In 1974, Paolo Ormi released Tastiere on Italy’s tiny Jubal label, a 13-track album of funk and jazz electronica that features fellow composers Sandro Brugnolini and Stefano Torossi. The out of print LP contains “music specially recorded for film, radio and television” according to a note on the front of the album, including “Quarto mondo,” “Bacchianata,” “Voo Doo,” “Cretineti,” “Senegal,” “Ridolinata,” and “Litoranea” on side A and “Mostaccioli,” “Litoranea (II versione),” “Senegal (II versione),” “Guai ai vinti,” “Lezione di musica,” and “Interazione” on side B.

“Guai ai vinti,” the eleventh track from Paolo Ormi’s Tastiere, offers “complex sound development with an exciting use of drums, bass, and keyboards” according to a July 2012 eBay auction notice. The same source indicates Ormi composed and performed the album “with the use of percussions, Eminent, synthesizer, organ, [and] bass.”

Paolo Ormi’s “Guai ai vinti” is on YouTube:

Despite the participation of the three prominent composers, little is known about this hard-to-find album beyond the basic track listing and what can be cobbled from a handful of old record store descriptions and auction notices still floating around the Internet. Several standout tracks are mentioned including the lively rhythm of “Quarto mondo,” which has “special electronic sounds by keyboards, obsessive bass riffs well followed by percussions, orientalized and exotic sonorities from the flute chords.”

“Senegal (II versione),” another rhythm-focused composition by Paolo Ormi on Tastiere is “well-underlined by percussions and keyboards.” The long percussion and drum solo of “Voo Doo” is also noted as well as the “aggressive bass in contrast with the keyboards from beautiful jazz notes” found on the piece, “Litoranea.”

The final track on the album, “Interazione,” is also the longest, clocking in at nearly four minutes. The full version of this Sandro Brugnolini composition performed by Paolo Ormi is now available on both SoundCloud and on YouTube. One notice described this favorite cut as “featuring beautiful organ spontaneous improvisations, remarkable drumming prowess, nervous bass, synthesizer at a fast pace in a frenetic sound run.”

Paolo Ormi’s “Interazione,” composed by Sandro Brugnolini, is online:

3-Track Paolo Ormi Tastiere EP on SoundCloud

An audio clip that contains three tracks from Paolo Ormi’s Tastiere including “Voo Doo,” “Guai ai vinti,” and “Interazione,” is on SoundCloud:

More from the Artists: Paolo Ormi

Performer, composer-songwriter, arranger, and orchestra leader Paolo Ormi’s extensive career in music covers several decades, starting as a bass player and percussionist and continuing as a songwriter and artist in the disco era. Besides appearing as a writer on numerous recordings has also been active as a conductor and orchestra leader. Ormi used the alias Red Redford for some of his disco and funk releases.

Beginning in the 1960s, Paolo Ormi released a string of singles for TV, movies, and the pop charts. Examples range from “Toutankhamon’s Theme” by Orchestre Paolo Ormi in 1968 to “Spiaggia libera” with “Ciao amore mio (Sundown)” an RCA single in 1971 featuring Ormi and his orchestra plus Edda Dell’Orso and I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni.

Paolo Ormi and Jamaican actress-singer Beryl Cunningham teamed up on several projects including “Charlie’s Black Key,” a 45 which paired “Charlie” on the A-side with “Black Key” on the B-side.

Paolo Ormi and Beryl Cunningham did another single for CLS in 1978, Cunningham’s “Tua,” backed with “Why-O.”

Both sides of Beryl Cunningham’s “Charlie’s Black Key,” arranged and conducted by Paolo Ormi, are on YouTube:

In 1972, Paolo Ormi and his orchestra released another high-octane single, the double-sided Latin funk standout “Cocco secco” and ”No, No, No.” This author has been mesmerized by the RCA single since it first landed on the turntable a few weeks back.

“Cocco Secco” also appears on the Mo’plen 4000: Glamorous Boogie Grooves for a Fashion Lifestyle collection from Italian label Irma, issued in both LP and CD.

Paolo Ormi e la sua orchestra’s “Cocco secco” is here:

In 1975, Paolo Ormi’s composition “Wind,” was released by the Red Redford Sound System, the B-side of “Scandalo al sole (A Summer Place).”

Both sides of the 45 were included on the Red Redford Sound Sistem One RRSSONE album released on EMI in 1976. The dozen tracks include a potent mix of funk, disco, and easy listening.

Red Redford Sound Sistem One (also known as the Red Redford Sound System)’s “Wind” is currently online:

In 1976, Paolo Ormi and C. Cisco composed two tracks on “Life,” a single released under the band name Sweet Company.

The B-side of the Atlantic single is Paolo Ormi and C. Cisco’s “Top.”

Sweet Company’s “Top” is on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/cavalierpiscopo/sweet-company-top

One year later, Paolo Ormi released “The Impeachment” under his alias Red Redford.

The single was released by Italy’s Odeon Records.

Paolo Ormi’s “The Impeachment,” composed by Renato Recca and released by the Red Redford Sound System, is online:

In 1970, Paolo Ormi conducted the orchestra for some sessions with Nora Orlandi at Dirmaphon Studios in Rome. For more than thirty years the tapes from the 28th of November collected dust until Orlandi’s Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh was finally released in 2000 by Italy’s Hexacord Records, in conjunction with another Italian imprint, Cinedelic Records–this is one of this correspondent’s favorite vinyl purchases in 2014.

