Né à Rome en Italie, Marco a commencé à jouer de l’orge à 16 ans en apprenant les harmonies et la théorie musicale par lui même. Au cours de la fin des années 70 et au début des années 80, il a effectué de nombreux gigs à Rome et dans ses alentours avec son propre groupe, jouant toujours un matériel original issu de leur répertoire. Le premier groupe fut intitulé Marco Taggiasco Fusion et participa à de nombreux festivals de musique locale et à des manifestations et concours destinés aux jeunes groupes. En 1982, il forme Fulltime Dance, un groupe de fusion orienté dance avec des cuivres et mettant en vedette des joueurs de sessions et de la scène jazz comme Aldo Bassi, Marco Siniscaldo, Andrea Polinelli, Andrea Pighi, parmi bien d‘autres. Il a écrit beaucoup de matériel avec son frère, un talentueux compositeur et batteur jusqu‘en 1987, année ou le groupe se sépara. En 1991, il fit équipe avec Jacopo Benci, un compositeur pour lequel il a réarrangé et produit beaucoup de son répertoire et en même temps il fit des gigs avec son groupe Grooveland en tant que directeur musical. Durant les années 90, il a focalisé ses efforts sur le travail de studio, produisant et faisant les arrangements pour des chanteurs. Son travail inclue également des arrangements pour des big bands aussi bien que l’écriture de musique pour le théâtre ou des courts-métrages.
Merci Marco de prendre du temps pour répondre aux questions du website Cool Night. Ton dernier album "THOUSAND THINGS" a été très bien reçu en France, spécialement par les fans de Westcoast !
Merci Bruno, oui, je ne m’attendais pas à une telle réaction aussi positive et je suis vraiment heureux d’être ici pour donner ma première interview française.
Comment en est tu venus à écrire de la musique et à faire des arrangements ? Quelle est ton parcours musical ?
Et bien je dois dire que j’ai toujours été fasciné par la musique orchestrale, j’avais l’habitude d’écouter Burt Bacharach lorsque j’étais enfant, de même en grandissant j’ai découvert les arrangeurs et compositeurs Claus Ogerman, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, mais j’ai vraiment commencé à étudier la musique par la découverte des disques d' Eumir Deodato. J’étais encore dans mes jeunes années lorsque son jeu au piano électrique, accompagné de combinaisons orchestrales m’a littéralement scotché. C’est un des mes grands amis et j’ai appris beaucoup de lui et je continue.
Peux tu nous parler de tes influences musicales. Avec quelle genre de musique as-tu grandis, as-tu été bercé par une atmosphère musicale ? A partir de quel âge as-tu commencé à écrire des chansons ?
Je n’ai pas grandi dans une famille de musiciens et le seul chemin qui permettait d’étudier sérieusement la musique au milieux des année 70 était d’atteindre le conservatoire, j’ai commencé à apprendre la théorie et les harmonies par moi même, car pour se procurer des partitions concernant des arrangements de jazz, c’était presque impossible parce que les livres étaient extrêmement rare et chers. J’avais l’habitude de donner des titres à un ami de mon oncle qui était pilote de ligne qui me rapportait les livres lors de ses trajets aux USA. J’ai commencé à écrire et à arranger la musique très tôt, je n’avais pas les connaissances basiques pour le faire, mais tu sais, quand tu es jeune, tu as cette adrénaline, surtout au cours de années 70, je fus attiré par la scène Jazz Rock et j’ai rapidement monté mon groupe qui était un groupe composés de nombreux musiciens avec des cuivres, des percussions. Mon frère était à la batterie, le son était influencé par la scène Jazz Fusion, j’adore The Crusaders et Dave Grusin...
A l’intérieur du livret du CD, nous pouvons lire une dédicace et voir une photo consacré à Eumir Deodato, j’espère que ce n’est pas trop personnel pour te demander qui est cette personne...
