The lauded and multifaceted pianist, songwriter, and composer Stephan Moccio releases “Opaline,” an iridescent jazz track featuring legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The New Orleans legend, who has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to The Grateful Dead, adds a fervent layer to Moccio’s delicate piano, as an emotional scene emerges. Moccio’s forthcoming studio album, Scenes From A Velvet Room, is out June 26 on Decca Records. Listen to “Opaline” and pre-order the album HERE.
Last month, the Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based artist celebrated the announcement of his new album with his two singles, “Positano,” and “Dear Burt,” a wistful ode to composer Burt Bacharach named one the best songs of the week by DJ and singer Samantha Ronson on her Substack Sadolescence. Listen to “Positano” and “Dear Burt” available to listen here.
The album was born after a period of introspection and reflection for Moccio. After a quarter-century spent penning iconic melodies, Moccio could easily rest on a catalog of chart-breakers like Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come,” Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” The Weeknd’s “Earned It,” and “I Believe,” the theme song for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Instead, he’s looking back to the turn of the millennium, when, in a liminal space between his precocious adolescence and his blockbuster songwriting career, he took a gig playing piano six nights a week in the lobby of the Four Seasons Toronto.
The Four Seasons gig was a coveted one, but Moccio sees it less as a career stepping stone than a series of essential learning experiences: how to read a room and cater to a crowd, how to subconsciously curate a vibe, how to slip into a space seamlessly and slide out gracefully. An artist can control the atmosphere of a space just as effectively from its outskirts as its center, he found. “I was the guy who was always behind the scenes,” he says, smiling at how far he’s come.
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