If I had to tell you the most important thing that I've learned in my life as a musician, I would no doubt give the greatest weight to the influence of improvisation. It is out of this concept that the X'tet was born.
Supported by the creativity and maturity of three superlative musicians like Alessandro Gwis (Piano and Keyboards), Luca Pirozzi (Bass) and Pierpaolo Ranieri (Bass), I formed this band, whose repertory is dictated by the emotions and the attitude of the moment. I have shared many projects with these artists over the years, and from the first notes we played together I felt with each of them that connection that makes all explanations irrelevant; playing comes naturally, as if rehearsed for months ahead of time.
I am in the process of making a CD, and a few extracts of out live performances from this winter (2005) are available.
Obviously the X'tet, as its unusual name suggests, is open to every sort of contamination and configuration. This concept is central to may rationale for forming this spontaneous project. It is a challenge that we are passionate about and that we hope can contaminate our listeners as well.

My entrance into this band in 2001 has been incredibly significant in my life. It all started when Fabio Cerrone, guitarist and founder of the group, and Pierpaolo Ranieri (bass) called me to substitute at one of their concerts. We had such a great time at that first show, despite the fact that we had hardly rehearsed, that a few months later they asked me to play on their second album. It was a pleasure to work with these two local talents and thus it was an easy decision to collaborate on the album and join the band as a permanent fixture. The band is a constant, though not terrible frequent live presence, and we have shared stages with projects such as Ozric Tentacles and Carl Palmer. In 2002, 'Casuality' awakened an incredible positive feedback, especially outside of Italy. Our new CD will be out soon and with it we feel that we have created an excellent piece of work that we cannot wait to experiment with in public. Listen for yourself, and tell if I'm wrong!
Other products available to the public are a Minus-Drums method with 6 pieces from 'Casuality' both on this site and at www.bemolle.it
One of the most pleasant surprises that this project has brought was a positive critique from my all-time idol, the great Peter Erskine, who actually wrote a small but complimentary presentation of my method. Such are the big little satisfactions of this wonderful artistic experience!!

Blues, Feeling and a lot of Groove are the basic ingredients of this trio, fruit of an idea of Stefania Calandra, true Italian Blues Woman, Calabrese rather...
The inspiration came to us from the fascinating world of cotton-field Blues. Acoustic instruments and great freedom to celebrate a mixture of traditional aesthetics with multimedia performance of turn of the century film projections create a blend of emotions that captivate the audience for the more than 2 hour show. You can download some clips of 'Villa Celimontana Blues' and a few concerts at Big Mama in Roma and the CD of the same name is also available here. The trio is composed of Stefania Calandra on Guitar and Vocals, Marco Quagliozzi on Piano and Hammond e me on Drums and Percussion.
There is always room for guest appearance by friends and guests, among which it is my pleasure to mention Alex Britti, Micki Piperno and Claudio Martinez.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are fundamental points of reference in my musical development. I have listened to Fagan's "Nightfly" (produced by Becker) at least a thousand times and to see them still prolific and active today keeps me hopeful for future surprises. It goes without saying that in '99, when I wanted to form my own band, I immediately took inspiration from them and thus entered into the 'tunnel' of cover bands… I justify this to myself thinking that I am doing nothing but bringing new life to the compositions of the great artists of the twentieth century, arranged in my own way. Their repertory is so beautiful from every point of view that I accept having added to the moniker, 'Cover Band' with this project. Who know, however, why in Rock and Pop we talk of "covers," when in Jazz the same practice is labeled, "Standards." Anyway! I have a great time and have produced two CDs with this band that are available for purchase on this site. It is up to you to decide: Cover or Standard?

Lorenzo and I have known each other for a long time, and I can say unequivocally that we are rhythmically, "one in the same." We started playing together in 1994 and the tour that we played together was a great learning experience for me (Gerardina Trovato, Niccolò Fabi, Luca Barbarossa, etc). Through the years we have shared several projects such as Groove First, the wailing of Power Of Soul (which you can listen to and, why not, purchase right here!) and now in his quartet, the idea for which was initially to make a CD as a duo and due to my sluggishness on the one hand and his iron will on the other, the project inevitably transformed into the remarkable work called, "Upon my Head." In the last few years Lorenzo has gained the appreciate of foreign audiences, such that his appearances abroad increase weekly. Last autumn we opened for the European Bass Day, of which we are making a live CD. This story is on-going and is still to be written. You can get an idea of what it's about from these extracts of our show at Big Mama last February.