C’est l’un des plus grands producteurs et arrangeurs dans le monde de la musique depuis 4 décennies, un artiste multi-platine dont les crédits vont de Earth Wind & Fire à Roberta Flack, en passant par Franck Sinatra à Aretha Franklin, incluant aussi, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Kool And The Gang et Bjork. Je ne reviendrais pas sur son imposante et incroyable carrière en tant qu’artiste solo. Son énergie est une étoile qui brille toujours en dépit d’une longue route. J’espère que nous ferons quelque chose ensemble tôt ou tard.
Ton album "THOUSAND THINGS" est superbe. peux-tu nous expliquer le processus de création des chansons ?
Je te remercie Bruno. Tu sais chaque chanson possède sa propre histoire mais en règle général, je mets du temps pour composer, je dois admettre que je ne suis pas prolixe. J’ai tendance à travailler très profondément sur chaque aspect de la chanson, de faire de mon mieux pour garder une certaine distance avec les clichés et même avec des "Westcoast clichés"... Selon mon opinion, chaque élément dans une chanson est crucial : la mélodie, les mots, le chant, l’interprétation, les arrangements, la production. Tout doit être bien construit pour parvenir au meilleur résultat. D’un autre côté, la plupart du temps, je suis relativement rapide pour les arrangements, pour la composition et la réalisation et c’est devenu quelque chose d’habituel lorsque je travaille pour d’autres artistes.
"Never too Late (For Love)" est un merveilleux hit avec ses intéressants et sincères lyriques. Peux-tu nous en dire plus à propos du sens et de l’histoire qui se cache derrière.
Sur le fond, j’écris les paroles en raison d’un manque de collaborateurs, j’écris et je produis de la musique instrumentale depuis longtemps. Lorsque j’ai eu l’occasion d’écrire des paroles, j’ai commencé à chercher un parolier, mais en fait, j’ai trouvé surtout des "folk singers" capables d’écrire des paroles aux sens profond mais qui n’avaient aucune bonnes connaissances musicales ou des paroliers pop qui sont loin d’être très subtils. Aussi, j’ai commencé à écrire par moi même, mais je dois admettre que c’est très difficile pour moi de le faire, ce n’est pas mon job que d’écrire des paroles. Pour "Never too Late (For Love)", cela est parti d’un élément mélodique, un simple riff créé par Andrea (Sanchini), je l’ai trouvé si inspiré que j’ai écrit la chanson en quelques jours. Les paroles reflètent le paradoxe de notre monde contemporain ou le seul chemin qui puisse nous sauver est l’amour et il existe toujours une chance de le donner.
Tu as produit "THOUSAND THINGS", est-ce quelque chose de naturel pour toi ou était-ce l’occasion d’avoir les mains libres pour réaliser ce que tu voulais ?
En fait, "THOUSAND THINGS" a été une expérience. Je n’avais encore aucune idée de ce à quoi ressemblerait l’album à la fin. J’avais un paquet de chansons et il y avait ce jeune chanteur si talentueux, aussi nous nous sommes dit :”pourquoi ne pas essayer d’enregistrer ces chansons et attendons un peu de voir les réactions du public ?”. Cet album a été réalisé avec un budget vraiment limité. Et c’est vrai, j’ai eu les mains libre pour réaliser ce que je voulais, c’est un projet indépendant, nous n’étions pas liés par des contraintes commerciales, pas de formatage et pas de délais.
Quelles sont les circonstances qui ont provoqué ta rencontre avec Andréa Sanchini ? A travers l’album, nous ressentons un feeling naturel qui semble partagé entre Andrea et toi, spécialement sur le magnifique "Hangin’ On Tomorrow".
