Mediterraneo

While Mediterraneo became known for their most commercial albums, the first couple of them definitely have a progressive edge. The band came from Alicante, formed in early 70's and led by keyboardist/singer Víctor Carratala and drummer Alfonso Linares. Due to the dictatorship in Spain the band changed a couple of names as Huevo Frito and Mandragora without releasing anything. By late-70's though a more intensive period starts for them with numerous gigs at festivals and clubs and the small local label Aphrodita decides to press their debut "Estrechas calles de Santa Cruz" in 1978.

Jazz pianist Stefano Bollani was born in Milan, Italy, on December 5, 1972. He began playing piano as a child in order to accompany his singing, but soon concentrated solely on the instrument, enrolling in a conservatory in Florence when he was 11. There, he studied both jazz and pop music, and after graduating in 1993, added his keyboard skills to albums for many of Italy's top pop stars, including Laura Pausini, Irene Grandi, and Jovanotti. When working with the latter in 1996 he met avant-garde jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava, who invited the young pianist to play with him in Paris, an opportunity Bollani quickly accepted.

Carlo Domeniconi retains a close relationship with the culture of the Mediterranean whose traditions and customs permeate the Concerto Mediterraneo, Op. 67 in which the two guitars evoke North African and Middle Eastern plucked instruments such as the oud and the saz. Domeniconi’s prestige as an internationally esteemed guitarist informs Oyun, a vivacious and true hybrid of Turkish and Western influences, while Trilogy demands both unusual tuning and imaginative improvisation from the performer. Full of virtuosity, energy and pensive melancholy, Toccata in blue embodies allusions to boogie-woogie and the blues.