Jay Richford and Gary Stevan’s Feelings, an album initially released in 1974 on the Italian label Carosello, continues to connect with music fans across genres 40 years after its debut. The eclectic mix of funk, pop, Motown, jazz, and rock was composed by Sandro Brugnolini, Giancarlo Gazzani, Puccio Roelens, and Stefano Torossi, with Gazzani also conducting and doing all the arrangements.

Long hailed as a holy grail of the library music genre, Feelings has just been reissued in vinyl and CD as part of the Schema Easy Series. Following the lead of Carosello, the new Schema reissues credit the album to “Jay Richford and Gary Stevan,” aliases of Puccio Roelens and Giancarlo Gazzani, respectively. Co-composers Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi are not mentioned, although some later reissues either added Torossi to the first two composers, or dropped them entirely and attributed the whole album to Torossi.

Feelings showcases some outstanding players on bass, horns, flutes, piano, strings, and more, including guitarists using a wah-wah pedal to great effect. Longtime composer-producer Stefano Torossi, a frequent collaborator with fellow composers Sandro Brugnolini and Gazzani, explains why:

[the album] “was played only by studio musicians … the best we could find at the time, and the results show.”

Jay Richford and Gary Stevan (aka Puccio Roelens and Giancarlo Gazzani)’s “Flying High,” the opening track, is on YouTube:

Besides “Flying High,” side A of the landmark album includes “Going Home,” “Walking In The Dark,” “Fighting For Life,” and “Feeling Tense.”

Side B of Feelings features “Running Fast,” “Loving Tenderly,” “Fearing Much,” “Being Friendly,” and “Having Fun.”

An audio file of Jay Richford and Gary Stevan (aka Puccio Roelens and Giancarlo Gazzani)’s “Having Fun“ is on SoundCoud:

Prior to the February 2016 vinyl and CD reissues by Schema, Feelings has been reissued on several occasions including in 2012 by Portugal’s Golden Pavilion Records (GP1017LP). Limited to 1000 copies, this vinyl-only release is becoming difficult to find (but not impossible). The only previous CD version of Feelings was issued by Easy Tempo in Italy (ET 926 CD) and is now out of print. Unlike the Schema and Golden Pavilion reissues that retain the original cover art, Easy Tempo introduced a new cover.

Although vinyl enthusiasts still have a chance to purchase the Schema reissue in many markets, collectors are far too aware how difficult it is to find the six earlier issues of this landmark album in vinyl. Perhaps the most sought after are the original on Carosello, the Top Tape 1975 reissue in Brazil (LP-TT-067), and Conroy’s 1976 pressing in England (BMLP 143). Both Top Tape and Conroy retained the same running order as the original Carosello release.

Feelings was released in Italy in 1989 under the title Strumentali: Tensioni (NRE 1245), part of Fonit Cetra‘s excellent Nuovo Repertorio Editoriale library series. This reissue also kept the same track sequence and was the first one to use all three names: Richford, Stevan, and Torossi. The LP release can still be found occasionally on auction sites specializing in out of print library music.

Another version of Feelings was released by Italian record label Costanza Records in 1986. This was the first reissue to alter the original track order, which Easy Tempo followed on their 2000 CD reissue. The Costanza vinyl LP pops up on auction sites such as eBay now and then.

The modified track listing is here:

Side A

• Flying High
• Walking In The Dark
• Fighting For Life
• Feeling Tense
• Running Fast

Side B

• Being Friendly
• Fearing Much
• Having Fun
• Loving Tenderly
• Going Home

Jay Richford and Gary Stevan (aka Puccio Roelens and Giancarlo Gazzani)’s “Fearing Much” is one of many Feelings album cuts currently available on YouTube:

Download

In recent years, leading online music retailers have added Feelings including iTunes ($7.99 at the U.S. store), which offers a 256 kbit/AAC MP4 version (for $7.99) and Amazon which offers the album in MP3 format (for $8.90).

A Clarification About Artist Credit

Due to legal restrictions at the time regarding artists working for multiple labels, neither Sandro Brugnolini nor Stefano Torossi’s names could appear on the initial release of Feelings by Carosello in 1974. Instead, “Jay Richford and Gary Stevan,” the aliases for Puccio Roelens and Giancarlo Gazzani, respectively, were used. Later editions in 1975 by Brazil’s Top Tape and in 1976 by England’s Conroy followed the same approach. In 1986, however, Costanza Records first used Torossi’s name, in addition to “Jay Richford and Gary Stevan,” when they reissued Feelings as part of their Musica per commenti sonori series. The 1989 Fonit Cetra reissue of the LP, Strumentali: Tensioni, is the only other release to use the three composers’ names.

