(A Rösler Grand Piano)

It was a precise choice, basically they aren’t just short tunes, they are “complete themes”, but without improvisations, without variations, just the essence of an (I suppose) inspired composition. With all these times I could have done 5 or 6 albums but I really wanted so many compositions “all together”. “Pianovagando” is mainly a composer’s album, with a jazzy approach, a classical/rock/folk approach.

[I]f I listen now to my album I can re-experience the original idea of “jumpin’“ in my memories, with no rules, with no paths, simply goin’ from big events in my imaginary or real life (...but are they really so different?), living fully this sudden changes of emotions, the firrent [?] colors and depth of these “visions”.  Thank you for mentioning Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape”, there are similarities but also differences.  Basically... I didn’t know it before writing “Pianovagando” but the subject of ...searchin’ more in our past is fascinating, like watching a film a second or third times when you “get something” you didn’t get in the first play, and sometimes you understand it even more.  Differently from Beckett, my jump into my past is “lighter” in “drama” but at the same times full of depths of different kinds, without a real path, just picking up cards, in the big box of our life: sometimes you pick up an event that maybe changed your life and sometimes is just an “innocent” card, that by viewing it more accurately, can show its colors, sometimes in a surprising way!

Billy's Bunker:  What do you think of the young man who wrote those early tunes, and the other men you were through the years? Do you approve of him? Could you write those tunes today, or would you write differently?
Beppe Crovella:  Very very good question, I like it a lot! I’ve never thought about that! I tell you the truth... I really really approve everything, it’s me, it’s real me then and now. I think that sometimes “time” is an entity that we can “not think of” ... inspiration can go outside the doors of time.  I tell you something that can make more clearly what I mean, because it’s very personal and can help to understand my world.  There are friends of mine that after a dinner tell me how much they were different when they were very young, or others tell that they don’t even remember how they were. 
     On the other side I tell you, I fell that in several aspects and sometimes the deeper ones, I Feel almost the same...like when I was really young a part of me was...older.  When I was 11 for example I falled in love too deeply for a 11 years old guy, I can tell it, it wasn’t my choice, it was like ... I was.  I suffered a lot for a lost love for example, it wasn’t a game ...it was real suffering not so usual for a 11 years old man...  I Remember very well those Emotions.  If when I was 11, I experienced emotions like these ones and more, the way I experienced them in my “other ages” that means I was “sage” at 11 or maybe … I’m still a child, or maybe...both.  At the end as in my music I want to be “me.”  I want to give my emotions that can shake other people’s ones, everything I wrote is still me, today, and today I could write them the same way.

This album has become a friend.  It's good to have a solid friend when you may be having doubts.  That sort of person is very hard to find. I've taken to listening to Pianovagando at night as I'm heading off to sleep.  I hear the voice of a man who knows himself well, feels things deeply, and yet has accepted all that has gone before as a good life.  He is that rare individual who had a sense of himself through it all. Beppe Crovella is a good man to have on your stereo.  He's not afraid to tell you who he is, who he was, and where he is going.  You gotta love that!  

THE SONGS

Beppe Crovella wrote descriptions of each song in the booklet accompanying the CD Pianogavando.  Beppe's descriptions are in italics, and the Billy's Bunker comments are in plain text.  The song names and descriptions are listed below:

