Milan Music!

La Brass Band

  All during the Milan Top Audio & Video show were various bands/concerts.  One in particular is La Brass Band. They are a quintet of musicians playing some great jazzy tunes as they walked throughout the show playing great music!

Giulio Cesare Ricci

Fonč is known for their high quality recordings which use minimalist microphone technics and fabulous microphones like the Neumann U47 and U49.  Seen here proudly manning the Fonč booth is their recording supervisor and sound engineer Giulio Cesare Ricci.  In fact their recordings of the samples i have here are beautifully recorded and, better still, contain great musicianship too! Being an Italian label, you can find many great classical recordings featuring great Italian instruments like the Amati, Guarneri, and the Stradivari.  Though their recordings are mainly available on CD, those seeking the vinyl frontier can find the limited edition Lodovico Viadana Vespri per l'Assunzione della Beata Vergine (92 F 08) on 180 gram vinyl pure analogue two record set!   Seek and ye shall find.  Good stuff here!

Another great label from Italy is Red Records.  Red features mostly contemporary jazz and world music.  Most of which is available on CD, though there are a handful of pure analogue 180 gram vinyl offerings too!  In fact they offer Chet Baker at Capolinea recorded at Cap Studio in Milan during 1983 on vinyl and CD!   Also available on both CD and vinyl is Cedar Walton The Trio (NS 206) which includes many original songs by Walton himself.  Here is a classic great jazz recording with Cedar Walton on piano, David Williams on bass, and Billy Higgens on drums.   Yet another recording on the Red label is Bobby Watson Appointment in Milano (VPA 184).  This jazz recording contains some songs composed by Watson himself and a few by others.  Watson plays altosax and soprano on this recording while Piero Bassini is on piano, Attilio Zanchi on bass, and Giampiero Pirna plays the drums.   Ok, so some Americans might not have heard of the above musicians yet just to give you a teaser, Bobby Watson spent four years in Art Blakey's crucible of bebop and graduated with honors.