In 2000, Easy Tempo’s CD and LP reissues of Feelings used Stefano Torossi’s name exclusively. As the 2016 Schema Easy Series and 2012 Golden Pavilion Records LP reissues both follow Carosello’s lead, it appears the Costanza Records and Fonit Cetra releases are the closest to being accurate, mentioning, if not directly, three of the four co-composers of Feelings. Who at the record company first decided to use Stefano Torossi’s name as the single composer for the Easy Tempo releases is unclear, but this was done without the knowledge of Torossi. In fact, he and Sandro Brugnolini agreed not to appear on labels and jackets yet Stefano’s name appeared later nonetheless. Torossi recently commented:

“We all worked together, including Brugnolini, and consequently, we all signed together the deposit document of each selection, dividing the royalties in equal parts… That’s the story.”

More from the Artists: Jay Richford (aka Puccio Roelens)

Amleto Armando “Puccio” Roelens studied music in school as a young man. Before World War II, he played accordion in an orchestra in Turin and then piano for several groups. In 1948, he formed his own orchestra. In the 1950s, he began composing music for film and TV. Armando Sciascia, an old friend, later invited Roelens to collaborate on several albums, working with musicians including Francesco Anselmo, Al Korvin, and Tullio De Piscopo. In 1976, Puccio Roelens released the highly-regarded Research Of Sound on Edipan–reissued on vinyl by SONOR Music Editions in 2015.

In 1977, Puccio Roelens released Rock Satellite on RCA, a jazz-funk LP that also features Silvano Chimenti, Enrico Pieranunzi, Enzo Restuccia, and Antonello Vannucchi, among other talented musicians–the identical album was also released in France under the title April Orchestra Presente RCA Sound Vol 13.

In 1979, Puccio Roelens released Musica per commenti sonori: Lipstick on Costanza Records (CO 100011).

A selection of tracks from Puccio Roelens’ Musica per commenti sonori: Lipstick is on YouTube:

More from the Artists: Gary Stevan (aka Giancarlo Gazzani)

Born in Rome in 1941, Giancarlo Gazzani studied trombone and composition in school. He also began conducting, which later resulted in stints as head of various symphony orchestras and rhythm groups. Gazzani has done numerous original compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions for wind instruments and is currently the head of orchestral exercises at the Conservatory of Turin. Among non-musical activities the composer and arranger is known for are racing motorcycles, something Gazzani did professionally in his younger years, and being a licensed pilot, a pastime he continues in 2016.

Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi worked on several of Giancarlo Gazzani’s albums for Costanza Records including Musica per commenti sonori (1971) (CO 10006), Musica per commenti sonori (1971) (CO 10007), and Musica per commenti sonori (1974) (CO 10010), the last pulled from circulation soon after its formal release.

Giancarlo Gazzani’s “Amori finiti” from Musica per commenti sonori (1971) (CO 10007), featuring an uncredited Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi, has recently been uploaded to the Internet:

A closer look at the music of Giancarlo Gazzani is found at the album spotlight on Musica per commenti sonori (1974) (CO 10010) HERE.

A number of videos uploaded to the Web include Giancarlo Gazzani’s recent music with various orchestral groups. A sampler of his earlier music from the 1970s on SoundCloud includes:

• “Paranoia” and “Puro amore” from Giancarlo Gazzani’s Musica per commenti sonori (1971) Costanza Records (CO 10006)
• “Underdrama” from Giancarlo Gazzani’s Musica per commenti sonori (1971) Costanza Records (CO 10007)
• “Shift” and “Perifrasi” from Giancarlo Gazzani’s Musica per commenti sonori (1974) Costanza Records (CO 10010)
• and “Running Fast,” “Being Friendly,” and “Having Fun” from Jay Richford and Gary Stevan (aka Giancarlo Gazzani and Puccio Roelens)’s Feelings (1974) on Carosello Records (CLN 25041), also arranged and conducted by Gazzani

More from the Artists: Sandro Brugnolini

Born and raised in Rome, composer and alto sax player Alessandro “Sandro” Brugnolini started out as a member of the Modern Jazz Gang from 1956 to 1965 when he played sax, arranged, and acted as the main writer on albums including Miles Before And After (1960). At the end of the decade, he joined Stefano Torossi to record Musica per comment sonori (1969), the first of more than a dozen albums they have worked on together including Feelings (1974), with Giancarlo Gazzani and Puccio Roelens, Strumentali: Genere computermusic – homo tecnologicus (1986), Strumentali: Emozionale (1987), and Musica per commenti sonori: Acoustic (I Marc Quattro oggi – suoni acustici degli anni ’60-’70) (1997).