1. BIRTH (0:41)
I wrote it after arti & mestieri's split-up, back in 1978, as an opening for the "Mock-ups", my new band at the time.
This is a stately piece full of hope.  It has the feeling of a commencement exercise. 
2. GIANFRANCO (1:51)
One night, while going back to my studio, arti & mestieri's lead singer, Gianfranco (he had died more than 20 years before) came into my mind and as soon as I got to the piano in the studio, the melody was already there.
There is a sense of mystery and longing in this memory of vocalist Gianfranco Gaza. 
3. OVER THE OCEAN (1:09)
Over the ocean, in a shining dawn, for the first time in my life.
Beppe wrote this one in the spirit of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage." 
4. MONTMARTRE (2:14)
For years, the artistic and intellectual atmosphere that sparkled in Montmartre during the "Roaring Twenties" has been my favorite reverie.
This one reminds me of the Jacques Brel/Rod McKuen song "If You Go Away." 
5. WAITING FOR A STAR (1:16)
Waiting for your "now"!
This song is a circle played at first with a descending one-note bass line and a return.  The melody returns twice, and each time the bass is less ominous.  The chorus offers hope and resolve, with the theme returning in it's simplest form.
6. AURA (2:07)
I wrote this back in 1977, portraying the 'aura' that surrounded what was, in my opinion Jazz rocks's summer of love, an electric dimension, full of new colours, mostly from Miles' alumni.
"Aura" sounds like traveling music to me, though the journey is about getting somewhere in the mind.  There is a call and response throughout the verses, and an ascending bass line.  This one calls out for a back beat, and maybe a "Latin" rhythm section.
7. RAIN ON CHET (2:07)
Too much rain in Paris, water in the basements, including the one of a well known Jazz photographer who, on his way home found all of his photos floating down the street under the rain, including one of Chet Baker.
The sound effect of rain is added to fit the feel.  Chet Baker's attenuated voice can be felt in the notes of this song.  The melody is reminiscent of "A Day In The Life Of A Fool."  Beppe describes this song in the accompanying interview:  "I wrote lyrics for 'Rain on Chet', I will send them to you.  I hope to have it recorded one day sung by me or by someone else.  I love Chet Baker, I love that 'subtle way of feeling melancholy in jazzy moods.'"
8. SULLA JEEP (1:03)
This tune portrays the excitement of my brother, as a little kid, at the end of the Second World War, when Jim, an american soldier, used to take him to the American base, in the jeep, sparking great admiration and envy on the part of all my brother's friends.
The "jeep" starts up slow and a little melancholy, but the ride gets faster with a percussive left hand showing the power of the ride. 
9. FARENHEIT (0:45)
Inspired, in 1974, by the book burning that happened in Chile (like in F. Truffaut's film) with a 'floating melody' that says: "Hey... you can burn pages but you can't burn ideas."
Beppe seems to plead his case for the books in this melancholy tune.  The melody resolves several times, as though making a point.
10. MEXICALI (3:24)
I got this idea at the Mariachi fest after Baja Prog. with the wonderful atmosphere of musicians of the different bands from all over the world, that had participated in the festival, mixing with their audience, in a party.
This one is a waltz with some fancy footwork in the dancing.  It has a puckish, Latin feel.
11. ODE (1:31)
I wrote it in 1977 inspired by a beautiful poem, a kind of musician's manifesto by British poet Arthur William Elgar O'Shaughnessy, the melody literally follows the text, so it's basically a... O'Shaughnessy-Crovella tune.
The text of the poem is linked to the following reference: "Ode" by William Edgar O'Shaughnessy. 
Beppe Crovella playing "Ode" and other tunes on solo piano in Tokyo.
12. SIN FRONTERAS (1:35)
This is the first 'flamenco piano' tune I ever composed, affirming that passion and imagination don't have borders.
13. GIOVANE ANGELO (YOUNG ANGEL) (2:00)
Dedicated to Giovanni Romano Albano, who left us too early, portraying grief, sadness, melancholy and a definitely not easy search for serenity on the part of those who loved him.
14. GROOVE HUNTER (0:46)
Hunting for the groove!... armed with my piano.
15. RETURN OF EMOTION (1:26)
The awakening of a sleeping emotion.
The opening reminds me of the Christmas hymn "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear." 
16. STUDIO 1 (0:46)
A tune for Lelio Luttazzi, who conducted the Italian TV show Studio 1 in the 60's, that showed me how spontaneous, communicative and melodic (in an Italian way) jazz could be. His "scat singing" was unique.
