I would like to start by proposing a double LP
by Piero Umiliani, a great italian musician and absolute geniuos composer,
author of a great number of osts and
jazz lps. Born in Florence, he lived and worked in
Rome for many years till his early departure. Arrived in Rome in 1954, at the
age of 28, he was immediately captured
by the music scene of the Capital.
After many years at the RCA in Via Tiburtina,
he opened his own recording studio, The Workshop Studio, in Via Tommaso D’Aquino in the Trionfale central suburb of Rome. At the disposal of other musicians were instruments and best recording facilities available
on the world scene. Amongst others, you
could have found an Hammond C-3 Organ, with its own speed variation and
separated PR 40 Tone Cabinet and Leslie,
the Fender Rhodes piano, a Petrof tail-piano, a tack-piano, a Harpsichord, the
EMS Synthi A, a vibraphone, Ludwig’s drums, Marshall amplifiers and Fender Twin
for guitar and bass.
The double LP of which I want to talk to you
about is To-day’s Sound, which was
firstly conceived as a library-ost for
tv programmes and movies of various genres. However it would be reductive to
define this record only under this viewpoint. As a matter of fact, the album discloses, in
all its tracks, an intense energy which gives a direct blow to the listener. The
feeling one gets is that this LP does not want to be heard in a distracted
manner, nor as background music, but thanks to the wholesome conception of the
album, its intention is to fully immerse whomever is listening to it. In order to better understand how Piero Umiliani managed to succeed in his
enterprise, we should consider that in
those times the music scene was characterized by a feverish research and by a continous
will-power of experimenting, but for jazz composers it was almost impossible to
find their own discography space, thus libraries became a fertile field where
to propose their own music with only few requirements: low cost, rapidity and versatility
of tracks.
According to my point of view, To-day’s Sound
is one of the best works by the Maestro and one of the libraries produced in
Italy. If we want to make a daring comparison we could compare To-day’s Sound
to Beatles’ White Album, i.e. a wide and enthusiastic panorama on the different
music genres of the time (from here the title of the recording) performed with
the aid of wholesome technical creativity
in cooperation with highly skilled musicians.
Recorded and released as far back as
1972 on Liuto records, the album is composed by two 33 r.p.m. vinyls with 11
and 10 instrumental tracks, respectively. The cover’s design is an absolute
marvel featuring on front side which featuring the graphic reproduction of the
recording studio itself with a stylish touch of 70s’ cartoons.
Tracks space from psych funk, such is “Open
Space” used nonetheless for Baba Yaga’s movie opening soundtrack (you can see
the video below) , samba march to
progressive rock of To-day’s sound, from funky fusion with Lady Magnolia over
all, to jazz blues and bossa nova The whole lot seasoned with electronics, jazz
fusion and “south of the border” sound.
Performers:
Bass: Maurizio Majorana
Double
bass: Giovanni Tommaso
Drums and
percussions: Gegé Munari and Enzo Restuccia
Percussions:
Ciro Cicco
Fender
Rhodes, Hammond e Moog: Piero Umiliani
Hammond: Antonello
Vannucchi
Lowrey Organ: Sergio
Carnini
Piano and Clavichord:
Franco D'Andrea
Flute: Marcello Boschi
Guitar: Sergio
Cappotelli
Marimba and Vibraphone: Carlo Zoffoli
Trombone: Biagio Marullo, Dino Piana e Mario Midana
Trumpet: Al Corvin, Marino Di Fulvio e Oscar Valdambrini
Recorded on
8-track Ampex
A1 Open Space
4:19
A2 Green Valley 3:06
A3 Caretera Panamericana
3:01
A4 Goodmorning Sun 4:44
A5 To-Day's
Sound 2:29
A6 Free Dimension 2:22
B1 Truck Driver
4:38
B2 Blue Lagoon
3:42
B3 Wanderer
3:56
B4 Lady
Magnolia 3:26
B5 Pretty 3:12
C1 Railroad
4:17
C2 Country Town
3:33
C3 Bus Stop
2:49
C4 Cotton Road 3:46
C5 Nocturne
3:29
D1
Exploration 2:10
D2 Tropical River 4:24
D3 Coast To Coast 3:27
D4 Safari Club
5:11
D5 Music On The Road 4:26
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