The list of the artists I’ve backed up is really long, I’ll mention by dividing them in two categories: those which came in tour from the United States to Europe like Linda Young, Beverly Watson (during a tour with her my daughter Marine was born), James Wheeler, LesGetrex, Robin Brown, Peaches and others. And those who already lived in Italy like Crystal White, I’ve played from 1995 to 2000, HerbieGoins, a late ‘60 rhythm and blues English glory who lived in Rome. Charlie Cannon, Joy Garrison, Cheryl Lewis, Kay Jay Forest, Michael Allen, historical piano player of Al Green from whom I’ve stolen a lot!
Like many roma musicians I had the chance and honor to play with the great clarinetist Tony Scott, ahsring also a friendship with him. Within gospel music I have played with many bands and collaborated as piano player with afro america touring artists singers, but I remember a more stable collaboration with the Harold Bradley and Jho Jenkins Bronzville American Gospel. With them I played in Eurovision at the Olimpico Stadium in front of Pope Woityla in 2000 for the jubilee of the sportsmen.
Other band to name is the Soul Food To Go, with Jimmy Holden, Lea Machado and Etta Lomasto. With Jimmy Holden, a very talented singer and hammond player from Seattle, I would then have made an Italian tour in the summer of 2008, playing at festivals like Roma Jazz Image, Trasimeno Blues Festival, Elba Jazz,and others.
I become a piano player specialist within genres like blues, soul and gospel music, but I still had the desire to concentrate myself on my personal projects,keeping partially the activity of side-man but more marginal.
Playing with many American artists had given me a lot, but it was depriving me of my artistic dimension and also from a professional point of view, organizers used to call me only in order to ask for foreign artists as sideman.
It tool many years of hard work to change this.
In 2000 with the bass player DavideBertolone, who was my bandleader in the band Crystal White, together with Massimo Cappa, an historical drummer from Bologna, we formed a trio often accompanied by the saxophonist Tom Sheret saxophonist, the vocalist GiòBosco and the singer/saxophonist Cristiana Polegri.
The band was called One Night Band, and was the band that I used to record second album called Mario Donatone& One Night Band. The record was, like the first one I made, a mixture between original songs and covers.
This was for me a new beginning from a solo artist point of view, even if it was not easy at first because of the progressive economic and cultural crisis, really unexpected, that impacted greatly live music. In those years I have realized others two record, the first one completely alone, vocals and piano, the other is my only record of instrumental jazz, revisiting the music of Giuseppe Verdi with a quartet with Luca Velotti (clarinet and sax), and the brothers Mauro and Carlo Battisti (double bass and drums).