| MEET
ANIMA*BLUES
Nearly 30 years ago, late summer of ‘75! That’s
when I first met Pippo Guarnera - Sicilian Hammond
supremo and, musically, one fourth of Anima*Blues
(closer to one third, physically ;-) - in a hot, dingy garage crammed
with instruments somewhere out in the sticks near Naples.
I had just vacated the keyboard chair of what was, at the time,
one of Italy's top jazz-rock-funk outfits, and the band, Napoli
Centrale, begged me to give them a hand with the new line-up's
first day of rehearsals. I rolled up and asked my substitute - a
huge, happy kid beaming up at me from behind what looked (next to
him) like a shrunken Fender Rhodes - on which tunes and tricky riffs
he needed a few pointers. Pippo just chuckled, shrugged and proceeded
to tear into the repertoire as if he'd written it himself!
30 years down the road, his effortless command of any style and
unfalteringly soulful use of his wondrous chops still leave me with
the same huge, gaping grin I wore throughout that long-ago first
rendezvous...
Met
the skinny master of skins, Vince Vallicelli, about
a year later in a Roman studio with his tight R'n'B combo, Zebra
Crossing; my own band's guitarist was on the sessions and
had invited me along. Killer players all, one of '70s made-in-Italy
funk’s finest groups... Vince was sure cookin' then and -
as I witnessed during the making of Anima Blues - plays today like
he's been in the “soul kitchen” ever since! Heaping
portions of blues, jazz, New Orleans funk (he's studied with the
genre’s guru, John Vidacovich)... all served 24/7/365, steaming
and "al dente"!
My good old Italo-American buddy Eugenio Finardi
has been a star in Italy since his first album came out in the mid-'70s,
and quite rightly; he's certainly the only singer here who can hold
his own with equal authenticity on in-your-face rock-blues workouts
as well as on heart-rending pop ballads, Portuguese fado numbers
and straight classical arias. Mother was an American opera singer,
and his impeccable intonation and dynamic vocal control show it.
He also inherited his sound engineer dad's golden ears, as evidenced
in the mixes and the mastering of Anima*Blues and his score of well-crafted
solo albums. I joined Eugenio's band in 1978 and we've worked (and
raided sushi bars) together off and on over the years, but - as
Eugenio agrees - the Anima*Blues
sessions really stand out for the laidback studio atmosphere and
dynamite musicianship they capture. As I said, Eugenio has made
around twenty excellent albums as a soloist; now dig what he delivers
on his first appearance as frontman for a bona fide blues band!
As for incredible guitar-slinging prodigy Massimo Martellotta,
I just met the guy in the studio last month; don't think he was
even born yet in the ‘70s... but I bet his folks were listening
to stuff like Napoli Centrale, Zebra Crossing and Eugenio nine months
before he let out his first solo wail! Massimo is part of the new
generation of European blues masters, combining a solid, almost
encyclopedic knowledge of the roots and branches of the sacred Family
Tree of the Blues with a healthy streak of the true ‘60s/’70s
spirit, that self-assuredness and insatiable curiosity to scout
out unexplored areas of the music (and life) “out on a limb”…
And that, in my humble opinion, is what this band is all about:
having deep respect for a venerable musical tradition while having
just as much fun contributing to it’s future. This is the
very soul – the “anima”, as the Italians say –
of Anima*Blues
So you be sure to come along now and meet the band, too, on the
album and next time they have a gig anywhere near you; this debut
recording will become a classic and - who knows? - you may get to
reminisce about it in someone else's liner notes or press release
in 2035!
- Mark Harris, Milan, April 2005
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