Italian Standards

I've been living for a long time now with the inquietude to share the sounds that I heard during my early years, growing up in Italy. At home, my mother's collection of vinyl records were always playing the classic Italian hits by artists such as Mina and Celentano. When I listen to them today, they carry me off to a distant world of black and white movies, where Italian culture was represented with so much style and irony.
Musicians: Italian Standards

 

 

Production: Italian Standards


 

JOHNNY BRANCHIZIO:
Production, Arrangments & Guitars

Johnny Branchizio was born in Rome on the 27th of September 1969. His first contact with a guitar was inside the family environment at the age of 10, in Milan. But it was at the age of 14 that his passion for playing Rhythm and Blues blossomed. At the age of 16 he took his first music lessons with Giorgio Cocilovo, with whom he was introduced to the jazz language. In Milan he played with the clarinetist Tony Scott, partner with Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Bill Evans among others. His musical growth is based mainly in the education obtained in the first years of his career with musicians of very different styles, such as jazz, blues, rock, pop, Brazilian music, etc. In 1993 he travelled to Chicago, where he was performing in various clubs and carrying out concerts with local artists of R&B. Since his return to Europe, he has also collaborated in various stylistic environments, like Carmen Garcia, Boney M, Kati Autrey, Memory of the Blues and Amparanoia, recording disks and playing in some international tours within Europe and Latin America. Since the year of 2006, he composes, arranges and produces music by other artists; among them the singer-songwriter Roger Whipp, the singer Johnny de Lo and the soundtrack of the short film "Sensaciones". In 2006 he produced his first disk as a soloist "Italian Standards" a tribute to the Italian music of the 50's and 60's.

ABEL BOQUERA: Keyboards

Abel Boquera, regularly plays in Harlem Jazz Club, the London Bar, Jamboree and the Jazz club. Currently, participates in various projects which range from hard rock, blues, jazz, reggae, bossanova etc. His own band "El profesor bacterio" and is a member of the Standard Soul Band

He has participated with Quim Vila, singer song writer and winner of the Sona9 competition , and has participated in the recording of his CD's "Verbaquim 700", Picap 2003 and "Fent amics", which were recorded and produced by Marc Parrot.

He has also particpated in a long list of festivals with different groups: Benicàssim 1998 with Alias Galor, "Mercado de Música viva de Vic" with Standard Soul Band, "Festival Internacional World Music de Getafe 2003" with Benji & The Riddim Heat, "Fiestas de Gracia 2004" with Dan electro, "I Festival internacional de jazz Bel.luna 2004" with Sergio Contreras cuarteto, "Festival Brasil Noar 2004" with Cumbuca,"III Festival internacional de jazz Reus 200"5 with Toni Solà-Dave Mitchell cuarteto, "Sònar 2005" with Profesor Angel Dust, "Muestra de jazz de Sant Boi 2005" with Abel Boquera trío, "Festival de música creativa Ciutat Vella 2005", "Ribermúsica", "Festival de música de Sitges 2005" with Bender vs. Flexo," XIX Semana Musical 'Vicente Lillo Cánovas' de Sant Vicente del Raspeig 2006" with the Ramón Cardo jazz cuarteto etc....

DAVID GOMEZ : Drums

David's musical career started in Granada Spain in 1989, where he played in rock, salsa and Brazilian music. He moved to Barcelona in 1993, playing in various jazz groups. He has played on more than 30 albums which have covered many different musical styles including jazz, blues, rumba Catalan, new flamenco, Latin jazz, sound tracks… and has accompanied different musicians including Chano Domínguez, Peter King, Bruce Barth, Miguel Poveda, Luis Salinas… recently he has toured with David Bisbal and Manuel Carrasco. Currently he is is teaching at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) and playing with the Gary Willis trio, The Funklab and Memory of the blues.

Pere Serrano:
Sound Engineer Extrodinaire

Pere is "Grabaciones de Mentira" and like all great sound engineers he is an experienced musician and must take credit for many good ideas and solutions he gave us during the recording of the album.