In 2004, Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh‘s “Dies Irae 2 (M9)” was used in Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic extravaganza Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Nora Orlandi and Paolo Ormi’s track, which regrettably is not on the official soundtrack (but can be easily found on fan-made, “complete” versions on the Web), is used in the memorable scene when Bill and Budd discuss the Bride’s ample justification for wanting her payback.

Nora Orlandi’s “Dies Irae 2 (M9),” conducted by Paolo Ormi, is used in the following clip from Kill Bill, Vol. 2 on YouTube:

The full version of “Dies Irae 2 (M9),” composed by Nora Orlandi, is here:

In 2016, a new label on the library music and soundtrack scene, Italy’s Four Flies Records, released Esterno giorno and Esterno notte. The pair of vinyl-only compilations drawn from RCA Italy’s film music vaults each feature a different version of Paolo Ormi’s “Provaci anche, tu, Lionel.”

The excerpt on SoundCloud features clips from Gregory Garcia Segura, Gianni Marchetti, Silvano D’Auria, Ormi, Giuliano Sorgini, Alessandro Alessandroni, Federico Monti Arduini, and Giovanni Tommaso, in that order:

More from the Artists: Sandro Brugnolini

This site has done articles on several albums by and featuring the music of Sandro Brugnolini as well as an interview that touches upon his work in jazz, soundtracks, and library music. Find the albums off the drop-down menu above. The interview is HERE.

In 1970, Sandro Brugnolini recorded a pair of albums at Dirmaphon Studio in Rome in quick succession, Overground and Underground. Both albums showcase Angelo Baroncini and Silvano Chimenti on guitar, Giorgio Carnini on organ, Enzo Restuccia on drums, and Giovanni Tommaso on bass.

A sampler from Sandro Brugnolini’s Overground and Underground is on SoundCloud:

More music and an interview with bass player Giovanni Tommaso that includes a look at his first trip to New York is HERE.

February 2015 Releases include Sandro Brugnolini’s L’uomo dagli occhiali a specchio Soundtrack

In December 1973, Giancarlo Schiaffini and members of the Modern Jazz Gang including Sandro Brugnolini recorded the soundtrack for L’uomo dagli occhiali a specchio.

Directed by Giancarlo Gazzani, the album was originally released by Vrooomm Records in 1975 and will be reissued in vinyl format in mid February 2015 by Cinedelic Records. A digital download is now available from the label’s bandcamp site HERE. A full version of each track can be previewed at the same location.

“Aggressione” from Sandro Brugnolini’s L’uomo dagli occhiali a specchio, featuring fellow members of the Modern Jazz Gang as well as Giancarlo Schiaffini, directed by Giancarlo Gazzani, is on YouTube:

Online Audio Sampler Showcases Brugnolini-Torossi Tracks

An online audio sampler with nine album cuts covering 1973 to 1974 that includes three tracks with Sandro Brugnolini, Giancarlo Gazzani, and Puccio Roelens from their 1974 Feelings LP first issued by Carosello Records and last reissued in 2012 by Golden Pavilion, a track with Amedeo Tommasi from Tecnologia, the 1974 Rotary Records LP reissued in 2008 by Arison, three tracks from Gazzani’s withdrawn Musica per commenti sonori LP from 1974 featuring Brugnolini and Torossi and three tracks from Paolo Ormi’s Tastiere LP on Jubal featuring Brugnolini and Torossi is on SoundCloud:

Coming Next: An Interview with David Nerattini

David Nerattini discusses making music with Stefano Torossi on a pair of 1999 albums: Costanza Record’s Musica per commenti sonori: Check Up and RAI Trade’s Sport & Travel. He also offers a few insights from his amazing “day job” at Flippermusic and their family of sub-labels, in addition to some of his music-related side projects and interests such as the Italians Do It Bitter: A collection of Italian obscurities website. One of Narattini’s current activities is playing drum and percussion for La Batteria, a band that also features Emanuele Bultrini on classical and electric guitars, Paolo Pecorelli on electric bass, and Stefano Vicarelli on Hammond C3 organ, and Minimoog. Their eponymous debut album was released by Penny Records in 2015.

A video for La Batteria’s “Derrick” was released at the beginning of 2016. Produced by the band at StudioSette in Rome, the track was mixed by Pecorelli and mastered by Alessandro Cavallo. The original theme written by Les Humphries was taken from “Game of Songs” by Rockit.it.

La Batteria’s “Derrick” is on YouTube:

Two More Favorites from Paolo Ormi: “No, No, No” & “Radio City Boogie”

Paolo Ormi’s 1972 classic “No, No, No” is online:

And another high-energy performance, “Radio City Boogie,” features Raffaella Carra’, a vocalist Paolo Ormi made several records with including the 1978 single “Fatalita’.”

This early video for “Radio City Boogie” was broadcast on Italy’s national network in 1974 and remains one of this correspondent’s personal favorites:

NOTE: This Spotlight on Paolo Ormi’s Tastiere was first published 15 December 2014. This upgraded version adds new content.