Milly e Lelio Luttazzi singing "L'Amor e' un Pizzicor" on the show Studio Uno.
Lelio Luttazzi & Gorni Kramer doing "Carosello" in 1957 in the style of Spike Jones.
17. VALZER DEL TEMPO (THE TIME WALTZ) (1:23)
My father used to play popular waltzes with his violin, my brother often used to play "Wonderful Copenaghen"... [sic?] I've been dancing it and I've been playing jazz rock waltzes with arti & mestieri. The waltz has been a continuing theme in my "dancing with time."
There are hints of "My Favorite Things" in this waltz. 
18. SHIRAHATA POND (1:09)
Once in Tokyo, my friends Tatsurou and Yoko took me to experience the enchanting atmosphere of a little lake not very far from the high density of the city that we know; it was like 'time travelling' to many years before.
19. AFTER-LOVE SOLITUDE (0:53)
The sadness and loneliness after a love has ended.
20. THREE SISTERS' JOY (2:09)
What I feel when I see joy in the eyes of my three little nieces.
21. S. SEBASTIANO (0:50)
I love the country atmosphere of my little Italian village, that's able to conserve some of its characteristics despite aspects of a progress that isn't always needed.
22. BERAZATEGUI (1:42)
My brother wrote the first theme of this tango, in the fifties and I'm completing it now. We dedicate his tune to our grandmother's sister, Maria, who emigrated to Argentina, to look for work, before the 2nd world war.
23. AMORE RITROVATO (REDISCOVERED LOVE) (1:31)
It has happened a couple of times, in my life, to re-fall in love with the same girl, years after the first fall.
24. ARTURO E JIM (1:09)
My brother's story about when he used to play accordion with american soldiers, gettin' their groove.
25. SPRING IS HERE (0:34)
The serenity of a sunset in spring, one of my favourite moments, maybe because I was born at sunset on the first day of spring.
26. RUVIDO (ROUGH) (2:03)
Not exactly a "straight" waltz.
This waltz has an incessant left hand, suggesting something is spinning out of control like that scene in "The Out-Of-Towners" where Jack Lemmon crosses the street unwittingly high on something.  It seems dangerous.
27. 3 SECONDS (1:49)
Shocked by the social message of a TV-spot, about a child dying every three seconds, in the world, with the internal turmoil it creates, the impatience of wanting to do something about it...
28. DI NOTTE (BY NIGHT) (0:47)
Before going to bed, I like to take a walk outside, to the same place (not so different with the passing of the years), in the silence of a country night, as if the night itself was immune to the evolution of our time.
29. SIT PROCUL OMNE NEFAS! (THROW AWAY EVIL PROJECTS!) (0:49)
From Ovidio's "Larte di amare" (The art of loving) dedicated to that "certain someone".
30. GINKO 2 (1:21)
One day I was standing in front of a Ginkgo Biloba in my village and 2 days later I was in Tokyo for a concert with arti & mestieri gazing at another one in front of our hotel, near a temple.
31. BACK HOME (1:02)
During military service, during my first leave, as soon as I get back home and as soon as I touched the piano after 40 days of abstinence from any instrument, this tune instantly came to me.
This song is full of celebration.  Beppe describes this song in the accompanying interview:  "I really remember well that moment in which I could play again my piano (that I still have) and write “Back Home”, it came out instantly...with some tears of joy."
32. ERCOLANO (HERCOLANUM) (1:23)
The result of watching a film about that ancient roman city, recalling the ruins and the strange, calm stillness before the eruption of Vesuvius.
33. CERCANDO IL PARCHEGGIO (LOOKING FOR A PARKING PLACE) (1:31)
The need for stability.
34. SOPRA LE ONDE (ABOUT THE WAVES) (1:31)
A musician today has to be a really good surfer to ride the turbulent waves of these times.
35. SAGRA PAESANA (VILLAGE FESTIVAL) (1:30)
It were a peak moment in the life of a village like mine, and everyone felt it as if it were his own personal party.
36. RICORDI... QUANDO (DO YOU REMEMBER... WHEN) (0:29)
The emotion of remembering and re-feeling those old stories that all the people sitting around the table, knew well, but liked to listen to again and again, like an old song, even if it were melancholic story, like this tune.
37. PAN DI SPAGNA (1:39)
A cake whose major function is to serve as a base for layer cakes, symbolizing the "common heart" of all Spanish-speaking people that a part of me feels close to.
38. OMIYAGE (1:15)
Hiroco once sent me a nice present that evoked this musical idea. I like that nice Japanese tradition of gift-giving.


