Bella Band

The album comprises four extended jazz–rock compositions, arranged with sectional contrasts, elaborate transitions, and a focused use of electronic textures. Despite its brevity, the album spans a dynamic range from rhythmic vamps to layered instrumental sequences and modal slow-build passages.

Riccardo Cioni plays Fender Rhodes, clavinet, and ARP synthesizers (Omni and 2600), alternating rhythmic accents with ambient figures and solo flurries. His keyboard voicings frame most transitions and shape the ensemble’s dynamic shifts. Luigi Fiorentino plays electric guitar with staccato phrasing, arpeggiated motion, and delay-laden solos; he alternates lead duties with saxophone and keys, often providing structural anchor points. Roberto Buoni juggles soprano saxophone, flute, and amplified clarinet. He introduces thematic material and handles both modal phrasing and reed effects across transitional sections. Tonino Camiscioni plays electric bass with alternating syncopated drive and chordal pulse. Mauro Sarti imparts tight cymbal articulation, tom-heavy flourishes, and double-time interjections during transitional lifts.

“Faidadiesis” opens with layered electric clarinet lines and staggers into a rhythmic vamp after ninety seconds. Buoni phrases the opening theme on soprano sax while Cioni cycles through synth punctuations and Rhodes fills. A midsection bass-led descent gives way to layered guitar overlays and a cascading synth solo.

“Promenade” opens with sparse electric piano and saxophone interplay under slow cymbal accents. After two minutes, the rhythm section locks into a binary vamp, initiating a sequence of instrumental spotlights. Midway, the band veers into a fast staccato passage with Caribbean accents before collapsing into a subdued motif of Rhodes and sax. The final section revisits the opening theme with new harmonic underlay.

“Porotopostrippa sul pero” opens with a full-band burst that cuts to a jerky groove under synth clusters. Buoni’s sax alternates with clarinet motifs and short guitar stabs. The central section layers flute over shifting funk rhythms before Fiorentino enters with a sustained, effects-laden solo across a stretched vamp.

“Cipresso violento” starts with suspended Fender Rhodes phrases and gradual sax overlays. At the midpoint, Camiscioni and Sarti drive a sequence of heavy rhythmic interjections under a brief vamp, after which the piece returns to its open phrasing. A closing Rhodes passage ends the album in near-stasis.

A1. “Faidadiesis” (6:45) — Opens with layered electric clarinet; transitions to a sax-led vamp with interlocking guitar and keyboard sequences.
A2. “Promenade” (10:45) — Multi-sectional piece with arpeggiated guitar, Rhodes textures, and modal shifts; includes Latin interlude and reprise of opening theme.
B1. “Porotopostrippa sul pero” [Pear leaf blister mite on the pear tree] (8:50) — Alternates funk and free sequences with reed solos and extended electric guitar lead.
B2. “Cipresso violento” [Violent Cypress] (5:20) — Shifts between ambient phrasing and a brief central vamp; closes with suspended Rhodes textures.

All four tracks are credited to Fiorentino, Cioni, and Buoni. Sessions took place in Firenze where Bella Band produced the album and handled mixing with Stephen Head, who served as technician.

Rolando Cassinari designed the album sleeve under the art direction of Gianni Sassi. The front cover depicts three elderly men miming a jazz trio—guitarist, drummer, and reedist—posed before a deteriorating plaster wall with barred windows and the band’s name spray-painted graffiti-style above them. A vintage television set appears in front of the group, linking the visual theme to the sepia-toned inner sleeve, which shows the five band members standing behind the same TV in a worn domestic setting. Cesare Monti handled session photography; Stefania Talini photographed the front cover.