In 1995, Piero Montanari released Ulysses: A Traveller Through Time And Space, an album of ambient instrumental music intended for production and soundtrack use that was produced by Stefano Torossi.

The nineteen original compositions on Flippermusic’s Primrose Music include “Seagull Flight,” “Canyon,” “Steps On The Moon,” “African Plains,” and “Celtic Ballad.”

Piero Montanari commented on the inspiration and concept behind the album produced by Stefano Torossi:

The idea came from the director of Flipper, Romano Di Bari. The album possesses a “depth” intended to be both spiritual as well as physical: the sea, outer space, but also the soul. For me, the CD is full of music that comes from the soul. Stefano came up with the idea of a man traveling through these elements, so who better than Ulysses?

Piero Montanari’s “Celtic Ballad,” produced by Stefano Torossi, is on YouTube:

Montanari composed and performed each track, including “Orbit,” “Desert Fascination,” “Long Distance,” “Timeless Glide,” “Jungle Magic,” “The Infinity,” and “Profundity,” on the Ulysses: A Traveller Through Time And Space CD, which was recently reissued as a download for the first time.

Montanari explained:

I played all the bass and keyboards. I also dealt with all of the programming of the computer, which was an Atari 1040 ST, an archaic tool now, but back then it could be used for all the keyboards and the synthesizer rather than loading samples on the computer, which is how it’s often done these day.

Tracks from Piero Montanari on Ulysses: A Traveller Through Time And Space have appeared on dozens of compilations beginning with two album cuts on Sacred Moments: Meditative And Religious Music For The Heart And Soul (2000) on Primrose Music, and including Best Music For Shiatsu Vol. 1: Deep Relaxation (2015) on Relaxing Music and Music for Cooking Recipes to Surprise, Vol. 5 (Chinese Cuisine) (2015) on the Lounge Music Cocktail label.

Piero Montanari’s “Orbit,” produced by Stefano Torossi, is here:

“Siberian Land,” “Mother Nature,” “High Sea,” ”Black Hole,” “Space Archaeology,” “The Sultan,” and “Japanese Ceremony” all first appeared on Ulysses, which is the only full length album Piero Montanari and Stefano Torossi worked on together despite collaborating on more than 40 tracks on albums including Little Ones: Children & Cartoon (1998) and 20th Century: A History 1 (1999) on Primrose Music and Musica per commenti sonori: Check Up (1999) on Costanza Records.

Their work includes at least five albums made together for Rai Trade, starting with the 1998 compilation Art and History: Atlante storico, a CD featuring Stefano Torossi and composer-performers Fabrizio Fornaci, Alessandro Forti, Maurizio Furlani, Piero Montanari, Latizia Romeo, and Claudio Scozzafava, through the Italian label’s Contemporary Style release in 2003, showcasing Stefano Torossi with Federico Arezzini, Fornaci, Furlani, Mark Hamlyn, Christian Kusche, Federico Laterza, Montanari, L. Pellegrino, and Scozzafava.

Piero Montanari’s “Mother Nature” from Ulysses: A Traveller Through Time And Space, produced by Stefano Torossi, is here:

More Music from Piero Montanari

Piero Montanari has been making music for film soundtracks and pop albums since the mid-1960s, playing with musicians like Chet Baker, Tullio De Piscopo, Roberto Gatto, Tony Scott, Toots Thielemans, Amedeo Tommasi, and Massimo Urbani, to name a few. In 1972, Montanari had two tracks on Musica In Rilievo, a highly sought compilation album on the Beautiful Black Butterfly Records label, “Zoo Sound” and “Frogs In Love.”

In 1973 Piero Montanari released a pair of classic albums on Italy’s Octopus Records, Climax and Bass Modulations, both near impossible to find in the original vinyl but thankfully reissued by Pinball Music in 2010 as digital downloads. Several key tracks appear on Scoctopus: The In Sound From Octopus Records! and Flipper Psychout, including “Zoo Sound” and “Frogs In Love” from Musica In Rilievo. Piero Montanari also played bass on Pasquale Castiglione & Paolo Casa’s Clouds, a 1975 release on Octopus that has also been reissued by Pinball, a digital label under the Flippermusic umbrella.

Pasquale Castiglione and Paolo Casa’s title track from Clouds, featuring Piero Montanari on bass, is on YouTube:

Besides making music on at least five albums for Rai Trade with old friend Stefano Torossi, including Art and History: Atlante storico (1998), Sport & Travel (1999), Problemi sociali (2000), Social Tensions (2003), and Contemporary Style (2003), Piero Montanari has made a handful of additional titles for the production music-focused label.

The titles include Piero Montanari’s Digital Age (1999), Lounge Music Project (2004), Guitar Fun (2006?), with Lello Panico amd Enrico Solazzo, and Blockbuster Music: Musica di Piero Montanari and Danilo Mosetti (2009)–Montanari and Mosetti also collaborated on Movie Superheroes – Orchestral – Soundtrack – Fantasy released by Deneb Records in 2012.

“Black Out” from Piero Montanari’s Digital Age album, produced by Melodicon, is on YouTube:

In 2004, Piero Montanari released Lounge Music Project, produced and arranged by Montanari and Fredy Biscaccianti. Recorded and mixed at Studio Nautilus in Rome, musicians include Giancario Maurino on soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone and flute, Lello Panico on electric and acoustic guitar, Cicci Santucci on trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as Bisaccianti on keyboards and percussion and Montanari on bass, keyboards, and percussion.

Recorded and mixed at Studio Nautilus in Rome, musicians include Giancario Maurino on soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone and flute, Lello Panico on electric and acoustic guitar, Cicci Santucci on trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as Bisaccianti on keyboards, percussion, computer programming, and sound design and Montanari on bass, keyboards, and percussion.

Piero Montanari’s “Time Spotting” from Lounge Music Project is online:

More videos from albums and films using the music of Piero Montanari, including an unforgettable dream sequence from director Joe D’Amato’s 1991 film Ritorno dalla morte (Frankenstein 2000), are found on a sampler that accompanies an interview with the bassist-composer HERE.

A Piero Montanari mini audio sampler with the original version of “Zoo Sound” from the Musica in rilievo compilation from 1972, “Likewise” and “Properly” from 1973’s Bass Modulations, the short version of “Frogs In Love” added to the 2010 Climax reissue of the 1973 LP, and “Only You,” from the 1987 soundtrack for Undici giorni undici notti featuring vocalist Katy Verevinais, is on SoundCloud:

And one more from Piero Montanari, “Glaze,” another under-the-radar gem from his Climax album on Italy’s Octopus Records, currently available as a digital reissue by Pinball Music at iTunes, Amazon, and most major online music retailers: