Calibro 35 Play Morricone + Exclusive Playlist
Ahead of the Italian maestros new EP and show on 29th October at The Union Chapel here’s a fantastic playlist the guys have compiled especially for Shindig!.
Trafelato (from The Fifth Chord
Where it all started. Our version of this song – included on our first album – is the first thing we ever recorded back in 2007 and it really describes well what drew us to investigate the sound of obscure Italian soundtracks of the ’60s and the ’70s. Killer groove, killer bass line, weird sounds and tons of attitude.
Milano Odia La Polizia Non Può Sparare (from Almost Human)
Classic Morricone crime movie atmosphere for a hyper violent movie directed by Umberto Lenzi. The stiff, constant, almost unstoppable rhythm played by the piano and drums has some kind of a martial DNA to it, perfect to describe the fight between the law and the criminal.
L’Arena (from Il Mercenario)
Such an epic tune containing pretty much all of Morricone’s spaghetti western tools in one song: the whip, the whistle, crackling noises, dramatic strings, rolling snares, deguello trumpet, epic choir, twangy guitar and so forth…. We recorded our own version of it for our Scacco al Maestro album featuring the amazing Matthew Bellamy whistling.
Squeezing it all for a seven musician ensemble at our live concert has been a challenge but it is such a joy to play it we could not escape it!
Metti una sera a cena (from Metti una sera a cena)
On of the greatest and most lavish song ever sung by the amazing EddaDell’Orso and beautifully written and orchestrated by our beloved Maestro. Pure cinematic timeless bossa flavour.
Svegliati e Uccidi (from Wake Up And Die)
This is a complicated one. It took several years for us to have the guts and patience to sit down in the studio, learn the song and record it but I’m so glad we did it! (for the Scacco al Maestro project).
I love the endless question and answer mechanism between all instruments – flute, piano, guitar, tubular bells, cellos, trombones… – it’s SO driving and the listener can almost see images just listening to the music.
Un tranquillo posto di campagna (from Un tranquillo posto di campagna)
Orchestration galore here! This soundtrack includes a big collection of usual and not-so-usual timbres to describe the psychedelic-atmosphere of the movie.
It’s interesting to see how all the sounds fit together so well: from banjo to percussion to toy piano, nothing is misplaced and the puzzle is perfect.
Indagine su un Cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (from Investigation On A Citizen Above Suspicion)
Another super classic by Morricone for the 1970 Academy Award winning movie by the same title. Sound research at its finest mixing Sicilian maranzano, fuzz guitars, out of tune piano and sharp strings orchestration for a clunky and unsteady rhythm.
Passeggiata Notturna (from Cat Of Nine Tails)
Morricone and Dario Argento has been a great combo for three soundtracks we love: The Bird with The Crystal Plumage, Cat Of Nine Tails, Four Flies On Grey Velvet. The Maestro unleash all his contemporary music repertoire here with whispers, flute, celeste, plucked piano and guitar all dancing on top of a super hypnotic brush drums and bass groove.
The Good, The Bad And The ugly (from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly)
You cannot talk about Morricone without mentioning his work for Sergio Leone’s westerns. With the Dollars trilogy they re-defined western movies both in images and sound at the end of the ’60s introducing countless innovation and never-thought-before solutions that would later become absolute classics for the genre.
Ricreazione Divertita (from Cuore Di Mamma)
Morricone is an endless source of surprises and inspiration. We never, and i mean NEVER, cease to discover music he did that we didn’t know before. This one has recently been sampled by an underground american rapper – The Buttress – for a super killer song titled ‘Brutus’. It sounds so fresh and modern!
CALIBRO 35’s new EP Jazzploitation is released on 18th October on Record Kicks
Quote by Tommaso Colliva of Calibro 35 on ‘Chaser’ by Piero Umiliani: “Written for erotic drama movie Il Corpo, this tune is a great jazz/funk piece, perfectly showcasing how the “Italian Job” worked. Bringing its sound back from the vault and making it our own has been a mission since day one for us!”
Dr. Dre and Jay-Z sampled Italian cinematic funk legends Calibro 35 are always in search of new territories to venture into. Their new journey is called ‘Jazzploitation’: a new EP paying tribute to jazz-funk, rare groove and pshychedelic cinematic-jazz, to be released next October 18th on digital platforms via Record Kicks.
None of the members of Calibro 35 are (or consider themselves) jazz musicians, but over the years jazz has often and significantly inspired them. ‘Jazzploitation’ is not a “jazz record” but an “inspired by jazz” EP in which Calibro 35 pay homage to some of their favorite musicians; from Bob James to Lalo Schifrin, to Miles Davis and Idris Muhammad.
Find the EP on all good streaming platforms