Several of Sandro Brugnolini’s most popular albums were done in the run-up to Feelings, including Underground (1970), Overground (1970), with Luigi Malatesta, and Utopia (1972). His soundtrack output includes Gli arcangeli (1962) with the Modern Jazz Gang, featuring Helen Merrill on vocals, Fantabulous, Inc. (1967), with vocals by Gianpiero Graziano, and Gungala la pantera nuda (1968) and Dov’é L’Australia (1968), both with Luigi Malatesta. In addition, Sandro Brugnolini released a series of albums in the early to mid-1970s under the alias Narassa, almost all with pianist-keyboard player Amedeo Tommasi, including Tensione dinamica, Guerra e angoscia, Camera-Car, and Made In U.S.A.

The opening track from Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi’s first Musica per commenti sonori LP in 1969, “Sweet-Beat,” is also the first track on the December 2015 release from Semi-Automatic Records, Library of Sound Grooves: Action Beat & Psycho Grooves From the Italian Cinema (1966-1974), a double LP compilation limited to 750 copies.

Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi’s “Sweet-Beat” (or “Sweet Beat”), which was later included on Sandro Brugnolini, Vito Tommaso, and Stefano Torossi’s Musica per commenti sonori: The Seventies (1997) CD for Costanza Records–reissued as a digital download by Deneb Records in 2013 under the title Vintage Jazz, Pop & Rock: 1960s – 1970s – Easy Listening, is on YouTube:

In addition to several album spotlights featuring Sandro Brugnolini located in the Albums section above, an interview that includes numerous musical highlights is found HERE.

In the first half of 2015, Narassa (aka Sandro Brugnolini)’s Viaggio Pop 1 & 2, originally released by Ayna in 1973, was reissued as a double vinyl album, including a high-quality digital download. The full album can be previewed at Cinedelic’s page on bandcamp. In the second half of the year, Brugnolini’s soundtrack for the 1967 film Fantabulous, Inc. was reissued in vinyl by Four Flies Records, including a special 45 single. An extended excerpt is on SoundCloud.

A compilation of tracks from a number of classic Sandro Brugnolini/Narassa albums is on SoundCloud that includes:

• “Cortex,” a bonus track from Sandro Brugnolini’s Overground (1970) Sincro
• “Reiteratòico,” “Respòndico,” “Ciaciàstico,” “Impressiànico,” and “Velocipedeico” from Sandro Brugnolini’s Underground (1970) Record TV Discografica
• “Dafne” from the compilation Dimensione umana (1970) SR Records
• “Supermarket” from Sandro Brugnolini’s Utopia (1972) Gemelli
• “Macero,” “Rotativa,” “Calamaio,” “Accavallatrice,” “Asta di distribuzione,” “Linotype,” and “Offset” from Viaggio Pop No. 1 (1973) Ayna
• “L’ora di agire” from Sandro Brugnolini and Giorgio Carnini’s Beat Drammatico – Underground – Pop elettronico (UST 7010) (1973) Fonit Cetra
• “Minaccia di guerra,” “Commandos,” and “Beat bellico,” from Narassa (aka Sandro Brugnolini) and Amedeo Tommasi’s Guerra e angoscia (1973) Rotary
• “Hard Power” from the Amedeo Tommasi Trio’s Made In U.S.A. (mid 1970s) Colimbo
• “Usual” and “Playing The Mood” from Massimo Guantini’s Ritmi e tastiere (1977) Ritmi e Canzoni
• and “Fantabulous,” “Sog,” “Cup,” “Op,” “Susp,” and “I’ve Glimpsed You” excerpts from Sandro Brugnolini’s Fantabulous OST (1968) Beat Records Company

NOTE: This Spotlight on Jay Richford and Gary Stevan’s Feelings was first published 3 December 2013. This upgraded version updates some of the original content.

Coming Soon: Luca Proietti’s Geoglot: A Universal Language (1999), produced by Stefano Torossi

In 1999, Guitarist-keyboard player, arranger, and composer Luca Proietti released Geoglot: A Universal Language, the second of six full length albums by Proietti that Stefano Torossi produced between 1996 and 2011.

The album explores how various artificial languages have been created over the years in an attempt to create a universal language that connects all people. Geoglot is an example of one such language, as is Esperanto, perhaps the most famous one.

Luca Proietti’s “V.U.E.,” the opening track on Geoglot, features vocalist Liliana Richter: