Interrabang ost by Berto Pisano 1970

Berto Pisano was a bassist, composer, arranger and orchestra director. He is mostly remembered  as lover of tv osts  and italian jazz. He has been a musician and composer of a great number of movie osts as well as tv fictions, jazz records, music libraries and songs.

Berto begun his activity in Sardinia, together with his elder brother Franco Pisano during the last war, with the Quintetto Aster and then went to the Asternovas as member of the group that  accompanied Fred Buscaglione.



Fred Buscaglione and the Asternovas

Among the not very many, but always interesting osts composed by him, we can find Interrabang, which was created for a noir/erotic movie back in 1969, which at the time was quite out the usual framework  as it joined both the esotic/erotic genres,  together with a psychological thriller. The movie was directed by Giuliano Biagetti, script signed by Giorgio Mariuzzo (first movie and also assistant director) and Luciano Lucignani,  based on a subject written by a mysterious Edgar Mills.

The movie starts with Anna, owner of an atelier, her husband and the photographer Fabrizio, his sister Valeria and the mannequin Maregalit who put into port their yacht on a deserted island in the Mediterranean to make a photo session. On this island they find Marco, a prison fugitive, who becomes friend with young Valeria after Fabrizio has gone to look for some more petrol.  During the movie , some members of the group will die, others will survive and at the end it will clearly emerge who is the culprit of the organized conspiracy.

 The ost was published in 1970  as part of the series sp 8000 of the Italian Rca, in exclusively promotional edition.

For this work  Maestro Pisano availed himself of the cooperation of Edda Dell’Orso  as solo voice and that of Gino Marinacci, for flute  and bass flute.  

The main theme of the ost, “Tema di Valeria”, is unusually found on flip side. The introduction lasts about one minute and it is entrusted to cello and guitar, it explodes afterwards in a jazzed theme supported by strings, woodwinds, vibraphone and a soft drum played with percussion brushes. The theme is repeated, but with different  tempos and  keys in other tracks. In the first track of the LP , “A piedi nudi sulla spiaggia”,  it starts in part  with flute and woodwind which dominate Edda’s vocals, then follow strings that “surround” the final slow waltz. On “La Scogliera dell’Amore”, a brief but intense track, piano and strings excel.  We carry on with one of the most relevant tracks on the album l “ Il Colore degli Angeli”, a splendid bossanova with  Edda’s outstanding  voice on the foreground. The track  is intensified  by a heavy harpsichord a supported  by a powerful bass and by very light brushes play on percussions’ dishes.

On “Sabbia e Mare” the harp creeps over accompanied by violins while the following track  closes the first side of lp with a  mid-tempo shake titled  “Little Snack Bar” that detaches completely from the rest of tracks. Here we find the organ prevailing, sporadically leaving space to a semi-acoustic guitar and flute solos.

On first track of flip, “E il sole scotta”, Pisano synchronizes Marinacci’s vibrating flute with Dell’Orso’s vocalization, and gives a wholesome result and enhances the track with a grip interrupted subsequently by wind instruments that tune up a dynamic jazz swing. “Tramonto sulla scogliera” is the main theme and is played by violins while “La Vallata Sommersa” is handed over to the harp. On “Luci sulla baia” we again find a vibe organ which mixes up  bass flute and strings tune up a slow tempo.

The movie at the time was heavily censored  by Judge Occorsio who ordered  its confiscation from movie theatres,  and eliminated any trace of the  soft morbosity which pervaded the movie itself. Seen in its entirety, Interrabang  is an overall well done movie with some stylistish intuitions. The judge, at the time, without knowing it, has priviledged the ost of Berto Pisano which has survived in time,  up to the stage where some of the tracks have been used by the author for the movie Giallo a Venezia, a noir of Mario Landi.

With this Lp Maestro Pisano has shown to be a good composer of movie osts , the refined beauty of the masterpiece and the extreme rarity of the original vinyl, has 
made it a very much sought-after delight appreciated by record collectors.