'The headline of my music is melody,' jazz saxophonist says

There's a trumpet player around town jazz fans call Mr. Melody. His name is Charlton Singleton, and he expresses himself beautifully, no matter the form he's playing.

In fact, there's an apocryphal story circulating that a woman, after one of Singleton's performances, swore she saw honey dripping out of his horn.

There probably have been no honey sightings with Stefano Cantini, an Italian saxophonist, but he and Singleton are on the same path. Cantini performs May 25 at the College of Charleston's Cistern in the Wachovia Jazz Series of Spoleto Festival USA.

Sure, rhythm is at the heart of any music, and harmony colors sound, but melody identifies what's going on, and when done well, it is most appealing.

In a recent e-mail exchange, Cantini, from Tuscany, said, "The headline of my music is melody. I was born in a place where many composers were born and many of them have influenced me, such as (Pietro) Mascagni and (Giacomo) Puccini."

Series producer Michael Grofsorean said he heard about Cantini from Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, a recent Wachovia performer.

"I quizzed him about candidates and Cantini was the first name he mentioned," Grofsorean said. "I had never heard of him and went on the hunt. He has quite a story. He's about 50 and has a substantial career in Europe, not just on the stage. He has also became a session man for all sorts of recording studios and has been commissioned to do music for film."

This will be Cantini's American premiere. Introducing talent from other countries has become a staple for Wachovia. "It's an opportunity to hear an artist in full artistic bloom," Grofsorean said. "I think he's going to knock people out."

Cantini is bringing a new group to Charleston. It includes pianist Ramberto Ciammarughi, bassist Paolino Dalla Porta and Roberto Gatto on drums. "They all are veteran players," Grofsorean said. "Pieranunzi said it's one of the finest in Europe." The longtime series producer also said he was immediately attracted to Cantini's melodic lyricism.

By all accounts, this is a fertile period in Italian jazz. "They inherited knowledge from American musicians in the 60's," Grofsorean said. "Players like Dexter Gordon would hire local guys when they performed there. Ben Webster and other aboriginal American players did a direct transfer of knowledge to the Italian musicians who accompanied them."

So, what you'll hear from Cantini's saxophones is an Italian approach to this American-born music that has a fast-growing number of vocabularies.

Cantini plays mostly soprano sax. He also plays the tenor.

"I started playing when I was six," he said. "My first instrument was the trumpet. Then when I was nine I changed it to clarinet and in the meantime I started playing saxophone. Maybe that's why I love the soprano sax. It's a great balance between trumpet, saxophones and clarinet."

Some of his favorite jazz players are John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Dave Liebman (all saxophonists) and Michel Petrucciani. He must really love jazz music. He named his daughter Naima, the name of one of Coltrane's most beautiful ballads.

Cantini's approach to jazz is interesting. "Jazz is improvising, composition and freedom. What else can link different cultures and people from all over the world? Everything will become jazz, I hope!"