Andrea est bien plus qu’une partie de ce projet, c’est lui qui a donné vie à mes chansons. Je n’aurais pu enregistrer sans lui. Je pense à le remercier à chaque fois que je parle de cet album. Nous nous sommes rencontrés il y a quelques années sur internet, j’avais laissé un message sur un forum consacré aux musiciens et il a répondu. Nous partageons le même feeling en ce qui concerne les choses qui tournent autour de la musique et travailler ensemble fut vraiment amusant. "Hangin’ On Tomorrow" fut le dernier morceau de "THOUSAND THINGS", le dernier morceau a être écrit... j’avais le couplet, la construction et une partie du refrain mais je ne pouvais aller plus loin, Andrea a écrit le reste de la musique et a complété les paroles en un tour de doigt.
Peux-tu nous en dire plus au sujet de son parcours, de ses influences ?
Je pense que la musique est une seconde nature pour lui. Il a toujours jouer et écouter de la musique. Il joue de la batterie, de la guitare et du clavier. En dépit de son jeune âge, il connaît tous les maîtres du passé de la Soul au Jazz et tous les grands compositeurs américains. Il a de nombreuses influences dans sa manière de chanter, de Stevie Wonder à James Taylor, mais je pense qu’il a aussi sa propre personnalité. J’aime sa manière d’écrire... 3 morceaux de l’album sont de sa main.
Ton dernier album est vendu sur CD Baby, tes réactions à ce sujet ?
Internet a dramatiquement changer la façon de promouvoir et de distribuer la musique, mais les mecs à CD Baby ont toujours un pas d’avance, ils possèdent une organisation incroyable. Ce n’est pas une surprise que des grands noms signés sur des majors peuvent se retrouver sur CD Baby maintenant.
Est-ce que internet a rendu les choses plus facile pour vendre sa musique pour un artiste comme toi avec l’exemple de CD Baby. Que pense tu de la musique en ligne et du téléchargement illégal ?
Bien sûr que je suis contre c’est un manque de respect envers l’artiste et son travail, mais d’un autre côté, enregistrer et réaliser un album coûte nettement moins chère qu’auparavant, aussi je pense que l’industrie du disque devrait contenir le prix de sa production, c’est pourquoi je souhaitais que mon album reste dans un prix raisonnable.
Quel est ton meilleur souvenir de studio ?
En fait, il y a en a tellement ! Mais je vais vous en raconter un. Lors de mon premier travail en studio en tant qu’arrangeur j’étais très jeune et sans expérience, je devais travailler avec des musiciens expérimentés, tous étaient bien plus âgé que moi. J’écrivais tous à la main car à cette époque, je n’avais pas la chance de voir défiler les arrangements devant moi, car avant, il n’y avait pas de séquenceur ou de sampler. Aussi, je suis allé dans le studio avec mes parties en pensant “ suis-je supposé dire à ces personnes ce qu’ils doivent faire ou jouer”, je partais dans l’inconnu, ce fut une grande transpiration pour moi, mais finalement tout c’est bien fini et j’ai appris beaucoup de ces personnes, je garde toujours ce souvenir dans ma mémoire.
Les fans français de Westcoast Musique restent nostalgique de la Westcoast des années 80. Que pense-tu de la Westcoast Musique en générale ?
En fait, je pense qu’il y aura toujours un public pour les belles mélodies, les harmonies qui attirent l’attention et un chant de qualité. Les chansons qui rentrent dans ses critères ont eu leur temps commercial qui correspondait à une certaine période, sur le fonds je pense que cette expression "Westcoast" est devenue une façon d’identifier cette approche de la musique. Aussi, beaucoup de fans de Westcoast écoutent également des standards de Jazz, de Soul, de Country ou de musique classique, mais je pense que la plupart, voir tous, recherchent la même chose dans la musique, sans se soucier du style ou de l’année.
Beaucoup de critiques dessinent un parallèle entre ton travail musical et des légendes de la Westcoast comme Michael McDonald et Bobby Caldwell, est-tu d’accord avec cette comparaison, apprécies-tu ces deux artistes ?
Je suis très honoré de voir mon nom associé avec de tels artistes, ce sont d’excellents compositeurs et interprètes.
As-tu des contacts ou projets avec des grands noms de la scène Westcoast ?
