The lead single from the album TAKE IT AWAY (ORG Music, 2022). TAV FALCO guitarist and producer MARIO MONTEROSSO’S “The Ballad of Zorro” pays homage to the 1975 Italian swashbuckler film ZORRO starring ALAIN DELON, as well as its GUIDO & MAURIZIO DE ANGELIS (Oliver Onions) soundtrack. The song’s music video was filmed in the foothills of Sicily (Italy) near Mt. Etna.
►Album "Take It Away" available on CD and Digital download from ORG Music: orgmusic.com/c...
► Mario Monterosso official site: www.mariomonter...
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Italian guitarist Mario Monterosso is best known internationally as rockabilly/psychedelic visionary TAV FALCO’S guitarist and producer. Since 2014, Monterosso has worked as touring guitarist for TAV FALCO’S PANTHER BURNS, and has produced several albums for both Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and Tav Falco solo, most of which include appearances from IGGY AND THE STOOGES alumni MIKE WATT and TOBY DAMMIT.
Outside of his work with Falco, Monterosso has become a fixture in Memphis’ rockabilly and roots music scene, playing regular shows with artists such as JASON D. WILLIAMS and DALE WATSON (Ameripolitan Awards founder).
ABOUT THE RECORDING:
In early 2020, Monterosso recorded an instrumental album with Dale Watson entitled “Dale Watson and the Memphians” that included four instrumental originals that he had written. It was during this period that he was inspired to write “The Ballad of Zorro” after watching the ALAIN DELON movie ZORRO (1975), which he had seen in the theater with his parents when it first came out. “Seeing it again, I thought the soundtrack was so cool,” Monterosso told THE MEMPHIS FLYER in a recent interview. “It was written by two Italians, the De Angelis brothers, also known as Oliver Onions….I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to write a tribute,’ and I wrote ‘The Ballad of Zorro.’”
Monterosso continued to write instrumentals in Memphis between April and May 2020. In June of that year, he returned to his hometown in Sicily to visit his ailing mother. “I was staying in this old family house from 1701…in the foothills of Mt. Etna. That’s where I learned to play the guitar, when I was 13 or 14.” In July, Monterosso called engineer MATTEO SPINAZZÉ SAVARIS and had him set up recording equipment in the family home, where they recorded “The Ballad of Zorro” and other songs on location with musician colleagues of Monterosso’s. Spinazzé then mixed the album in Rome. Tav Falco provides narration on the track “Midnight in Memphis.”
ABOUT THE VIDEO:
Singer/songwriter FABIO ABATE filmed the music video for “The Ballad of Zorro” on location in Sicily in August 2020. The footage of Monterosso driving through the foothills of Mt. Etna is interlaced with scenes of Monterosso at the family home where the song was recorded, as well as footage from the 1957 US Television series “Disney’s Zorro.”
ABOUT THE “TAKE IT AWAY” RELEASE:
In February 14, 2022, ORG Music in Los Angeles released TAKE IT AWAY on MP3 and streaming. THE MEMPHIS FLYER described the album as “a guided tour through the instrumental sounds of the ’50s and ’60s.” US tiki magazine EXOTICA MODERNE stated, “If you’ve ever heard SANTO & JOHNNY’S ‘Sleepwalk’, imagine that late night guitar music stretched into a full album, with Cuban, Brazilian, Spaghetti Western and even tango elements worked subtly into the arrangements.”
Tav Falco’s Panther Burns began an extensive 34-date tour of the United States in August 2022, which featured Monterosso on guitar along with bassist GUISEPPE SANGIRARDI and drummer WALTER BRUNETTI. Monterosso, Sangirardi and Brunetti opened as an instrumental act on the tour, playing songs from “Take It Away” before Falco took the stage. ORG Music released “Take It Away” on CD for this tour.
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PERSONNEL:
Mario Monterosso - Guitars
Marco Carnemolla - Upright bass
Dario Finocchiaro - Acoustic Piano
Francesco Bazzano - Percussion
Angelo Puglisi - Drums
Recorded by Matteo Spinazzé Savaris at “Villa Angelena” - Trescastagni, Sicily (IT), July 2020.
Mixed by Matteo Spinazzé Savaris at Howlin’ Studio, Rome, IT
Mastered by Mitch Rackin
Video filmed by Fabio Abate on location in Trescastagni, Sicily, August 2020.
Zorro imagery used in this video is from “Disney's Zorro” (1957), courtesy Walt Disney Corporation. All rights reserved.
21 окт 2024
