Of course I was already trying to play and sing the blues, just going back to roots starting from rock through English blues, then landing finally to the afroamerican models while they were returned in auge thanks to the meritorious movie “The blues brothers”.
My artistic and professional history was born in the roman block of Trastevere, where in the early eighties of the past century started to open the historical live music clubs where in 1983 with to a friend who improvises himself bartender I took the management of the internal room of a traditional restaurant still called Ciak, renaming it with a typical blues lovers name, “Barrelhouse”.
Barrelhouse was the typical tavern where the first bluesman entertained a modest and messy audience of black people after the working hours in the old far western American lands.
There I began to sing and to play the piano all the evenings for an audience of students, freaks and night-owls, with a repertorie of blues songs and soul music that I had learned from vinyls. There were a lot of open minded and curious people those times, the night life was almost an innovation after the years of the terrorism, and in this small space there were created infinte spontaneous jam among the old roman blues musicians like Leno Landini, a great harmonica talent and Massimo “Bizzo” Bizzarri, worthy guitarist and cousin of the great Roberto Ciotti.
I met there Francesco Forti, a great historical musician of Italian jazz scene.Saxophonist, clarinetist, host of many jazz radio shows.
Francesco had a great attention for the popular roots of jazz and sang and played the traditional blues spirituals with rare authenticity and with a mystical but extremely sober intensity, without any forcing and caricatural excess; a very common risk at that time because of the diffused inexperience regarding the goddess of the “black voice”. Many thought it was enough to make hoarses in order to express that kind of feeling, with often ridiculous results.Francesco taught me that the most important thing were the substance and the contents. Hanging out and playing with him I learned a lot about the shadings and the cultural dignity of a music like that afro american, that eas for me still an instinctive spiritual affinity cultivated by listening and imitating pianists and singers like Ray Charles, but also like Steve Winwood, Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slim, Eddie Boyd, Leon Russell, Mose Allison, and many others.
Francesco was also the person who introduced me to the Roman audience in an important show. When in 1987 the Alexanderplatz of GiampieroRubei organized a series of showcases at Sapienza university campus, held by Francesco with most prestigious musical hosts, he made me to simplify blues piano, after Enrico Pierannunzi had played Scott Joplin ragtime.
Can you imagine what was the emotion for a 23 years old musician to play in a context like that. These are the definitive steps to develop an artistic knowledge and I’ll always thank Francesco Forti for this. At the end of ’80 I was well-versed into roman musical scene, that was alive and kickin’ more than ever, with a continuous opening of clubs, festival and venues. As well as with Francesco, I played with the guitarist Maurizio Bonini, with the violinist, guitarist and singer Stefano Tavernese, perfoming with him at the famous tv show “Doc” in 1988, along with bands from Milan like the Level Blues Band and sometimes I began also to support some afroamerican singer, like Harold Bradley and Eddy C.Campbell.
I had also my own trio where I sang and I played piano and I must remember here that, beyond the many places where I played in that period, it was the Alexanderplatz of GiampieroRubei that gave me more confidence and visibility towards Roman audience. I’ve been there when I was little more twenty-year-old, in 1984, when it fresh opened and Giampiero gave 2 gigs a week. The friendship with him then has lasted all the life and I owe him all I have developed near the Roman audience, thanks to his club, to the gigs at the famous Villa Celimontana stage where he proposed me also when, initially I could not guarantee a great affluence of audience.