Oui j’ai des touches avec certains d’entre eux, parfois eux mêmes ou avec leur management, je ne veux pas en dire plus pour le moment, mais je n’exclu pas la possibilité que certains apparaissent comme guest sur mon prochain album.
Tu fais partie actuellement du revival de la scène Westcoast européenne comme George Grunwald, Peter Friedstedt, Frédéric Slama... Connais-tu ces artistes et que penses-tu de leur travail ?
Je dois dire que je n’en connais pas beaucoup de cette scène européenne, mais avec cette vague revival des nouveaux noms sont apparus, c’est excellent, c’est vraiment bon signe. Je pense qu’il apporte une nouvelle fraîcheur et un travail inspiré pour cette musique.
Est-ce que la Westcoast est populaire en Italie ?
Pas aussi populaire que dans la partie nord de l’Europe, mais il existe un bon nombre de fans vraiment très passionnés.
Quels sont tes projets, peut-on s’attendre à un nouvel album pour le futur, sil te plait répond par la positive !
Arrangé et produire et mon principal travail et j’ai peu de temps pour des projets personnels. D’un autre côté "THOUSAND THINGS" a reçu un accueil si favorable (et tellement inattendu) de partout dans le monde, j’ai reçu tellement de demandes pour un nouvel album ! Je travaille actuellement sur de nouvelles chansons, mais je veux prendre mon temps pour réaliser quelque chose dont je sois fière. Peut-être à la fin de l’été. Qui sait ?
Des plans pour une tournée ou des dates en France ?
J’aurais vraiment aimé, surtout que j’ai un paquet de fans en France mais je pense que c’est trop tôt. Mon projet s’est développé par mes propres ressources et je devrais pour cela chercher une agence pour sérieusement envisager de tourner, de s’occuper de la promotion et aussi avoir la possibilité d’avoir des musiciens locaux pour jouer.
As-tu un souhait ou une mauvaise habitude à perdre pour cette nouvelle année ?
La pire habitude est que je suis musicien et j’ai bien peur que je ne peux rien y faire.
Un message à transmettre à tes fans français ?
La chose la plus importante est de vous remercier pour apprécier ma musique. Vraiment un grand merci à vous, à toi Bruno et aux personnes à Cool Night. J’espère venir tourner en France dans un futur proche.
Merci beaucoup pour tes réponses.
Ce fut un plaisir Bruno, restons en contact.
***
Born in Rome, Italy, Marco started to play organ at age 16 self teaching harmony and music theory. During the late 70s and the 80s he gigged a lot in Rome and around with his own bands always playing original repertoire. The first band named Marco Taggiasco Fusion participated in many local music festivals and contests for young bands. In 1982 he formed Fulltime Dance a fusion dance/oriented band with horns and featured session players from the jazz scene like Aldo Bassi, Marco Siniscaldo, Andrea Polinelli, Andrea Pighi among the others. He wrote most of the material with his brother, a talented songwriter and drummer, till 1987 when the band retired. In 1991 he teamed up with Jacopo Benci, a songwriter for whom he re-arranged and produced most of his repertoire also gigging with his band Grooveland as a music director. During the nineties he has focused his efforts on the studio work producing and arranging for singers. His works also include arranging for big bands as well as writing music for theater and short movies.
How did you come to write and arrange music ?
What is your musical background ?
Well, I have to say I’ve always been fascinated by orchestral music, I used to listen to Burt Bacharach when I was a child, as well as many arrangers and composers that I later discovered to be named Claus Ogermann, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel... But I actually started to study music because of Eumir Deodato’s records. I was in my early teens and his electric piano playing combined with his use of the orchestra literally struck me. He’s a big friend of mine, I learned a lot from him, and I still do.
Can you tell us your influences in music. With what kind of music have you grown, have you surrounded by a musical atmosphere ? When did you start writing songs ?
