Sallyanne Monti

AltaVia formed in 2008 in a small town in northern Italy, when after leaving his former band, Andrea Stagni (keyboards and vocals) started searching for new musicians. Davide, local musician and friend, introduced him to Marcello Bellina (drums, vocals), Mauro Monti (guitars, vocals) and Giuliano Vandelli (bass), who accidentally were looking for a keyboard player for a new project. That just seemed to be a perfect match for everyone. After the first rehearsals sessions, they realized that even though they all came from different musical backgrounds, they were all eager to head in the same new direction. Backing vocalist Betty Copeta joined the band after a few months.

Genealogia (1974) is their third record and follows the classic Abbiamo Tutti un Blues da Piangere (1973). The 1974 album sounds to me more varied but unfortunately the band leaves behind any vocalising. On the other hand, fortunately, they manage to create an unique atmosphere with the addition of acoustic guitars and saxophones. The most interesting track is the fantastic self titled opener which sounds a lot like a medieval dance, somehow unusual in the jazz rock genre. Other highlights are the explosive Polaris with its light crescendo and excellent work on electric piano and the strong (In) Vino Veritas (the longest track of the album being over 6:40 mns) where they give you a taste of their electric guitar playing. Pretty good the harder sound of this intrument and the slightly dissonant arrengements. The most proggy performance here.

Complete collection of Caruso's performance. the original recording untouched by digital reprocessing makes it even more attractive to me. it makes a great contrast to modern recordings of the contemporary tenors. the modern recording sound so artificial and computer enhanced in comparison - one might as week call them computer generated arias.

Gitarrissima - Melange
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 245 MB | Full Artwork: 55 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Acoustic Music Records # 319.1291.242 | Country/Year: Germany 2003
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Contemporary, Romantic, Classical Guitar

"Gitarrissima – das sind fünf junge Gitarristinnen, die sich in Wien kennenlernten. Das Quintett spielt eigene Bearbeitungen für die hochinteressante Besetzung mit drei Konzert-, einer Oktav- und einer Bass-Gitarre und pflegt ein Klangbild von besonderem Farbenreichtum und orchestraler Dichte. „Gitarrissima“ steht für fein gesponnene Gitarrenminiaturen ebenso wie für Saiten-Tänze voller Grazie, Verspieltheit und rhythmischer Prägnanz. „Melange“ bietet ein weitgefächertes Repertoire mit Stücken von Bach, Rossini, Franz Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Vittorio Monti und Astor Piazzolla." ~Flamenco-Aktuell