VOCI

I just wanted to post this review and then discovered that my review is the first one of this 'RPI gem' while the homepage is flooded by Classic Rock bands like Black Sabbath.... incredible! OK, now let's focus on the music. Luciano Basso is a classically trained and experienced musician, specialized in Grand piano and writing compositions, he has made 4 LP's (source: book Progressivo Italiano by Barotto & D'Ubaldo): Voci (1976), Cogli Il Giorno (1978), Frammenti Tonali (1979) and Luciano Basso (1980) on the Ariston label. Later he released 5 CD's and nowadays he is a music teacher in the known Italian city Padua.

Listening to his instrumental debut album Voci the music reminds me of keyboard oriented Seventies Prog bands like Trace, ELP, Le Orme and Triumvirat, also driven by virtuosic play on the Grand piano: from fragile (Voci) and sparkling (Promenade II and Voci) to jazzy (Promenade II) or wonderful interplay between Grand piano and the violin like in Preludio, Voci and the experimental Echo (lots of good ideas but sometimes it sounds a bit too fragmentic to me). Although the Grand piano is omnipresent, you can also enjoy a wide range of vintage keyboards, from the mighty Hammond organ and the unsurpassed Mellotron to the harpsichord, clavinet, string-ensemble and even a church organ sound. Some songs contain sensitive work on the electric guitar like halfway Preludio and in the final part of the Voci. The Vinyl Magic CD release features the poorly recorded bonustrack Mignon (almost 3 minutes), it is a bit disappointing end of a beautiful Seventies Italian Prog album, layered with great work on keyboards, especially in the titletrack Luciano Basso shows his skills in playing keyboards and writing compositions!