I didn’t grow in a music family, and the only way to seriously learn music at that time (mid 70s) was to attend the Conservatory, but I needed a shorter way. So I started self-teaching music theory and harmony, but even books about jazz arranging were extremely rare and expensive. I used to give the titles to a friend of my uncle (a flight pilot), and he brought me the books when coming back from the states. I started to write and arrange music very early, I didn’t had the basic knowledge for doing it but, you know, when you’re young it’s all adrenaline! And then, during the seventies I was attracted by the jazz rock scene and soon I formed my own band. It used to be a large combo with horns and percussion and my brother on drums, the sound was influenced by the fusion scene of that time, I loved The Crusaders, Dave Grusin...
Inside the booklet of "THOUSAND THINGS", we can read a dedication and a picture about Eumir Deodato. I hope, it’s not too personal to ask you about this person...
He’s one of the top producers and arrangers in the music universe since four decades, a multi-platinum artist with hundreds of credits spanning from Earth Wind & Fire to Roberta Flack, from Franck Sinatra to Aretha Franklin, including Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as Kool And The Gang and Bjork not to mention an incredible solo career as a recording artist. His star’s still shining in spite of such a long road, and I hope we’ll do something together sooner or later.
Your album "THOUSAND THINGS" is superb. Can you explain us the writing process of the songs ?
Thanks Bruno. You know, every song has its own story, but usually it takes time to me to write, I must admit I’m not very prolific... I tend to work hard on any aspect of the song, doing my best to keep away from clichés, even “west coast” clichés... In my opinion, every song element is crucial: melody, words, singing, performance, arrangement, production. Everything has to be fine-tuned to achieve the best result. On the other hand, most of the times I’m quite quick in arranging once writing is done and this comes useful when working for other artists.
"Never Too Late (For Love)" is a marvellous hit with heartfelt & interesting lyrics. Can you say us a little bit about the story and the reflection behind this song.
I have to say I came to write lyrics because of lacking of collaborators. I’ve been writing and producing instrumental music for a long time, and when it happened to me to write songs, I started to look for lyricists, but I found that so often you have folksingers able to write deeper lyrics but with no good music taste, or pop lyricist that often are more than obvious. So I begun to write lyrics on my own, but I must admit it’s always the hardest part for me to finish, that’s not my job. As far as "Never too Late (For Love)", it actually comes from a melodic cell, a simple riff created by Andrea (Sanchini). I found it so inspiring that I wrote the song in a couple of days. Lyrics reflect the paradox of this present world, where the only way to save ourselves as human beings is love, and there’s always a chance for us to give.
You have produced "THOUSAND THINGS", is it something natural, or was it the possibility for you to have the hands free to achieve what you wanna do for this record ?
"THOUSAND THINGS" has actually been an experiment. I had no idea of what the record would have been in the next. I had a bunch of songs and this young talented singer, so we said each other "Why don’t we try to record some of this stuff and try to see people’s reaction ?" The album has been made with an extra-limited budget. And yes, I had hands free cause it’s an independent project, we had no commercial boundaries, no format to take into accountt, no deadlines.
In which circumstances did you meet Andrea Sachini ? Through the album, a natural feeling seems shared between you and Andrea, specially on the highlight "Hangin’ On Tomorrow".
Andrea is way more than part of the project. He’s the one who literally brought life to my songs. I could do the record only because of him. I should thank him everytime I talk of the record. I had a lot of good singers, but no one of them did the work as Andrea. And I think his best is yet to come. We meet some years ago, thanks to the internet, I left a message on a musicians forum and he answered. We share the same feeling about same things in music, and working together is real fun... "Hangin’ On Tomorrow" has been the last tune of "THOUSAND THINGS" to be written... I got the verse, the build and part of the chorus, but I couldn’t go further. Andrea wrote the rest of the music and completed the lyrics in a snap.
Can you tell us more about him and his background and influences ?
I guess music is second nature to him. He’s always been listening and playing music. He plays drums, guitar and keyboards. In spite of his age, he knows all the masters of the past from jazz to soul, and all the great American songwriters. There are many influences in his singing, from Stevie Wonder to James Taylor, but I think he’s got a very distinctive personality. And I love his writing too... Three cuts on the album are his fault!
