom Kennedy and precisely Marienthal, all artists with a great soul before they were strong musicians,“ Gianfranco explains, ”The soul that I also found in Kenya: the collaboration with Mackinlay meanwhile gave me confirmation that jazz is a universal language that lends itself to a thousand contaminations, in Nairobi it is a mixture of ethnic music, smooth jazz and soul. He is a formidable trumpet player and an excellent organiser. His knowledge of the jazz language, his ability to bring people together and his vision of how an event should be organised by taking care of the smallest details, surprised and enriched me. The music scene in Nairobi in my opinion is a very fertile ground because it is populated by many talented young people and a public that follows jazz and thirsts for beauty, surely people like Mackinlay will be able to bring many fruits from such a reality'.

From the words of the Italian jazz musician, who after meeting us at the Live Club 'Gecko Tribe' in Nairobi, we heard again on his return home, a bit of so-called 'Africa-sickness' emerges, and he himself confesses to hoping for a return to Kenya as soon as possible.
‘I definitely experienced what they call Africa-sickness: after a few days in Nairobi, slowly the African mood gets into your blood, it's like a light breeze that you don't want to detach yourself from, the kindness and cheerfulness of the people, a more dilated idea of time untethered from anxiety, the silence and peace of the savannah, all this for me is Africa-sickness. Including thinking back from here and hatching the hope of breathing in those unique atmospheres again'.