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Les Italiens
Les Italiens
$16.99
A roots-style big band from Italy. They swing, they rock, they root and roll, and the sound moves from tarentella to mambo to ska with fluidity and humor. Great vocals, great musicians (horns, accordions, guitars, percussion and more), great music.
Listen:
Twist manouche
Ottomania
La mazurka di Toto
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Musicians include Al Di Puccio (Percussion/Director), Alessandro Fabbri (Drums), Francesca Taranto (Electric Bass/Voice), Stefano Onorati (Keyboards), Manuæ Parrini (Violin), Luca Marianini (Trumpet), Niko Gori (Clarinet/Bass Clarinet), Simone Santini (Alto Sax/Eb Soprano Sax), Marco Bini (Tenor Sax/Bb Soprano Sax) with special participation by accordionist Antonello Salis.
Press release from the ensemble:
An extraordinary musical adventure, that overrides the boundaries of set musical and stylistic standards and therefore, is free to explore and reinvent. In their first CD, Les Italiens are as exuberant, playful and spell bounding as a fireworks display.
"....all together for world music. Les Italiens is a big band which is capable of alternating from ethnic jazz to pop-like love songs, from passionate tangos to manouche and swing with a particular ôItalianö colour, resulting in an energetic and contagious rhythmic impulse containing a vibrant mixture of sonorities from far away lands and interpreted by ingenious provincials".
An unusual fusion of original compositions and rearranged popular songs. The orchestra is composed of AL DI PUCCIO (percussion/director), ALESSANDRO FABBRI (drummer), FRANCESCA TARANTO (electric bass/voice), STEFANO ONORATI (keyboards), MANUÆ PARRINI (violin), LUCA MARIANINI (trumpet), NIKO GORI (clarinet/bass clarinet), SIMONE SANTINI (alto sax/Eb soprano sax), MARCO BINI (tenor sax/Bb soprano sax).
The ensemble alternates between instrumental and vocal repertoire with the participation of special guest and well-renowned accordionist ANTONELLO SALIS. Passionate songs of yearning echo sonorities of a distant past and contrast with animated balcanic and gypsy-like repertoire. Cinematographic citations are present from Totò to the Fellinian atmospheres of Nino Rota and contrast with more contemporary compositions by Xavier Cugat and Abbie Lane to the phenomenal Gorni Kramer. Jazz idioms interweave with traditional popular music and typical mainstream ballroom genres like the tango, beguine, twist, rock and roll. All of this, plus a heart wrenching rendition of the famous "Bella Ciao" is performed - the quintessence of historical Italian popular song. This is truely popular art song at its finest!
Les Italiens consider themselves a big band with a "provincial-metropolitan sound". All are of Tuscan origin and have that innate ironic and cheeky sense of humour, so typical of the people of this region. Their music navigates on the sea that surrounds the Italian peninsula; a sea that is capable of moving music and energy through osmosis. Their music is a pleasant photographic reminder of the past with traces of modernization that isn't particularly "new" or of pure invention, but rather, an updated reevaluation of values that reveal a future which is already amidst us.
All that is needed is the courage to combine it with our memory, our emotions and our imagination.
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Please note!
Most CDs have been
imported from Europe or Asia.
They are not all
shrink-wrapped, and I am not
going to con you by wrapping them
here just to make you think they
have been sterilized in America.
We guarantee that the CDs and the
contents are all brand new and in
perfect condition. Whenever I
can, I use recycled shipping
materials. They may not look as
pretty on the outside, but they save
money and keep the trash dumps a
little bit emptier.
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