Your last album is sold at CD Baby. Tell us more about that.
The Internet dramatically changed the way to promote and distribute music, but the guys at CD Baby took this a step further, they have an incredible organization. Is not a surprise that even big names signed with major labels can be found on CD Baby now.
Has internet made it easier for selling music for an artist like you, we can find your CD on CD Baby. What do you think about the online music and illegal download ?
Of course I disagree, it’s a lack of respect for the artist and his work but, on the other hand, making a record nowadays costs a fraction of how it used to be, so I guess that the record industry should do something to contain the price of recorded music. That’s why I wanted to keep my album on a reasonable price.
What is your best studio memory ?
Actually there are a lot! But if I had to say one, maybe is my very first time in the studio as an arranger. I was very young and it was my very first job with long time experienced musicians, all of them older than me. I wrote everything by hand and I had no chance to preview the arrangement cause no sequencer or sampler existed at that time. So I came into the studio with the parts thinking: “Am I really supposed to tell these people what they have to do?” It was big sweat for me but everything went right in the end, and I learned a lot from that people. I still remind it !
French Westcoast fans are nostalgic about 80's Westcoast. What do you think of Westcoast music in general ?
I actually think there will always be an audience for beautiful melodies, intriguing harmonies and good singing. Songs made with this approach have had their commercial time mostly within a certain period, but I think the expression "Westcoast" has just become a way to identify that approach. Many of Westcoast fans also listen to standards, jazz, country, soul or classical music, but I think all of them look for the same things in music, no matter the genre or the year of release.
Many reviews draw a parrallel between your musical craft and Westcoast legends like Michael McDonald & Bobby Caldwell. Are you agree with this comparison ? Do you appreciate these two artists ?
I’m honored that people associate my name to the ones of such big artists. They all are excellent songwriters and incredible performers.
Do you have any contact or project with big names of the Westcoast music scene ?
Yes, I’m in touch with some of them, both personally or through their management. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I don’t exclude I will have some of them as guests on my next album.
You're a part of the european west coast revival music scene, like George Grunwald, Peter Friestedt, Frederic Slama... Do you know these guys and what do you think of their work ?
I have to say I don’t know much about the european scene but with this revival wave many new names are coming out and that’s fine, is a good sign. I think they can bring a fresh, inspired approach to this music.
Is Westcoast music popular in Italy ?
Not so popular as in Northern Europe, but there’s a bunch of very hardcore fans here.
What are your projects ? Can we hope a new album next ? Please, say yes !!!
Being arranging and producing my main job, I have no much time left for personal projects. On the other hand, "THOUSAND THINGS" had such a good (and totally unexpected) response almost in any part of the world, that I’m having many requests to do another record. I’m actually working on some songs, but I want to take my time to go out with something I’m proud of. Maybe this late summer... Who knows ?
Any plans of a french tour ?
I would love it, really. I have quite many fans in France, but I think is too early. My project relies only on personal resources and I have to look around to find an agency seriously willing to take care of live promotion, maybe using local musicians.
Have you a wish for this new year or a good resolution to take for breaking a bad habit!!!
My worse habit is to be a musician, and I’m afraid I can’t help it!
Leave a message here for your french fans.
The rightest thing I can say is a huge thank you for your apprecciation in my music. Really. Also big thanks to you, Bruno and to all the people at Cool Night. Hope to come touring in France soon.
Thank you very much for your answers.
Take care, Bruno. Let’s keep in touch.
How did you come to write and arrange music ?
What is your musical background ?
Well, I have to say I’ve always been fascinated by orchestral music, I used to listen to Burt Bacharach when I was a child, as well as many arrangers and composers that I later discovered to be named Claus Ogermann, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel... But I actually started to study music because of Eumir Deodato’s records. I was in my early teens and his electric piano playing combined with his use of the orchestra literally struck me. He’s a big friend of mine, I learned a lot from him, and I still do.
