Fabrizio Sciannameo called me in September of 1999; Francesco Puglisi had given him my number. He wanted to know if I'd be into auditioning for Alex Britti. My response was obviously: why not? I knew that they were going to want me to jump through all sorts of hoops and hurdles and that they would examine my playing in its very minutiae… But I have always loved a challenge.
There were about twelve of us at the audition and I found out when I got there that they had already auditioned about 20 other drummers. Alex wasn't there. The auditions were recorded and weeks later I came to find out that I was chosen based on my audition tape from that day. What followed were four years of amazing times and just as amazing personality clashes. I do have to say that I learned a lot from this experience. I did things on the drums of which I hadn't even previously thought myself capable and didn't even know I wanted to attempt!!! Basically playing the drums, sampling and looping all at the same time with no sequencer or click was not exactly what I had expected after years in the business. But he did it!!! In the end I had 5 pedals underfoot between drum pads and countless other percussion instruments, and all of this would changed according to the Alex's vision. Not to mention being called upon for a solo at a moment's notice in front of thousand of people… It was a truly unique experience and a seriously phenomenal band, real masters of musical cohesion. Those of you who saw us in concert know what I am talking about. Awesome!
Power
of Soul was born back on 27 November 1998 for a party
commemorating Jimmi Hendrix's 56th birthday. You could
say that Big Mama brought us together for the occasion.
Until then I knew almost nothing about Hendrix, but
that night, with no rehearsal or preparation, some thing
undeniably magical happened on stage. Thus by chance
or by destiny, a band was born, that for the next 5
years would play shows in which Hendrix's true spirit
was captured, but not cloned. It was with this band
that I "stopped thinking." The music had begun
to flow freely as it always should… We made an
album that is still available and of which the MP3s
are extracts.
From 2000 to 2001 I had the pleasure and the honor of
working once again with Romano Musumarra, with whom
I'd played on Luca Barbaross's album, "Musica e
parole." Romano, besides being a great composer
is one of the most sought-after producers and arrangers
in the world. The production, which revolved around
Alessandro Safina, was a huge! We toured around Europe
under dream conditions, not returning to Italy once,
until years later. We were a traveling orchestra of
36 components, all first-class professionals and friends
from my musical past; it was a wonderful time.
This song is from our show at the Olympia in Paris.
My first official album took three
years to complete.
This is probably the reason that in the end the band
wasn't into it anymore. Still, I would have tweaked
the guitar a little more, maybe raise the voice a little
on that song, not to mention the reverb on the chorus
that !"£$%&/()=? Ok, Ok, Ehm, enough,
it's true, we were a little slow moving...
A big hello to Bootleg, great bluesmen: Franco Vinci, Marco Quagliozzi, Mick Brill.
I first started playing with Luca in
1997; we toured together 4 times and made an album.
A great band, professional and...damn did we work !
Luca Barbarossa is sure bet in that sense! Along with
Alex Britti, my work with Luca was one of my longest
lasting collaborations.
These recordings come from a fan of Barbarossa and I am not really sure which concert they are from.
We
met Niccolò Fabi throught the incredible Antongiulio
Frulio.
The single, 'Dica' had just come out and I was called
to start the winter promotions in clubs and on TV. I
have seen his image mature over time and I am thrilled
to see that he has carved out a niche for himself in
the Italian music scene. It's a shame that for a miscalculation
we had to part ways. Having few summer concert dates
with Fabi, I agreed to go on tour with Luca Barbarossa,
but as luck would have it, 60 concert dates came up
out of nowhere with Niccolò... After weeks of
careful planning to line up all of our dates and stressing
out over the weight of the responsibility of the situation,
I decided to leave Niccolò, since work with Luca
was by then imminent. It was a shame, but it was the
only feasible solution...sorry again, Nic!
I always wonder how some of our colleagues are able to manage two careers with no problem… I must be missing something…
I formed this trio with, Lorenzo Feliciati and Alessandro Gwis back in '96.
We actually played a bunch of shows.
We started as a sort of study group, and I must say that we were not bad at all!
I worked with Gerardina Trovato for all of 1996.
We played all over Italy and were musical guests on all of the television shows of the day. Gerry is a great Italian talent who for her personality or misfortune, suffered from a great inconsistencies in artistic style and visibility.
A great voice and a great performer.
I got these recordings from one of her oldest fans, whose name I can't remember. (Sorry)
I had totally forgotten about this trio. It was 1994, and Fabio Di Cocco and Saverio Capo and I had started putting a few pieces together in a trio. We naturally drifted toward playing around with the work of Michel Camilo. I don't remember playing any shows with this trio; the style of the music and the individual work obligations finally led us to stop with the project...Here are some rehearsal recordings that I found 9 years later in the far corners of my studio.
Giovanni Giugliano is a phenomenal
bassist from San Carlo di Napoli.
Aside from his commitment to this cumbersome instrument,
throughout the years he has also been a dedicated song
writer. His slightly unconventional style appealed to
me immediately and together we tried to shake-up the
Italian music scene, with no great success. Fabio Lorenzi's
involvement was vital to the project, at the time the
guitar player for the Scala.
Bestaff was my first successful band…at
least in and around Rome!
Every show was packed with local fans. I have fond memories
of the countless gigs at Big Mama and at the erstwhile
Jake & Elwood. It was a period in which live music
still had meaning, even in clubs. The audience came
to listen to bands play music and maybe have a few drinks;
not the other way around...
But as destiny would have it, the band broke up in the
exact moment that we should have put everything into
it. Instead we decided not to openly confront our problems,
almost just letting ourselves fade away in silence.
I'm not afraid to admit that it was a real waste...
Orquesta Jemberè. When I got back from the States my passion was Cuba and only Cuba. After studying with the great Frankie Malabe and the unstoppable Bobby Sanabria, I wanted to play nothing but afro-Cuban rhythms and music. I did nothing but twirl the clave in every way possible.
It was either luck or magic that led my a gang of Roman, Cuban and Argentinean musicians in 1992, who called themselves Orquesta Jemberè. I threw myself into playing with them at full force and experienced a few years of intense live music. This experience helped me to understand the many complexities and challenges of percussion and of the music in general. Still when I hear a tumbao of some kind, I can't help but DANCE !!!
Scala, a truly unique quintet and fundamental to my musical education. It was a veritable musical training camp formed by 5 young musicians from different musical backgrounds that were at times incompatible (Classica, Rock, Fusion, Folk among others).
I auditioned after seeing their ad by chance in the 'Porta Portese' newspaper in 1990... We rehearsed two or three times a week and the attention that we paid to the song arrangements (willfully original) was just short of paranoia. We disagreed all the time about everything, but we always arrived at a meeting of the minds. Great memories, a bit tarnished by our brusque break-up at the time of our highest evolution, when after a year of work we had finished our first album 'Nel Raro Bene', in which we had set the poems of Cesare Pavese to music.
But irrationality is a constant in all youthful enterprises (and non, based on subsequent facts) and brings the almost inevitable end to all interactions with the real world, which set off the mechanisms of self-destruction that no one with even the best of intentions can stop once they have started... But, we still have the memories!