Arti e Mestieri

Universi Paralleli is the last, long awaited, studio album by Arti e Mestieri, a band from Turin that have been active, one way or another, for more than forty years. It was released in 2015 on the Cramps - Sony label with a renewed line up featuring, along with founder members Gigi Venegoni (acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards) and Furio Chirico (drums, percussion), also Iano Nicolò (vocals), Piero Mortara (accordion, piano, keyboards), Lautaro Acosta (violin, electric violin), Roberto Puggioni (bass, fretless bass) and Marco Roagna (acoustic and electric guitars) plus some prestigious guests such as Arturo Vitale (sax), Mel Collins (sax, flute) and Lino Vairetti (vocals)…

"Giro de Valzer per Domani" is the sophomore release by Arti & Mestieri. It is a transitional album since it has a couple of sung tracks (with Gianfranco Gaza filling the lead singer's role) that frontally announce the band's growing decision to pursue a musical direction a bit closer to mainstream-related jazz-rock, while still bearing a high predominance of complex jazz-prog. The fact is that this album is not intended to match or reiterate the valiant energy of their debut masterpiece "Tilt", but it is certainly more focused on enhancing the band's melodic terrain, augmenting the Mediterranean feel in a very noticeable way. The jazz core now strays a bit away from the Mahavishnu influence in favor of a stronger relatedness to the compatriot ensemble Perigeo…

Very nice and fluid fusion music from this italian band. This album is not as strong as "Tilt" or "Giro di Valzer", but offers us some nice songs, with very good playing from all the band members. Furio Chirico (drums) is less remarkable, but he is still a reference in this album. Good keyboard and flute work, but the guitar is not so impressive due to the major presence of the keyboards. The vocals in some themes, in the beginning, are a little rough, but they become quite interesting as soon as we get used to.

Arti & Mestieri are one of the best known Italian prog bands and their debut album "Tilt" was Italy's answer to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Layer on top of an album full of high energy and high creative explosions the masterful drumming of Furio Chirico and you have a recipe for great success. With varing styles and major tempo and mood swing this band unleash a truely wonderful album! The addition of Saxes, piano, and vibraphone also give this album a stong polarity into the jazz genre. The violin wok of this album (Giovanni Vigliar) remind of Jean Luc Ponty and when combined with the band in full sounds truely majestic.