Can you tell us your influences in music. With what kind of music have you grown, have you surrounded by a musical atmosphere ? When did you start writing songs ?
I didn’t grow in a music family, and the only way to seriously learn music at that time (mid 70s) was to attend the Conservatory, but I needed a shorter way. So I started self-teaching music theory and harmony, but even books about jazz arranging were extremely rare and expensive. I used to give the titles to a friend of my uncle (a flight pilot), and he brought me the books when coming back from the states. I started to write and arrange music very early, I didn’t had the basic knowledge for doing it but, you know, when you’re young it’s all adrenaline! And then, during the seventies I was attracted by the jazz rock scene and soon I formed my own band. It used to be a large combo with horns and percussion and my brother on drums, the sound was influenced by the fusion scene of that time, I loved The Crusaders, Dave Grusin...
Inside the booklet of "THOUSAND THINGS", we can read a dedication and a picture about Eumir Deodato. I hope, it’s not too personal to ask you about this person...
He’s one of the top producers and arrangers in the music universe since four decades, a multi-platinum artist with hundreds of credits spanning from Earth Wind & Fire to Roberta Flack, from Franck Sinatra to Aretha Franklin, including Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as Kool And The Gang and Bjork not to mention an incredible solo career as a recording artist. His star’s still shining in spite of such a long road, and I hope we’ll do something together sooner or later.
Your album "THOUSAND THINGS" is superb. Can you explain us the writing process of the songs ?
Thanks Bruno. You know, every song has its own story, but usually it takes time to me to write, I must admit I’m not very prolific... I tend to work hard on any aspect of the song, doing my best to keep away from clichés, even “west coast” clichés... In my opinion, every song element is crucial: melody, words, singing, performance, arrangement, production. Everything has to be fine-tuned to achieve the best result. On the other hand, most of the times I’m quite quick in arranging once writing is done and this comes useful when working for other artists.
"Never Too Late (For Love)" is a marvellous hit with heartfelt & interesting lyrics. Can you say us a little bit about the story and the reflection behind this song.
I have to say I came to write lyrics because of lacking of collaborators. I’ve been writing and producing instrumental music for a long time, and when it happened to me to write songs, I started to look for lyricists, but I found that so often you have folksingers able to write deeper lyrics but with no good music taste, or pop lyricist that often are more than obvious. So I begun to write lyrics on my own, but I must admit it’s always the hardest part for me to finish, that’s not my job. As far as "Never too Late (For Love)", it actually comes from a melodic cell, a simple riff created by Andrea (Sanchini). I found it so inspiring that I wrote the song in a couple of days. Lyrics reflect the paradox of this present world, where the only way to save ourselves as human beings is love, and there’s always a chance for us to give.
You have produced "THOUSAND THINGS", is it something natural, or was it the possibility for you to have the hands free to achieve what you wanna do for this record ?
"THOUSAND THINGS" has actually been an experiment. I had no idea of what the record would have been in the next. I had a bunch of songs and this young talented singer, so we said each other "Why don’t we try to record some of this stuff and try to see people’s reaction ?" The album has been made with an extra-limited budget. And yes, I had hands free cause it’s an independent project, we had no commercial boundaries, no format to take into accountt, no deadlines.
In which circumstances did you meet Andrea Sachini ? Through the album, a natural feeling seems shared between you and Andrea, specially on the highlight "Hangin’ On Tomorrow".
Andrea is way more than part of the project. He’s the one who literally brought life to my songs. I could do the record only because of him. I should thank him everytime I talk of the record. I had a lot of good singers, but no one of them did the work as Andrea. And I think his best is yet to come. We meet some years ago, thanks to the internet, I left a message on a musicians forum and he answered. We share the same feeling about same things in music, and working together is real fun... "Hangin’ On Tomorrow" has been the last tune of "THOUSAND THINGS" to be written... I got the verse, the build and part of the chorus, but I couldn’t go further. Andrea wrote the rest of the music and completed the lyrics in a snap.
