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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
One positive aspect about archives of music artists sadly no longer with us, it is that of having, every so often, some undiscovered gems emerging under form of records, to celebrate a special circumstance related to the aforementioned artists.
It is therefore very fitting that, to remember the tenth anniversary of the passing of one of the greatest Blues/Rock guitarists of the last half a century, Gary Moore, the record label Provogue/Mascot Label Group has released a record of Moore's never before heard alternative takes, deep cuts and a couple of previously unreleased songs from the Northern Irish Guitar Maestro, called How Blue Can You Get.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's common knowledge, within the music business, that a debut album for a solo artist or for a band, it can be often a case of make it or break it.
If that is indeed the case, the California-based Power Trio called Levara couldn't ask for a better record to start their music career then through their eponymous album, a record that combines catchy tunes, epic guitar solos, powerful drumming and vocal performances of strong impact .
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There are not many artists in the current music scene that, at the age of 37, can be called as such in the most complete sense of the word as much as Hollywood-born singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Judith Hill.
Very often, whenever you may claim to have been raised, artistically, under the protective wing of legendary artists like the late great Roger "Prince" Nelson, who produced Hill's debut album Back In Time at his Paisley Park studios and to have worked with somebody with the caliber of Michael Jackson (Hill rehearsed for several months together with Jackson, prior to his unexpected death, for what was supposed to be Jackson's This Is It Tour), the pressure of fulfilling artistic expectations may be very high and, at times, very consuming on a personal level too.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
If it is true that the making of an artist at 360 degrees it is defined by their artistic integrity, in that case nobody can deny that the Italian Blues Harmonica Maestro and singer/songwriter Fabrizio Poggi belongs to that category.
The Grammy-nominee artist and winner of the Bluebird Reviews 2020 Artist Of The Year Award has never been shy in complementing his Blues/Gospel/Spiritual roots with other music genres, throughout his outstanding career, as proved by Poggi's previous studio album called For You, which saw the Italian artist delivering a body of work of remarkable artistic depth, heavily influenced by layers of Blues and Jazz.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's sometimes difficult to understand why it would take half a century, for a legendary artist of the talent of Steve Cropper, to release a new album, after his 1969's solo debut With A Little Help From My Friends.
Although stated as his official second solo album on paper, Cropper's new record called Fire It Up is the first one that he has entirely written (and self-produced) from scratch, while his 1969's debut was including not original songs but only cover songs from other fellow artists.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Poetry and music have, unquestionably, been one of the most palatable artistic marriages since the dawn of time. As the years have gone by, though, very few music artists have been inspired by the concept of unifying those two forms, preferring instead to give space to musical expressions which intent would be, in some cases, to please solely their fans and achieve commercial success, without thinking too much at the depth and quality of the finished product.
It is therefore very gratifying to see that there are still artists, out there, like the American singer and multi-instrumentalist artist Pamela Sue Mann, capable to look far beyond the standard song-making format and focus instead on how different art-forms can live together in perfect unison, just like Mann has so beautifully demonstrated on her latest release, called Revenant.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
When looking at the history of the Bolshevik Russian Revolution, back in the early 1900s, many may not be aware of the importance of a figure like Vladimir Vladimirovich Majakovskij, poet, artist, playwright and actor, in the development of what would have become known as Russian Futurism.
Majakovskij, who took his own life at the age of 37, despite being a strong admirer of Vladimir Lenin, had a rather tormented and tumultuous relationship with the Soviet state, using often his high literary skills to criticize the shape of the Soviet system through poems like The Bathhouse or Talking With The Taxman About Poetry. The passion and the commitment for a better world for his country of origin, expressed through all of the Russian artist's poems through the years, it has been and still is a strong reference point not only on a literatural level, for many writers and poets, but also considered as a strong example of futuristic, revolutionary Manifesto, displayed by the artist on many levels, both from an artistic and idealistic side.