39. DICK L'INTREPIDO (1:20)
An Italian kind of like comic book that started in the 30's and lasted more than 50 years. In the 70's 'L'intrepido' was the most famous one for Italian teens.
40. MA NON CI SIAMO GIA VISTI? (HAVEN'T WE MET BEFORE?) (0:58)
Where?
41. FEET IN THE AIR (1:09)
The magic of Fred Astaire, his 'love-making' with dance.
A tribute to Fred Astaire on YouTube.
42. AMI 200 (0:51)
It was and still is my juke-box, remembering when I was a kid, and I was captured by the magic of this machine... the way "she" picked up the records and played them in that brilliant atmosphere of the late fifties.
43. GOIN' TO THE CLUB (1:49)
On the way to a club where a top band is playing, remembering the first time I saw an unforgettable session, at Mack 1, in Turin, with the great Brian Auger onstage.
Brian Augur organ solo on YouTube.
44. MATTINO CON NEBBIA (FOGGY MORNING) (1:05)
A relaxed, foggy November morning, improvising at the piano, in front of my window.
45. SNAPSHOTS (0:33)
The 'technique' of this album: Snapshots from my memories, my moods, my considerations, like randomly picking pictures up out of a box, with the images appearing suddenly.
46. I-AMIS (FRIENDS) (1:03)
From the piedmontese dialect, the importance of having friends along in your journey; this title is inspired by a hand written label on an old bottle of wine at my favourite 'trattoria', la Madonnina, at Casalborgone, where I like to eat with my 'amis'.
47. PRIME TRISTEZZE (1:25)
Remembering those first moments of sadness... (love's fault)... too early in my life.
48. SENZA FRENI (WITH NO BRAKES) (0:59)
No brakes! No rules or restrictions for your imagination.
49. A RICHIESTA DI FRANCO (BY REQUEST, FROM FRANCO) (1:37)
Sometimes, when my friend Franco Novarese comes to my studio, we play a game in which he makes up a title or comes up with an idea and I compose a tune on the spot, like I did with this one.
50. ARIES (1:17)
Being an Aries... the determination, passion, persistence and... the impatience.
51. HEISEI (STILLNESS) (1:01)
Sitting at a table with my Japanese friends conjures up this lovely image of a friendly Japanese atmosphere: calm, relaxed but at the same time so concentrated and very 'alive.'
52. MONTAGNE RUSSE (ROLLER COASTER) (1:37)
An accurate description of my life during these last 5 years.
53. COMPUMAN (1:17)
Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination. (Einstein)
54. FUNTERIA (1:36)
Not forgetting to have fun was the axiom when I composed music for cartoons... but it works with life as well.
55. INVOCATION (1:08)
...for a "new renaissance" so "needed" !!!
56. STAY HAPPY! (0:49)
The ending formula of my letters and e-mails to my friends.
57. AVANTI IL PROSSIMO (NEXT) (1:06)
An adaptation of the end of O'Shaughnessy's "Ode", that has become a primal axiom in my whole life: "For each dream that's dying, one is coming to birth".
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of earth
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
~ From "Ode" by William Edgar O'Shaughnessy

Links:
YouTube Video Introducing "Pianovagando"
Beppe Crovella's Official Website
Beppe Crovella on Myspace
Beppe Crovella on Facebook
Review of "Pianovagando" at ejazznews
Review of "Pianovagando" at allaboutjazz.com
Review of Pianovagando at muzik reviews


You may also be interested in Beppe Crovella's reflection on the music of
Soft Machine.
(click the image below)