Can you tell us more about him and his background and influences ?
I guess music is second nature to him. He’s always been listening and playing music. He plays drums, guitar and keyboards. In spite of his age, he knows all the masters of the past from jazz to soul, and all the great American songwriters. There are many influences in his singing, from Stevie Wonder to James Taylor, but I think he’s got a very distinctive personality. And I love his writing too... Three cuts on the album are his fault!
Your last album is sold at CD Baby. Tell us more about that.
The Internet dramatically changed the way to promote and distribute music, but the guys at CD Baby took this a step further, they have an incredible organization. Is not a surprise that even big names signed with major labels can be found on CD Baby now.
Has internet made it easier for selling music for an artist like you, we can find your CD on CD Baby. What do you think about the online music and illegal download ?
Of course I disagree, it’s a lack of respect for the artist and his work but, on the other hand, making a record nowadays costs a fraction of how it used to be, so I guess that the record industry should do something to contain the price of recorded music. That’s why I wanted to keep my album on a reasonable price.
What is your best studio memory ?
Actually there are a lot! But if I had to say one, maybe is my very first time in the studio as an arranger. I was very young and it was my very first job with long time experienced musicians, all of them older than me. I wrote everything by hand and I had no chance to preview the arrangement cause no sequencer or sampler existed at that time. So I came into the studio with the parts thinking: “Am I really supposed to tell these people what they have to do?” It was big sweat for me but everything went right in the end, and I learned a lot from that people. I still remind it !
French Westcoast fans are nostalgic about 80's Westcoast. What do you think of Westcoast music in general ?
I actually think there will always be an audience for beautiful melodies, intriguing harmonies and good singing. Songs made with this approach have had their commercial time mostly within a certain period, but I think the expression "Westcoast" has just become a way to identify that approach. Many of Westcoast fans also listen to standards, jazz, country, soul or classical music, but I think all of them look for the same things in music, no matter the genre or the year of release.
Many reviews draw a parrallel between your musical craft and Westcoast legends like Michael McDonald & Bobby Caldwell. Are you agree with this comparison ? Do you appreciate these two artists ?
I’m honored that people associate my name to the ones of such big artists. They all are excellent songwriters and incredible performers.
Do you have any contact or project with big names of the Westcoast music scene ?
Yes, I’m in touch with some of them, both personally or through their management. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I don’t exclude I will have some of them as guests on my next album.
You're a part of the european west coast revival music scene, like George Grunwald, Peter Friestedt, Frederic Slama... Do you know these guys and what do you think of their work ?
I have to say I don’t know much about the european scene but with this revival wave many new names are coming out and that’s fine, is a good sign. I think they can bring a fresh, inspired approach to this music.
Is Westcoast music popular in Italy ?
Not so popular as in Northern Europe, but there’s a bunch of very hardcore fans here.
What are your projects ? Can we hope a new album next ? Please, say yes !!!
Being arranging and producing my main job, I have no much time left for personal projects. On the other hand, "THOUSAND THINGS" had such a good (and totally unexpected) response almost in any part of the world, that I’m having many requests to do another record. I’m actually working on some songs, but I want to take my time to go out with something I’m proud of. Maybe this late summer... Who knows ?
Any plans of a french tour ?
I would love it, really. I have quite many fans in France, but I think is too early. My project relies only on personal resources and I have to look around to find an agency seriously willing to take care of live promotion, maybe using local musicians.
Have you a wish for this new year or a good resolution to take for breaking a bad habit!!!
My worse habit is to be a musician, and I’m afraid I can’t help it!
Leave a message here for your french fans.
The rightest thing I can say is a huge thank you for your apprecciation in my music. Really. Also big thanks to you, Bruno and to all the people at Cool Night. Hope to come touring in France soon.
Thank you very much for your answers.
Take care, Bruno. Let’s keep in touch.
