Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL February 2014 NAMM Issue | Page 35

song with Sunny Levine, Ron Temperton
and Quincy Jones. It was an amazing
experience. We are the Future (WAF),
a program for children and youth in
conflict-ridden areas, which was launched
in 2004. The WAF focuses on five areas
essential for rehabilitation: Health,
Nutrition, Arts, Sports and Information
& Communications Technology. It was
recorded live with fantastic performances
from everybody…from Alicia Keys to
Santana, from Herbie Hancock to Ennio
Morricone’s Orchestra. A six hour concert
in front of half a million people. The
“musical headquarter” was The Forum
Village Studio in Rome, a legendary place
that I wish every musician to experience
thanks to the solar and tireless manager
Marco Patrignani. The project didn’t
really develop later for too many reason…
but you can still find the DVD on the
internet.
A live recording concert at Apogee
Studio by Bob Clearmountain…featuring
The Olms…Calibreeze Style!!!
Producing and working with great
songwriters like Veronica Coassolo,
Megan Jacobs and the epic Luca
Crostella (“Lullabies For Your Inner Child”
by Beneath The Underdog…that was
intense and lovely!!!)
Definitely my album “Essential
Improvisation” created with free jazz
drummer-composer Marco Piali. This
record was actually recorded in my homestudio and in his garage-studio; that’s
very special to me. Nowadays, with all
these technological innovations you can
literally produce an amazing record from
your living room…or a garage (CLICK
HERE FOR THE ALBUM ON iTUNES).
I’d love to mention Aika’s latest record
called “No Mo Games,” which was

recorded at NeilaProductions Studios
here in California and in Japan. Unique,
Wild and Lovely. She is powerful!
Favorite bass? Piece of gear? What
strings or amps do you use?
My favorite bass is a 72 Fender
P-bass equipped with a hipshot. I also
love my 1960 Hofner bass that I made
fretless, a gift from my great friend
Enzo Baldessarro, wonderful teacher
and bass maniac. My favorite amp is the
Ampeg SVT, usually with an 8x10 or an
18 and a 2x10. Regarding strings I usually
use Daddario or Rotosounds. On the
subject of Effects I use a LowFilter Moog,
(sponsored by one of my dearest friends
and favorite musicians ever, Eamon
Ryland), an old Akai Echo and a Whammy.
I love crazy sounds too...delays, feedback,
distortion and filters, however I do not
always use effects. We have to serve the
Music. On my latest tour with The Olms
I literally used NO EFFECTS! Bass and
cable!!!
Tips for other musicians?
Enjoy and love what you do and do
what you love. That’s the advice I give to
anyone. You need to love what you do and
do what you love. This always produces
great results. Listen to the oldies…all the
great records. Play as much as possible
with all the people from all over the
world…LA is the best place for this!!!
Professionally of course, in 2014 musicians
need to market themselves, learn about
production, basic mixing, e diting, etc.
We live in fast times…everything changes
quickly and we need to be updated…
whether we like it or not!
Moreover, we should never compare
ourselves to anybody. We are all different.
FEB 2014 / BASSMUSICIANMAGAZINE.COM