“What kind of music do you make?” It’s one of the hardest questions I get asked because during the song-writing
process, it never comes up. During the recording of my latest album, Ragazza, producer Doug Kwartler, an acclaimed
artist in his own right, would occasionally pipe-in. According to Doug, the song “Raw Animal Passion” had hints of the
B-52s. “Things Got Heavy” had obvious psychedelic influences. And the song “Gelato”? In Doug’s words, it’s like a
“jazzy, rock crooner type of thing.”
If it’s hard to pin-down my music, it’s because my influences are disparate. As a child of the Long Island suburbs, it
took me a long time to find my way. Even as a teenager playing bass in high school garage bands, I would go home
and put on Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane at night.
In my early 20s, I stumbled upon the classics of Brazilian MPB and thought I had found God. God, though, had many
names: Jorge Ben, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque. I also began to consume Italian music of the 1950s
and 60s, classics by Renato Carosone and Fred Buscaglione. That led me deeper into the Alan Lomax recording
archives to discover the roots of the music, and my own roots as well.
As a New Yorker of Italian descent, I found that this new found artistic direction had awaited me for some time.
Suddenly, I was performing at venues like Pianos and the Sidewalk Cafe in New York with friends like David Jaye (who
plays the bone-chilling sax solo on “It’s Cold") and Rita Healy (who offers sumptuous backing vocals on most of the
songs here).
In my opinion, the Ragazza sessions show me trying to digest all of these influences, from the aforementioned B-52s
to the Lomax Italian folk records, and express myself. I am really pleased with some of the songs I am writing for my
new record, tentatively titled Atlas at the moment, because I feel this integration process is almost concluded. All of
these influences are beginning to bear unique fruit.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this music. I wanted to share it with you because I know you listen to a lot of music, and it is
just too different and interesting for me to keep it bottled somewhere. You need to hear it too. Let me know what you
think.
Ciao,
G I U S T I N O